Meerkats Facts - Amazing Facts

Meerkats live in groups of up to 30 animals. A group is called a colony and each colony is made up of several families. While some meerkats search for food, other stand guard and look for enemies, such as Hawks. An average life span of 12–14 years.

Its also called suricates and is a member of the mongoose family. Meerkats are good hunters and are sometimes tamed for use as rodent-catchers. Meerkats are primarily insectivores, but also eat lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders, plants, eggs, small mammals, millipedes, centipedes and, more rarely, small birds. They are partially immune to certain venoms; they are immune to the very strong venom of the scorpions of the Kalahari Desert. Meerkats are also known to share their burrow with the Yellow Mongoose and ground squirrel, species with which they do not compete for resources. If they are unlucky, sometimes they share their burrow with snakes. 

Meerkats have been known to engage in social activities, including what appear to be wrestling matches and foot races. Meerkats make very poor pets. They bite, and the bite can become infected. They stink, and will scent-mark their owner and the house Being a pack animal, they may become hysterical if kept as single pets. One of the main characters of the Disney animated film The Lion King is a meerkat known as Timon.