#0343 · 🦊 mammals

Meerkat

🇳🇱 Stokstaartje ·Suricata suricatta

LCleast concern 🦊 Mammals 📍 outside Europe

9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © 魔笛 · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Cloudtail the Snow Leopard · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
3. © Justin Ponder · CC BY 4.0
4. © Heather Paul · CC BY-ND 4.0
5. © H. Zel · CC BY-SA 4.0
6. © Justin Ponder · CC BY 4.0
7. © Jaunne-Marelize Van Tonder · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. © pfaucher · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. © copper · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The meerkat or suricate ( Suricata suricatta ) is a small carnivoran belonging to the mongoose family (Herpestidae). It is the only member of the genus Suricata . Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan". A meerkat clan often contains about 20 meerkats, but some super-families have 50 or...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 4,588iNaturalist observations
weight 725 gadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
4,588 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs only about 725 g.
Scientifically named by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1776 (250 years ago).