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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.
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