Meerkat Society

Standing just 12 inches in height, meerkats are industrious little mongooses. They get up in the morning and everyone helps with the "housekeeping" by clearing sand out of their burrow entrances. Lookouts are posted to keep an eye out for birds of prey. They assign babysitting duties to different members so their pups are cared for while the others go out foraging.

My daughter-in-law thinks the meerkat pups are cute. My son thinks they are hideous. While I don't find them as hideous as, say, a Jerusalem cricket, their appearance does not strike me exactly as cute. It's their eating habits that I find hideous. Meerkats like insects, scorpions and millipedes in particular, and the Animal Planet's "Meerkat Manor" episodes devote plenty of video time to their foraging behavior with close-ups of crunching down or ripping apart live meals. They generally do not share their food, and adult meerkats don't hesitate to steal tasty morsels from the young ones as an easy way to fill their stomachs.

Meerkats spend part of their day grooming themselves and each other. The dominant female (DF) gets the most grooming by all in the group who want to stay on her good side. She is the one who makes the major decisions and drives out rule breakers. Since she has the power to kill or expel a member, everyone makes sure to give her plenty of attention and offer quick apologies for any bad behavior. They all sleep cozily together in their burrows at night to keep warm.

The meerkat teens, like their human counterparts, are irrepressible and irresponsible. They enjoy playing and roughhousing more than standing watch or minding the pups. The group can also harbor one or more trouble makers who create chaos with their ill-conceived acts. There appears to be considerable tolerance for these behaviors, although some individuals can be shunned and isolated for their actions.

Whether they are trying to drive out a reluctant adder or attacking their meerkat neighbors, meerkats stick together in a fight. They raise their tails high in the air and kick out their hind legs to make themselves look bigger when they attack another group or are themselves attacked. They take turns making aggressive spit-barks at an embedded snake until they determine getting the intruder to leave is a lost cause. Then they turn on their heels and get the heck away.

The DF is the one with breeding rights. Other females in the group that become pregnant face her wrath upon delivering their pups. The DF can choose to kill pups that aren't hers, as well as punish or drive out their mother. However, pups by mothers other than the DF that are not killed get the same mindful care as the DF's pups. The other females in the group will actually lactate and nurse the DF's pups when they have babysitting duty.

These are just a few of the facts I learned while watching "Meerkat Manor." Based on research by Cambridge University, the documentary series is every bit as compelling as any soap opera. Each episode ends at a critical moment where you must tune in next time to get the rest of the story. It was amazing to me to learn that there were researchers who have devoted more than ten years of their life to observing meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. After watching the first DVD of this fascinating documentary, I could see why. The social structure of these little animals is quite complex. While the popular "Meerkat Manor" emphasizes the very appealing cooperative behavior of these mongooses, the study's research has also exposed a darker side to their behavior that needs to be further explored. I can't wait to see what secrets are revealed next.