Josh+M

media type="custom" key="21171414"

Meerkats.

//**C****lassification**//
 * Kingdom: || Animalia ||
 * Phylum: || Chordata ||
 * Class: || Mammalia ||
 * Order: || Carnivora ||
 * Family: || Herbistidae ||
 * Genus: || **//Suricata//** Desmerest 1804 ||
 * Species: || **//Suricata Suricatta//** ||

//** Females **// Females have more power in a group. This means Females get to choose a male to breed with, where to forage for food and even where to burrow or take shelter for the night. //** Males **// Male meerkats may not be a power vicious and tight as female meerkats but can be just as aggression driven. Males usually originate from other mobs. Young meerkats are allowed to leave their burrow at the age of three weeks. They are allowed to breed with one another at the age of one. Their ears open at approximately 15 days old. //** Average Size **// The size of meerkats on average is 1 foot (12 inches, 30 centimetres). //** Pregnancy **// The gestation period is 11 weeks and female Meerkats have usually 2-5 baby Meerkats. In the wild the breeding season is from October to April but in captivity Meerkats breed year round. //** Habitat **// Most enclosures for Meerkats in a zoo is usually a sand and rocky area. In the wild, they live in grasslined burrows in the Kalahari Desert and parts of Southern Africa. These borrows are shared with ground squirrels and Yellow Mongoose. They have one toilet area that is used by all members of the group. //** Feeding **// Insects such as scorpions (Meerkats are immune to the scorpion venom), beetles, spiders, centipedes, crickets, millipedes and worms are a part in a Meerkat's diet. They also eat eggs, tubers, roots, small mammals and small reptiles. //** Conclusion **// I find Meerkats interesting because of how they stand on their back legs to search their surroundings to see if there are predators around or food to eat.
 * // Young //**