Suricata Suricatta (via Wikipedia)
Meerkats live mostly in the Kalahari desert, that is in southern Africa. A cool linguistical quirk is that a group of meerkats is called a “mob”. Despite their cute appearance, meerkats are carnivores. They mostly eat insects, but also lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders, plants, eggs, small mammals, millipedes, centipedes and sometimes even small birds. They are immune to a number of venoms, including Kalahari scorpion venom.
Like all other social species, meerkats exhibit altruistic behavior. Only the alpha pair ever reproduces but other females of the mob (usually some 20-30 in strength) babysit the young and also often lactate to keep them fed. They always post sentries when looking for food and the sentry not only is the one in most danger but also won’t be able to forage for food for itself. And not only that but they also engage in sports like wrestling and running races.
Meerkat by Jared Earle (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredearle/)
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