Are meercats really cats

A.� No, they belong to the mongoose family, and to further press the point, the correct spelling is 'meerkat', not 'meercat'.

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Q.� What does meerkat mean

A.� Meerkat is a South African Dutch word meaning 'lake cat' since meerkats are often found near stretches of water.

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Presumably early observers thought they looked like cats.

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Q.� It must be their long tails

A.� Quite possibly. Meerkats are around 30 centimetres long, but have tails that are two-thirds their body length, around 20 centimetres. They use their relatively long tails as a kind of tripod to balance as they stand on their hind legs.

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Q.� Why do they spend so much time standing up

A.� The classic stance of the meerkat, reared up on its hind legs, serves several purposes.

It's a good way to maximise on catching the early suns rays to warm up after a chilly night in the desert. Perhaps more importantly it gives them an excellent view of any approaching danger, of which there are many for meerkats, so that they can warn the other members of their group.

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In fact teamwork is a meerkats driving passion and each member of the group has a specific task. Meerkats on sentry duty keep an eye out for predators, like eagles, while the others take a nap, feed the young or look after older members of the group.

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If those on look out do spot approaching danger then they give a waning bark and everyone scurries into their underground burrow.

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Q.� How many meerkats live together

A.� A mob or gang of meerkats can have anything between 5 and 30 members.

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Q.� Where do meerkats live

A.� In South Africa in grass-lined burrows that they share with ground squirrels and yellow mongooses.

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Q.� Why do they have dark eye patches

A.� Their distinctive black circles around their eyes serve as ad hoc sunglasses, damping down the intense rays of the South African sun.

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Q.� And what do meerkats eat

A.� They like to eat scorpions, beetles, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, worms, crickets, small mammals, small reptiles, birds, eggs and roots.

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Q.� Scorpions, but what about their deadly sting

A.� Meerkats seem to be immune to it.

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by Lisa Cardy