Slender Tailed Meerkat

Scientific Classification

Appearance and lifespan

The slender-tailed meerkat is 50.8cm (20 inches) long from its head to the tip of tail and both males and females weigh approximately 1 kg (2.2lbs).  The slender–tailed meerkat has a skinny body with slender limbs and a series of dark bands that run across the back.  Their eyes are surrounded by black smudges, which may help to limit the glare of the sun in the desert.  They often stand up straight on their hind legs, with front legs held in front of their chests.  They have pointed snouts, low-set ears and powerful digging claws that are suited for their harsh habitat.  The slender-tailed meerkat usually lives for approximately 10 years but can live up to 12 years in captivity.

Behavior and reproduction

Meerkats become sexually mature at about one year of age and can have 1 to 5 pups in a litter, with 3 pups being the most common litter size.  Wild meerkats may have up to four litters per year.  Meerkats can reproduce any time of the year but most births occur in the warmer seasons.  Gestation lasts approximately 11 weeks and the young are born within the underground burrow and require constant parental care for a period of time.  The young’s ears open at about 15 days of age, and their eyes at 10-14 days.  They are weaned at 7-9 weeks and the pups are allowed to leave the burrow at three weeks.  When the young do leave the burrow they stay with babysitters nearby. 

After a week or so with the babysitters, they join the adults on foraging parties. Territories are hotly defended and the borders are scent-marked by the males. When hunting the meerkat will strike out with its paws before biting its prey, and usually takes its meal back to the burrow to share with the others.  While looking for food, group members keep in touch by making a soft murmuring sound.  Clucks and barks indicate a predator threat and will cause the group to scramble furiously back to the burrow.  As meerkats emerge from the burrows, selected individuals will stand guard to keep watch for predators. They keep watch often in the branches of a tree, and bark out a warning at the first sign of danger. When meerkats face the threats of a rival group of meerkats or a predator, they begin digging up the ground frantically in order to create clouds of dust to distract their aggressor.  Each meerkat has special duties that benefit the group as a whole.  Meerkats are active by day, taking shelter in their warm burrows against the chill of the night.  The burrows are complex and may have up to 90 entrances and several different levels.  The meerkats usually stay within sprinting distance of this burrow complex, but launch food-hunting missions out into the surrounding area.  Together they will hunt dangerous prey such as scorpions, returning to the burrow with choice items of food to feed the young.  The slender-tailed meerkats actively teach their young while the young of most species of mongoose learn solely by observing adults.

Ecology and conservation

The slender-tailed meerkat lives solely in the desert and avoids woodland and densely vegetated areas, preferring to live among the scrub. Meerkats feed mainly on insects, spiders, and snails, but their prey also includes rodents, ground-nesting birds and their eggs, lizards, and bulbs and roots of select plants.  They will even tackle dangerous prey such as scorpions and snakes.  Relying on its keen sense of smell, the meerkat is a successful forager.

Did you know?

• Meerkats have a resistance to scorpion and snake venom as they often prey on these animals.
• A meerkat can dig through a quantity of sand equal to its own weight in just seconds.
• Meerkats band together in numbers to frighten off predators many times their size.
• The group of slender-tailed meerkats here at Riverview Park and Zoo are part of a Species Survival Plan, which helps to ensure healthy numbers of certain animals. 

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