A group of meerkats is called a mob, and sometimes a gang.1National Geographic. Mob Mentality You may also see “clan” used casually, though mob is the term most often used. The rough-sounding names suit animals whose groups act as one unit, keeping watch, raising young and squaring off against rival groups together.
Mob, Gang or Clan and Where the Word Meerkat Comes From
Collective nouns for animals are conventions in English rather than official scientific terms. Many of them come from old hunting and word-game traditions, which is why some sound poetic rather than descriptive. Because the names grew by custom, different books can list different ones for the same animal, and none is officially wrong. Mob and gang are both acceptable, and scientists studying meerkats mostly just say “group.” For a quiz or crossword, mob is the safest answer, because it is the term most reference sources give first.
The word meerkat has a tangled history. It entered English from Afrikaans, the language of Dutch settlers in South Africa.2Wikipedia. Meerkat In Dutch, meerkat was a name for a kind of monkey, from an older word meaning “sea cat.”3Wiktionary. meerkat – Wiktionary, the free dictionary One popular theory says the Afrikaans “mier,” meaning ant or termite, plus “kat” gave “ant cat,” after the insects meerkats eat.4Wikipedia. Meerkat But early writers called both meerkats and yellow mongooses “mierkat,” so the name may refer to sitting on termite mounds rather than eating termites.5Navorsing van die Nasionale Museum. The significance of vernacular and scientific names of some mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians The name was applied to small South African mammals from 1801, possibly because settlers used it for many burrowing animals.6Wikipedia. Meerkat
Despite the “kat” in the name, meerkats are not cats at all. They are mongooses, which sit on the cat-like branch of carnivores but are not cats. Another name you may see in books is “suricate.”
How Many Meerkats Live in a Mob
Meerkat mobs commonly hold 10 to 20 animals, though bigger groups occur.7Linköping University. The effect of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of meerkats, banded mongooses and dwarf mongooses in human care In one long-watched wild area in the Kalahari, 200 to 300 meerkats lived spread across 10 to 15 groups.8Animal Behaviour. Group size and the suppression of subordinate reproduction in Kalahari meerkats That puts an average wild mob there at around 20 meerkats.
About 80 percent of the young in a mob come from a single male and female.9National Geographic. Mob Mentality Most members are therefore brothers and sisters, not mates. A mob works like an extended family, with grown children living alongside younger siblings.10Linköping University. The effect of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of meerkats, banded mongooses and dwarf mongooses in human care It can also include unrelated newcomers who help raise the pups.11Linköping University. The effect of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of meerkats, banded mongooses and dwarf mongooses in human care
Who Runs the Mob
Although a mob has a dominant breeding pair, the female leads, as a matriarch.12Linköping University. The effect of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of meerkats, banded mongooses and dwarf mongooses in human care Losing the dominant female can throw a mob into upheaval.
Her authority is enforced through aggression more than through any friendly leadership. Dominant females carry male hormone levels equal to those of males, and one such hormone even higher.13PubMed Central. Exceptional endocrine profiles characterise the meerkat: sex, status, and reproductive patterns She is heavier, more aggressive and more fertile than other females,14PubMed. Meerkat manners: Endocrine mediation of female dominance and reproductive control in a cooperative breeder and that physical edge helps her hold the top spot.
The advantage passes down. Daughters of such mothers inherit an aggressive start through their mother’s hormones before birth.15PubMed. Meerkat manners: Endocrine mediation of female dominance and reproductive control in a cooperative breeder That prenatal boost may help them compete later for the top position.
The matriarch also keeps breeding to herself. When pregnant, the dominant female attacks some other females more and more, finally driving them out of the group for a while.16PubMed Central. Stress and the suppression of subordinate reproduction in cooperatively breeding meerkats Evicted females are chronically stressed, conceive less often and lose more pregnancies.17PubMed Central. Stress and the suppression of subordinate reproduction in cooperatively breeding meerkats
Eviction is more than punishment. Other females’ pups compete with hers for food and care,18PubMed Central. Suppressing subordinate reproduction provides benefits to dominants in cooperative societies of meerkats so removing rivals protects what her pups receive. An experiment shows the link: when other females were kept from breeding with contraceptive injections, the dominant female became calmer, evicted less, gained more weight and had heavier, faster-growing pups.19PubMed Central. Suppressing subordinate reproduction provides benefits to dominants in cooperative societies of meerkats Still, other females can breed when food is plentiful.20Linköping University. The effect of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of meerkats, banded mongooses and dwarf mongooses in human care
Members that don’t breed often help feed and guard pups that are not their own. They are usually older siblings of the pups, and more helpers per pup means better-fed young.
How a Mob Works Together
One meerkat often watches for predators, usually from a raised spot, while others feed.21PubMed Central. Sentinel behavior in captive meerkats (Suricata suricatta) The rest can lower their guard and dig for food.22PubMed Central. Sentinel behavior in captive meerkats (Suricata suricatta) There is no regular rota, though, and guards choose safe spots near cover.23PubMed. Selfish sentinels in cooperative mammals Well-fed meerkats stand guard more often.24PubMed. Selfish sentinels in cooperative mammals The lookout is no self-sacrificing hero: it can watch and still dash to safety, even though the whole mob benefits.
The lookout also talks. It gives a steady stream of short calls when all is calm and switches to longer calls after an alarm.25PubMed Central. Discrete call types referring to predation risk enhance the efficiency of the meerkat sentinel system The steady calls tell foragers they can keep digging without looking up, and the change tells the group something has been spotted. The more urgent the threat, the more likely a meerkat gives a call that sends the mob running.26Behavioral Ecology. Flexible alarm calling in meerkats: the role of the social environment and predation urgency Meerkats even bark at predators when no other meerkat is around, as if addressing the predator.27Behavioral Ecology. Flexible alarm calling in meerkats: the role of the social environment and predation urgency
Older mob members also teach pups to handle difficult prey.28PubMed Central. Variation in contributions to teaching by meerkats Helpers first give young pups dead or disabled prey such as scorpions, then live ones as pups grow, guided by changes in pups’ begging calls.29PubMed. Teaching in wild meerkats This speeds pups’ learning, and adults don’t need complex thinking to do it.30PubMed. Teaching in wild meerkats
The scorpion lesson matters because scorpions can sting, so a pup must learn to remove or avoid the sting. Practising on disabled prey makes mistakes less costly.
When Mobs Meet Rival Mobs
Meetings between mobs are often aggressive and sometimes end in serious fights and deaths.31PubMed Central. Intergroup aggression in meerkats Rival mobs line up, raise their tails and bounce forward together, often posturing before any actual contact.
Larger mobs and mobs with pups are more likely to win.32PubMed Central. Intergroup aggression in meerkats More fighters can overwhelm a smaller mob, and pups give a mob more to defend, which may make it fight harder. Afterward, losing mobs pull back toward the centre of their land, while winners push outward.33PubMed Central. Intergroup aggression in meerkats
Scent works as a border notice. Meerkats use shared toilet sites, or latrines, to leave scent messages.34Animal Behaviour. Latrine distribution and patterns of use by wild meerkats: implications for territory and mate defence Each mob usually shares one latrine with each neighbouring mob, letting them keep tabs on each other.35Animal Behaviour. Latrine distribution and patterns of use by wild meerkats: implications for territory and mate defence Because territories are too large to scent-mark all around the edge,36Stellenbosch University. Meerkat latrines: cooperation, competition and discrimination other latrines sit in the heart of the territory near burrows, where wandering groups and males on the prowl are most likely to pass.37Stellenbosch University. Meerkat latrines: cooperation, competition and discrimination Members of a mob share a group scent signature,38PubMed Central. Social odours covary with bacterial community in the anal secretions of wild meerkats so a visitor’s smell can mark it as an outsider.
How Meerkats Leave Mobs and How Mobs End
Both sexes make scouting trips to other mobs to check for breeding chances.39Journal of Zoology. Dispersal and extra‐territorial prospecting by slender‐tailed meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in the south‐western Kalahari Males scout often and repeatedly, frequently in small bands, while females usually go alone.40Journal of Zoology. Dispersal and extra‐territorial prospecting by slender‐tailed meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in the south‐western Kalahari Among meerkats three or older, more males than females move away, and most leavers join a neighbouring group or other wanderers.41Journal of Zoology. Dispersal and extra‐territorial prospecting by slender‐tailed meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in the south‐western Kalahari Leaving is riskier for females, who appear more likely to die than males.42Journal of Zoology. Dispersal and extra‐territorial prospecting by slender‐tailed meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in the south‐western Kalahari
Some mobs end when males and females split apart, others after a sudden death toll.43PubMed Central. Decline and fall: The causes of group failure in cooperatively breeding meerkats Many failures involve tuberculosis outbreaks.44PubMed Central. Decline and fall: The causes of group failure in cooperatively breeding meerkats Extremely hot years stress meerkats because they hide from heat instead of foraging.45Scientific American. Meerkats Are Getting Climate Sick Stress raises the chance that disease turns into an outbreak, with local groups’ risk of dying out predicted to double over a dozen years.46Scientific American. Meerkats Are Getting Climate Sick Heat also makes males roam more, spreading TB between mobs.47Scientific American. Meerkats Are Getting Climate Sick Larger mobs protect pups’ growth on hot days because more helpers share the feeding.48Functional Ecology. Effects of climate change on pup growth and survival in a cooperative mammal, the meerkat Meerkats are not currently endangered overall, but climate change is a growing pressure on local mobs.