Meerkats are one of the most easily recognizable African animals thanks to their slender frames, beige color with a dark patch on each eye, as well as their upright stance. These quirky members of the mongoose family became especially popular in the west thanks to Timon from the Lion King but they are much more than just a quirky animated character. So, let’s go over what do meerkats eat, whether they can be kept as pets, and some other interesting details.
Meerkats Habits and lifestyle
Before we go into their diets in captivity and whether they are suitable for indoor life, let’s get to know meerkats by taking a look at their lifestyle in the wild.
Native to the continent of Africa, meerkats are especially common in the deserts of South Africa such as the Namib Desert in Namibia, the Kalahari Desert of Botswana, large parts of south-western Angola, as well as the country of South Africa.
You’d think that mammals would find it hard to live in such a hot and harsh climate but meerkats are perfectly adapted to life in the desert. For example, they don’t even need to drink water – instead, they get all the moisture they need from the food they eat.
What’s more, meerkats aren’t even nocturnal like so many of the other animals in the desert. These small cousins of the mongoose feel perfectly fine in the day’s heat and don’t need to hide from it at all. They do live in burrows and mounds that they make by digging complex tunnels underground. However, meerkats use these tunnels to hide from predators and from the evening chills, not from the scorching midday sun.
Most people are familiar with the image of a group of meerkats, typically called a gang or a mob, hanging out at the entrance of their burrow. Meerkats do that to protect their home as well as to surveil the skies for predators and the land for prey.
These small mammals typically live in groups of 30 to 40 meerkats and utilize this strength in numbers to help them dig out larger dwellings, and keep each other’s litters of pups safe while the adults – whether males or female – go and scavenge for food, and so on.
The may defensive tactic of such large meerkats groups is the watch-out alarm method – the moment any of the many meerkats watch-outs spots danger, they signal the rest of the group to retreat into their tunnels. This way, any one meerkats can safely go to look for food, and rest assured that there are several dozen eyes looking out for them at any given moment.
What do meerkats eat in the wild?
Meerkats are the quintessential omnivore mammal. These small desert dwellers have evolved to eat almost every type of organic matter they can find in the desert. This includes:
- Plant matter such as tubers and roots they dig out of the ground
- All manner of seeds and fruits they find at the base of trees and shrubbery
- Insects of all types and sizes such as beetles, termites, grub, crickets, locusts, mealworms, waxworms, roaches caterpillars, centipedes, and other millipedes, including their larvae
- Venomous arachnids such as scorpions and spiders
- All types of small mammals meerkats are big and strong enough to easily catch and kill such as small rodents like a mouse or a shrew
- Small birds and their eggs whenever they can find them low to the ground. In fact, meerkats have even been observed climbing trees (1) (2) to find such prey albeit rarely.
- Meerkats will also happily go after reptiles such as snakes and lizards. Small snakes, in particular, are a favorite snack of meerkats as – as a mongoose – they are usually immune to their venom.
As you can see, meerkats are exceptionally opportunistic hunters that will go after all manner of prey and food as long as it’s small enough for them to safely take down. They are mostly considered to be insectivores, however, as that’s the biggest part of their menu – over 80% of their diet, in fact, according to a study done by the University of Michigan.
How do they hunt?
As omnivores, you’d expect meerkats to have a vast array of complex hunting strategies, including pack hunting. That’s not really the case, however. Meerkats hunt insects the same way they hunt lizards and mice or look for fruits and roots – they just roam the nearby area of several square miles around their mound and look for anything they can get their paws on. Then, they just use their sharp claws and teeth to beat anything into submission and then eat it.
For the trickier prey such as venomous snakes or scorpions, meerkats do have a couple of tricks up their sleeves. With snakes, they just go quickly for the head and try to ignore any bite they get even if it’s venomous. As a type of mongoose, meerkats do have a very strong resistance to snake venom that can work against even the most venomous snakes in the desert. At worst, a meerkat will just feel unwell for a few hours after a bite but will survive to enjoy its reptile dinner.
Meerkats are similarly resistant to scorpion venom and can survive stings strong enough to kill a small human child. Even then, meerkats do try to minimize the damage of scorpion venom by first going for the arachnid’s tail and biting it off. Then, the meerkats will largely ignore the annoying snips of the scorpion’s pincers but will “sand” its exoskeleton to get rid of any venom that’s left on it.
By and large, meerkats don’t really hunt in packs as nothing they hunt requires large numbers or cooperation. Instead, they simply use their high numbers to take turns – while some hunt, the others protect the large family’s den and vice versa. And, of course, when they have pups, the parents will bring parts of their prey back home to feed their litter.
Conservation
As of 2022, meerkats don’t face any significant threats of extinction so they don’t need much conservation. You can still find meerkats in most zoos, of course, but they are also present in the wild, in their natural habitat. That’s largely thanks to a few reasons:
- Meerkats aren’t hunted for trophies
- They aren’t really pests for farmers
- As omnivores, meerkats are very adaptable
- Not only do humans not hunt meerkats but they tend to hunt their predators which makes the life of wild meerkats even easier
What are meerkats’ biggest threats?
The meerkat’s predators in the wild include animals such as jackals, hawks, and eagles. Pretty much all predators that are big and fast enough to catch and kill a meerkat are a danger to them. Meerkats are especially wary of dangers coming from the sky which is why they’ve evolved with dark patches around their eyes – to reduce the glare from the sun as they stare at the skies.
Can meerkats be kept as pets?
As cute as they are, meerkats unfortunately don’t make for good pets. They are incredibly intelligent but they are not domesticated in any way. What’s more, they are highly social animals that require the presence of other meerkat family members so looking after just one meerkat at home is not an option.
Most of the lifestyle and hunting habits of meerkats also aren’t suitable for indoor life as they are used to digging both for food and for burrows. This simply means that a meerkat will ruin your floors in a manner of days.
And then, there is the small matter of meerkats being illegal to keep as pets in many countries including the US.
What do meerkats eat in capacity?
As omnivores, meerkats are quite easy to feed in captivity as most of what they eat in the wild is easily available anyway. Yet, there is one controversial issue with feeding meerkats in captivity – can they eat pellets?
We know that some zoos have tried pelleted food for meerkats but the results aren’t as good as their natural diet as meerkats need diverse food they can catch themselves. On the other hand, feeding them a natural diet requires lots of insects a day which can be complicated.
Overall, we’d recommend a diet that’s as diverse and close to natural as possible – as many insects as you can get, fruits, seeds, and roots, and the occasional meat in the form of live reptiles, mice, and chicks or lightly cooked chicken meat. Adding some nutritional pet biscuits from time to time is ok too.
Do baby meerkats eat the same thing as adults?
Baby meerkats need to eat even more insects than adults as their bodies need the extra protein to grow. In contrast, adults start adding more fruits, seeds, roots, and veggies to their diet.
How much do meerkats eat?
Meerkats don’t have any excess fat storage in their bodies like humans so they need to eat every day to stay healthy. A rough estimate is that a meerkat needs to eat its body weight in food every day, typically divided into three meals.
Conclusion
Meerkats are fascinating animals of the mongooses family that are native and still widely present in southern Africa thanks to their highly adaptable omnivore diet. They can be found in most zoos too but they sadly don’t work well as pets as they are not domesticated.