They are excellent diggers. Meerkats usually live in burrows dug by other animals such as ground squirrels. These burrows have an average of 15 entrance and exit holes, with tunnels and chambers at several levels, some as deep as 6.5 feet (2 meters). The deeper tunnels stay at a constant, comfortable temperature, whether it’s hot or cold outside. Find out more!

No prey is safe from meerkats! With their excellent sense of smell, they can even find their food when it is hiding underground. Meerkats can dig very quickly to find insects (the biggest part of their diet), spiders, snails, rodents, birds, eggs, lizards, and scorpions.

They have a home territory of about 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) or more and hunt in a different section each day, returning to the first area after a week.

Meerkats have a matriarchal society, with adult females generally slightly larger than the males. The dominant female can have several litters a year, but usually she has babies, called pups, during times when there is plenty of food, which is generally during the rainy season (November through March).

Pups are born with eyes and ears shut and are mostly hairless at birth. Their eyes open after two weeks, and pups start eating food other than milk at three weeks.