Meerkat
Suricata suricatta
The Meerkat lives in highly organized family groups, where all members cooperate in raising the young and defending the territory. It spends much of the day searching for insects, spiders, scorpions and small vertebrates, digging with its strong claws and long snout. This high level of cooperation allows the group to make the most of the limited resources available in the arid environments where it lives.
IUCN RED LIST
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) classifies living species according to criteria that take into account their level of threat of extinction: the Red List is an indispensable tool for coordinating nature conservation actions, a veritable barometer of the health of our Planet.
EEP Project
This species is included in the EAZA Ex situ Programme (EEP), which coordinates the management of the European zoo population.
Lives in: Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa
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Fun Fact
AT THE SIGNAL, EVERYONE DOWN… UNDERGROUND
The family organisation of these small mammals is remarkable: while some go out to forage for food, others stand guard at the burrow. If a predator appears, the sentinel gives the alarm and everyone retreats into the deep underground tunnels.


