The meerkat has a wide distribution in southern Africa, from the extreme southwest of Angola, through Namibia and Botswana, and into the west and north of South Africa. They live in areas with the stony, often calcareous ground in a variety of arid, open habitats with little woody vegetation. Meerkats are common in savannahs, open plains, and rocky areas beside dry rivers. They are absent from true deserts but may occur in semi-desert regions.
The meerkat is like only three other mongoose species, in that it is highly sociable and inhabits territories in packs. A pack usually has 10 to 30 individuals (although much larger ones are not uncommon where the food supply is plentiful) consisting of 3 or 4 family units with a male, female, and their young. Packs can move collectively in search of food, to escape high predator pressure, and during floods. Meerkats live in large burrow systems that are typically 5 m (16 ft) in diameter with around 15 openings; these large underground networks consist of 2 to 3 levels of tunnels. Once meerkats come out of their burrows in the early morning sun to sunbathe, most of them will go off to seek food while the others act as guards or babysit the young. By standing on their hind legs up on mounds and in bushes, the guards are able to have a good view of approaching predators, particularly those in the sky. They will use different alarm calls to alert the group to the danger, and often the whole group will dive into the burrow to hide.
Meerkats exhibit a monogamous mating system, meaning that the dominant male and female of each group are usually the only individuals to successfully breed. However, subordinate females very occasionally will reproduce, and subordinate males will temporarily leave the group to try to mate with females of other groups, which suggests polygynous behavior. The breeding season in the wild runs from October to April, whereas in captivity they breed year-round. Gestation lasts for 11 weeks, with 2 to 5 pups being born. The pups stay in their burrow for three weeks, ‘babysat’ by helpers. When they are four weeks old, the pups will begin to go with the group to forage, and for their first 49 to 63 days will be fed by the helpers, at the same time being taught how to get their own food. The young become independent enough to forage at around 12 weeks of age. This species becomes reproductively mature at about 1 year of age
Meerkats are carnivores (insectivores), eating insects such as scorpions (they are immune to venom), beetles, spiders, crickets, centipedes, millipedes, and worms. They also eat eggs, roots, tubers, small reptiles, and small mammals.
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