Facts About Meerkats
Published October 17, 2026 · FactsSeeker
Meerkats are small, social carnivores of southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert, built for dusty ground, group living, and constant vigilance. Their daily life centers on burrows, cooperative foraging, warning calls, pup care, and adaptations that help them handle heat, glare, predators, and hidden prey.
Meerkats are mongooses, not cats
Despite the name, a meerkat is not a cat. The San Diego Zoo describes it as a weasel-like animal in the mongoose family, and its listed classification places it in the mammal class, carnivore order, and Herpestidae family. [1]
A mob may include unrelated members
Meerkats usually live in underground burrows in groups known as a gang or mob. These groups can contain up to 40 individuals, and membership is not limited to relatives. Several family groups may live together, with one dominant pair producing most of the young. [1]
Grooming and play help hold the group together
Social contact is more than downtime for meerkats. Mobs spend much of their time grooming and playing, behaviors described as helping keep the family unit tight and supporting survival through companionship as well as safety. [1]
Their burrows are complex underground shelters
Meerkats are strong diggers, but they often use burrows made by other animals such as ground squirrels. Typical burrows have an average of 15 entrance and exit holes, with tunnels and chambers at several levels and some passages as deep as 6.5 feet (2 meters). Deeper tunnels help buffer outside heat and cold. [1]
A mob rotates among multiple burrow systems
A meerkat territory can include several burrow systems rather than a single permanent den. These systems may include toilet and sleeping chambers, and the mob moves from one to another every few months. [1]
Scent marking and overlap can lead to conflict
Meerkats use scent pouches below their tails to mark rocks and plants inside their territory. Neighboring mobs may have overlapping territories, and disputes can become violent, although posturing and bluffing often come before physical contact. [1]
Lookouts take turns guarding the foragers
Adults rotate guard duty while the rest of the mob searches for food. A guard climbs a raised spot, stands upright, begins with a specialized call, and gives a low steady peeping sound called the watchman’s song when conditions are safe. [1]
Alarm calls distinguish threats from land and air
If a predator appears, the guard alerts the group with a bark or whistle. The source notes that meerkats use different calls for land predators and aerial predators, helping the mob react to the kind of danger present. [1]
Bolt holes are emergency refuges
When an alarm sounds, meerkats typically run toward the nearest bolt hole. These are tunnels with wider openings that can hold a crowd at once, and meerkats memorize the locations of thousands of bolt holes across their territory. [1]
Mobs may cooperate against dangerous animals
Meerkats can confront venomous snakes as a group rather than alone. The source describes mobs attacking simultaneously and biting wherever possible until the snake becomes tired and overwhelmed; mobs have also been known to chase off larger would-be predators. [1]
Their daily routine follows daylight
Meerkats are diurnal, emerging after sunrise. They often sunbathe and groom before foraging through much of the day, sometimes pausing in shade or a burrow during the hottest hours, then returning to the main burrow at night. [1]
Body surfaces help with temperature control
Thin fur and dark stomach skin help meerkats manage body temperature. They can warm quickly by lying on their backs in the sun, or cool themselves by lying stomach-down on a cool rock during midday heat. [1]
Several traits suit them to dusty desert life
Meerkats have dark patches around the eyes that reduce glare, long horizontal pupils for a wide view, and a protective membrane that can cover the eye while digging. Their ears can close to keep out sand, and each foot has four toes with long, nonretractable claws for digging. [1]
They use smell and digging to find varied prey
A strong sense of smell helps meerkats locate food hidden underground. Insects form the biggest part of the diet, but the listed prey also includes spiders, snails, rodents, birds, eggs, lizards, and scorpions. [1]
They forage across a large home territory
A meerkat group’s home territory is described as about 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) or more. They hunt in a different section each day and return to the first area after about a week, which spreads foraging pressure through the territory. [1]
Pups develop through staged milestones
Meerkat society is described as matriarchal, with adult females generally slightly larger than males. The dominant female usually has pups when food is plentiful, generally in the rainy season from November through March. Pups open their eyes after two weeks, begin eating foods other than milk at three weeks, first leave the den at four weeks, and are weaned by nine weeks. [1]
Adults teach young meerkats what to eat
Young meerkats are not born knowing which foods to handle. Their mother or another adult teaches them by bringing whole food such as insects or lizards, and may bring scorpions with tails bitten off so pups can learn to deal with dangerous prey more safely. [1]
Meerkats can meet water needs through food
The source states that meerkats can survive without drinking water. They obtain needed moisture from foods such as roots, tubers, and fruit including tsama melons, an important detail for life in their arid habitat. [1]
Sources & further reading
These facts describe meerkats as presented by the San Diego Zoo source. Details about behavior can vary with setting and circumstance, and the conservation section says they seem to be doing all right in their native habitat while also cautioning that wild meerkats do not make good pets and may require permits or licenses to keep.
Sources checked 2026-10-17. Our approach to facts · Suggest a correction