7/29/2019 animals that live in Africa: Meerkat

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MEERKATS

Background

Meerkats belong to the mongoose group, which is part of the civetfamily or is closely related to them. Like cats,bears and dog, amongst

others, civet belongs to the order of carnivore.

Meerkats often stand on two legs so that they can see what's goinaround them. A meerkat's fur is grey, beige, or light brown, with typically,eight to ten dark stripes running across the back. their heads are almosttotally white, with dark rings around the eyes. The ears and the tip of their tail are mainly white. On average, meerkats weigh less than onekilo and are between 25 and 35 cm tall. The flat tail is around 25 cm

long and is used to support the meerkat, if it stand on its tiptoes. theclaw on the front legs are noticeably long and are used for digging inthe sand, which is why meerkats are know as ''scrapers''.

 

Habitat And Diet

meerkats can be found all over south africa and parts of Namibia andBotswana. There they live mostly in the savannah, as well as in the semi-desert and the dry, open levels. They are diurnal animals and, since they lovethe sun they can often be seen in the sun in front of their homes. at night theysleep at their sleeping chambers close together to keep one another warm.

meerkats are mostly found near their homes eating anything they can findthere. they feed mainly on insects, spiders, and millipedes. However, they canalso eat mice, small birds, lizards and snakes.

meerkats scrape the soil in search of food. If they could not find any foodnear their homes. They will looka for a new one

 

although meerkats are very social animals, they gaur their food jealously andalways try to chase other meerkats away from their food, Even when their full.

 

Behaviour and Reproduction

7/29/2019 animals that live in Africa: Meerkat

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Meerkats live in colonies of 20 to 30 each. they either dug holes  or live inchasms. To save themselves the bother of digging they also like to take over the homes of gophers, which they only need to extend a little.

 

Task and are devided up amongst the colony - whilst a few digging, others arelooking for food. a few meerkats stand upright on two legs and keep watch onthe surrounding area. When there is any danger,they emit a shrill shrek towarn the other meerkats and they all run into their burrows

 

After a gestation period of around 11 weeks the female gives birth to betweentwo until four young. They are born with their eyes closed. After ten to

twelve days, the eyes open and the off-spring are weaned. After around eightto twelve weeks, the meerkats become sexually mature after one year.

SIGNIFACANT FACT

Body temperature: 37 to 38 celcius

heart rate: about 110 beats per minute

 body weight: around 800 grams

life expectancy: 10 years in the wild, 15 in the zoo

sexual maturity: after one year 

Gestation: around 11 weeks

Birth weight: 25 to 36 grams

eyes open after 10 to 12 days

first solid food after around 3 weeks

leaves the nest after 7 to 9 weeks

food: insect, spider, bird, millipedes, lizards and snake

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