Animals

One of the most watched animals at the zoo, our meerkats can be seen foraging for food, basking in the sun or digging tunnels in their exhibit.

Our keepers can tell them apart through their individual markings, tail length and body size but all animals are microchipped.

Also known as Suricate, the meerkat is a type of mongoose found in South Africa. It can be found in dry, open country.

Meerkats enjoy basking in the sun and do not venture from their burrow until after sunrise, returning at dusk.

These burrow-dwelling animals have long, powerful claws that are used for digging in search of food and for excavation of tunnels for their burrows. The burrow is usually about 5 metres across, with possibly 15 entrances. When food sources are low a colony may split and form a new burrow 1-2 kilometres away.

Our meerkats are provided with a heated burrow to use as a retreat. The burrows are located under large rocks in their enclosure. They also fulfill their natural urge to dig tunnels by constantly constructing their own, although mesh is placed under soil in some areas to prevent them digging everywhere.

One adult will maintain constant watch for predators, like hawks or eagles, and will sound an alarm when one is sighted, only heading for cover if attack seems imminent. At Monarto Zoo a meerkat can often be seen on an elevated position sitting on his haunches, maintaining a watch for predators and also keeping a close eye on planes, helicopters and birds that fly over.

Meerkats may live in colonies of between eight and 30 individuals. Reproduction is predominantly by a dominant male and female. Normally there is a single annual litter of 2-5 young, each weighing between 25-36 grams at birth. In optimum conditions, the female can rear successive litters every 11 weeks. The young Meerkats’ eyes open at 10-14 days and they are weaned by 9 weeks of age. A Meerkat can live for up to 12 years.

After warming in the early sun, the colony moves out to forage in its home range, which can be up to 500 metres from the central burrow. The pointed snout is used to sniff out insects and grubs. Small mammals, birds, reptiles and eggs make up the major part of their diet, but some vegetable matter is eaten as well.

At Monarto Zoo animals are fed several times a day on a varied diet of insects, small whole animals such as mice and day-old chicks, mince and fruits. Their favourite food is live insects.

The food is sometimes buried or hidden in the exhibit, which encourages them to search for it. Adults will readily share food with juvenile colony members and use this opportunity to teach the young what is edible. The entire group maintains visual and/or vocal contact at all times and the Zoo’s animals can often be heard making soft grunts. All colony members often engage in play, grappling and wrestling with each other. This helps establish an individual’s position in the hierarchy peacefully.

Meerkats have developed a technique to deal with scorpion venom and may be able to handle a bite from some types of venomous snakes.

With scorpions they commonly eat, they first bite off the scorpion’s stinger and then brush off any remaining venom on the exoskeleton in the sand, making it impossible for the scorpion to introduce venom into a meerkat's bloodstream. Adults teach pups how to properly eat a scorpion. If stung by a particularly deadly species of scorpion a meerkat may die.

When a snake threatens a meerkat group they form a circle around the predator (called mobbing), raise their tails and move about in a formation that looks like a single, large animal. Meerkats have been observed being bitten by venomous snakes. While some have survived the attacks, others have died.