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{"id":1159,"date":"2009-11-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wild-facts.com\/?p=1159"},"modified":"2015-01-15T19:15:16","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T00:15:16","slug":"wild-fact-934-want-to-join-a-gang-meerkat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-934-want-to-join-a-gang-meerkat\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Fact #934 – Want To Join a Gang? – Meerkat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo by Klum Photography at www.klum.se\/main<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of our faithful readers, Anml_lvr, gave a few Wild Fact suggestions this past weekend.\u00a0 On her list was a member of the mongoose family called a Meerkat. I have been meaning to do a post on the Meerkat for awhile now so I figure this would be a great time to post some interesting facts about the little meerkat!<\/p>\n

First of all, a meerkat weighs under 2 pounds and feeds mostly on insects, however, will also eat snakes, lizards, scorpions and other smaller sized animals. The meerkat has a long thin tail that they can use as a balancing pole. As well, they resemble tiny little football players with the black patches around their eyes.\u00a0 These black patches deflect the glare from the sun.\u00a0 For the record, a group of meerkats would still probably play better than the Detroit Lions (although, they did manage to squeak out a win this past weekend). One other interesting physical adaptation of the meerkat is the ability to close their ears off. Not only can they use this feature to block out the incessant nagging from other clan members, but it helps keep the sand out of their ears when they are digging.\u00a0 Although, these are all interesting physical adaptations, I want to talk about a social adaptation today.<\/p>\n

You see, the meerkat lives in clans of 20 or more members.\u00a0 This social lifestyle helps the little meerkat survive! As you can imagine the Kalahari Desert is not an easy place to live and every large mammal or bird is looking for a nice quick meal. Unfortunately, the meerkat can not store fat like we can, although, I seem to be storing too much so maybe this is a good thing for them! What this means is the meerkat has to forage for food every day in order to live.\u00a0 As mentioned earlier, going out into the open to look for food can be a dangerous activity.\u00a0 Don’t worry though, our little furry friends have developed a system to help them get food without the constant worry of a predator snatching them up.\u00a0 I know you are dying to know what their strategy is so I will get on with it just for you!\u00a0 Quite simply, there is always one individual on sentry duty.\u00a0 That’s right, one of the meerkats will stand guard while the rest forage for food.\u00a0 Usually, guard duty will last for about an hour.\u00a0 While on security the meerkat will constantly be letting out little chirps informing their clan that everything is okay.\u00a0 If a predator comes in looking for lunch then the meerkat will start whistling and barking to let them all know to RUN!!! Another interesting social behaviour that the meerkats have is the tutoring program.\u00a0 The young meerkats will generally follow an older clan member learning how to feed from their mentor.\u00a0 This type of social behaviour allows the meerkat to survive, even though, it is estimated that half the meerkat population gets eaten every year.<\/p>\n

For more detailed information on the meerkat then I recommend you check out http:\/\/www.whozoo.org\/students\/kartho\/meerkat3.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks for reading and have a great day!<\/p>\n

\"meerkats\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of our faithful readers, Anml_lvr, gave a few Wild Fact suggestions this past weekend.\u00a0 On her list was a member of the mongoose family called a Meerkat. I have been meaning to do a post on the Meerkat for awhile now so I figure this would be a great time to post some interesting facts about the little meerkat! First of all, a meerkat weighs under 2 pounds and feeds mostly on insects, however, will also eat snakes, lizards, scorpions and other smaller sized animals. The meerkat has a long thin tail that they can use as a balancing <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,4024],"tags":[348,226,302,299,300,301,4025,4027],"yoast_head":"\nPhysical and Social Adaptations of the Meerkat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Describes some of the physical and social adaptations the meerkat has evolved over time in order to suvive the harsh Kalahari Desert.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-934-want-to-join-a-gang-meerkat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Physical and Social Adaptations of the Meerkat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Describes some of the physical and social adaptations the meerkat has evolved over time in order to suvive the harsh Kalahari Desert.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-934-want-to-join-a-gang-meerkat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-23T08:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-16T00:15:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/200_meerkat-curious1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"436\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"290\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-934-want-to-join-a-gang-meerkat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-934-want-to-join-a-gang-meerkat\/\",\"name\":\"Physical and Social Adaptations of the Meerkat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-23T08:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-16T00:15:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5129f3f0129e9989a2b850bb2f3cc4\"},\"description\":\"Describes some of the physical and social adaptations the meerkat has evolved over time in order to suvive the harsh Kalahari Desert.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-934-want-to-join-a-gang-meerkat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/\",\"name\":\"Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5129f3f0129e9989a2b850bb2f3cc4\",\"name\":\"Nathan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e126172d6ffd6e322bd2cea79f2ad95?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e126172d6ffd6e322bd2cea79f2ad95?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nathan\"},\"description\":\"I am a digital nomad who enjoys travelling around the globe while inspiring others to leave their comfort zone and improve their life. 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