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Food
scorpions, spiders, roots and tubers
Lifetime
12 years on average
Weight
approximately 725 grams
Number of youngsters
3 boy
Wear time
11 weeks
IUCN status
safe
EEP?
no
Pest control
Meerkats eat a lot of different things. Insects are at the top of the menu. More than 90% of their diet consists of insects, spiders and centipedes. Meerkats live in groups of up to fifty animals, and each meerkat eats a large number of insects every day. This makes meerkats natural pest controllers
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Theme area: A World of Difference
You can see the meerkat in the ‘A World of Difference’ theme area. Here, you can discover the impressive diversity of nature.
Fooled you!
Meerkats live in the same habitat as the drongo. This is a bird that mainly eats insects, just like the meerkats. Meerkats listen closely for the alarm call drongos make. Drongos warn about predators, such as birds of prey. But sometimes a drongo gives a warning when there is no danger at all. The meerkats quickly hide and leave the insects they just caught on the ground. The drongo can then take off with the food. This method gives them an easy meal.