One of the highlights as you enter the gates and wander past the restrooms, gift shops, snack shops and welcome signs at San Diego's Wild Animal Park is the Meerkats exhibit.  Children and adults can see through a viewing window to an open air habitat (those over approx. 5'5" can look down on the exhibit) to observe these active, social animals that come from Africa.    People like to watch playful Meerkats, not only because of the entertaining behaviors and social manner, but also because of their adorable faces. Eyes surrounded by a dark fur make their eyes appear larger. These dark eye markings act like built-in sunglasses for an animal native to a sun-drenched environment of Southern Africa and the  Kalahari Desert. Scurrying, digging, watching for predators and jostling with one another, the Meerkats are often in motion, providing lots of action for the audience to enjoy.   Meerkat or SW African Suricate (Suricata suricatta hahni) E Namibia and Botswana is highly social. Meerkats live in dens with 10 to 30 individuals communicating through a wide range of vocalizations. This den or  group of meerkats  is called a mob or a gang.  They are diurnal (daytime animals that sleep at night) and of ten sit upright on their haunches to bask in the sun and watch for predators. As a member of the mongoose family the Meerkat grows to be about 12 inches tall and can live the lifespan of a domesticated cat, usually 12 to 14 years.   While all a Meerkat's needs are met in the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park environment, in nature they must forage and roam up to several times per year to find food sources. The feed mostly on scorpions, spiders, and bugs such as beetles, crickets and small mammals, reptiles and birds. Likewise in the food chain, Meerkats provide a tasty meal for predators such as jackals and eagles.   Maturing at one year, the Meerkat society includes one alpha male and female who do most of the breeding while the gang supports them, finding and sharing food, watching the babies while the mother eats and helping raise and protect the defenseless infants who are born with their eyes closed.   The video shows several Meerkats at the Wild Animal Park digging in the same tunnel, then grasping each other by their mouths, engaged in a sparring match of playful fun that ends in both running from the tunnel.