Meerkat Manor
About Meerkats
A meerkat mob is a group of meerkats. These groups are also known as gangs, clans, teams or troops. A meerkat mob normally consists of a dominant couple and their offspring. The meerkats are very cooperative and work as a unit, every meerkat will do their part for the mob, even if they are unrelated.
Alpha Pair!
The mob will have a dominant pair. The dominant female will normally keep all of the breeding rights to herself. She is usually the leader of the group, and has more power than the dominant male. The dominant male spends his time scent-marking, keeping a look-out, defending the territory and protecting his mate from interested males. The dominant male is usually the largest or most powerful meerkat in the group, but will submit to the dominant female if neccessary for she has the ultimate power.
Subordinates:
Subordinates of the group are mainly responsible for the welfare of the pups; they teach younger members how to hunt and sometimes generously feed them. Subordinates also babysit and perform lookout duties. Females more commonly babysit as they're able to lactate (produce milk, even if they haven't had litters of their own before), whilst males generally spend more time on sentry duty then females. When males reach sexual maturity at the age of 1 they begin visiting other meerkat groups to try and breed with unrelated females. When they are 2 - 3 years old they often disperse permenately. Meanwhile, low-ranking females feel the urge to have pups of their own at the age of 1.
What do meerkats eat?
The Meerkat usually eats insects if they can be find them. They will forage by digging among leaves, dirt, dry grasses, bark, pebbles, and anything that small bugs can hide in. The Meerkats do forage in small groups with one lookout, and take turns pulling duty as the lookout changing about every hour or so. They will also eat lizards, snakes, spiders, eggs, small or baby mammals, scorpions, millipedes, centipedes, plants and roots. If it is available, and they will eat small birds too. The Meerkat appears to be immune to most venomous scorpion bites. Most Meerkats can eat things that can be poisonous to other animals.
A meerkat mob is a group of meerkats. These groups are also known as gangs, clans, teams or troops. A meerkat mob normally consists of a dominant couple and their offspring. The meerkats are very cooperative and work as a unit, every meerkat will do their part for the mob, even if they are unrelated.
Alpha Pair!
The mob will have a dominant pair. The dominant female will normally keep all of the breeding rights to herself. She is usually the leader of the group, and has more power than the dominant male. The dominant male spends his time scent-marking, keeping a look-out, defending the territory and protecting his mate from interested males. The dominant male is usually the largest or most powerful meerkat in the group, but will submit to the dominant female if neccessary for she has the ultimate power.
Subordinates:
Subordinates of the group are mainly responsible for the welfare of the pups; they teach younger members how to hunt and sometimes generously feed them. Subordinates also babysit and perform lookout duties. Females more commonly babysit as they're able to lactate (produce milk, even if they haven't had litters of their own before), whilst males generally spend more time on sentry duty then females. When males reach sexual maturity at the age of 1 they begin visiting other meerkat groups to try and breed with unrelated females. When they are 2 - 3 years old they often disperse permenately. Meanwhile, low-ranking females feel the urge to have pups of their own at the age of 1.
What do meerkats eat?
The Meerkat usually eats insects if they can be find them. They will forage by digging among leaves, dirt, dry grasses, bark, pebbles, and anything that small bugs can hide in. The Meerkats do forage in small groups with one lookout, and take turns pulling duty as the lookout changing about every hour or so. They will also eat lizards, snakes, spiders, eggs, small or baby mammals, scorpions, millipedes, centipedes, plants and roots. If it is available, and they will eat small birds too. The Meerkat appears to be immune to most venomous scorpion bites. Most Meerkats can eat things that can be poisonous to other animals.
