The meerkat, or Suricata suricatta, is a small, social member of the mongoose family native to the arid open plains and savannas of southern Africa, particularly the Kalahari Desert. While generally classified as an omnivore, the meerkat’s menu is primarily centered around animal matter, making it a functional insectivore. This adaptable approach ensures the meerkat receives the nutrients and moisture necessary for survival in its dry habitat.
Primary Food Sources
The majority of the meerkat’s nutrition comes directly from invertebrates, which often constitute over 80% of its diet. These protein-rich items are primarily found underground, necessitating that the meerkat spend a large portion of its day foraging and digging. Common prey includes beetles, grubs, termites, and the larval and adult stages of moths and butterflies.
Meerkats supplement their diet with other arthropods, such as spiders, centipedes, and millipedes. They are also opportunistic feeders and consume small vertebrates, including lizard eggs, small snakes, and geckos, which provide greater caloric bulk. The specific composition of the meerkat diet shifts seasonally, depending on the availability of different prey items following rainfall patterns.
Handling Specialized Prey
Meerkats have developed specialized behaviors and physical resistances that allow them to tackle prey dangerous to other small mammals. They frequently target venomous scorpions, an abundant food source in their desert home. They possess a degree of natural resistance to the venom of many scorpions and snakes native to the Kalahari, which helps them survive if a strike is not completely avoided.
When hunting scorpions, the meerkat uses speed and dexterity to quickly disable the creature, often biting off the stinger before consuming the body. Larger or more difficult prey, such as small venomous snakes, may be attacked by a group of meerkats, which use quick, coordinated movements to overwhelm the reptile.
Group Foraging Techniques
Meerkats are gregarious foragers, meaning the entire group, or “mob,” moves and searches for food together. They use strong, non-retractable foreclaws to rapidly excavate the soil, often sifting through a kilogram of sand per minute while looking for subterranean prey. Their pointed snouts and keen sense of smell help them locate insects and grubs buried below the surface.
The meerkat foraging system relies on the use of a sentinel, an individual who stands watch from a high vantage point while the others forage. The sentinel reduces the risk of predation by alerting the group to danger, allowing the foragers to focus on digging. Tutoring behavior is used to teach young pups how to safely handle dangerous food items. Older meerkats present pups with disabled prey, such as scorpions with the stinger removed, gradually introducing them to more challenging live prey as they mature.
Water and Plant Consumption
The meerkat has adapted to derive most of its necessary moisture directly from its food sources in the arid Kalahari climate. The high water content of the invertebrates and small vertebrates they consume usually provides sufficient hydration. This adaptation allows the meerkat to survive without needing to drink external water frequently, which is a major advantage where surface water is scarce.
When animal-based moisture is insufficient, meerkats turn to water-rich plant matter they can dig up. They consume roots and tubers, which are natural storage organs for water beneath the soil, to supplement their hydration. Specific items like the desert truffle, Kalaharituber pfeilii, and tsama melons are sought out primarily for their moisture content.