Territorial Behavior of Meerkats

Meerkats are extremely social animals. They can be observed interacting with one another--doing things such as grooming, wrestling and "communicating" with their fellow gang members. The babies of the females can often be found playing with the other babies in the gang and their is a community babysitter assigned to watch all of the babies while the others look for food. As I said in the last post, they also take turns on sentry duty to alert the gang of potential dangers.

                                                  Meerkat babies playing and wrestling.


Because community living is so crucial to the meerkat's survival, they are rarely territorial towards members of their gang. Instances of fighting can be seen when a meerkat invades another's space for food or between the alpha males and other males during mating season, but in general the meerkats of a certain gang are very respectful of one another.

Meerkat territorial behavior is seen between rival gangs. If one gang starts to encroach on another gang's burrow system, they will start to dig furiously and create a dust cloud in order to distract the attacking gang and get them to go away. If the gang continues to approach, a fight will break out. Both gangs will engage in what is called "mobbing"--grouping together, fluffing out their fur, jumping and barking loudly--in order to make themselves look bigger and stronger than their opponent. If the alpha male decides the gang has a good chance of fighting successfully, he will give a signal to go ahead and fight. At this point, each meerkat (besides the babies and the assigned babysitter/protector) will go after a rival meerkat and attempt to kill them. Sometimes meerkats will double -team the dominant male/female of the opposing group in order to decrease the chances of the gangs survival.

                                                    2 rival meerkats fighting over territory.


The end of the fight is signaled by either the death or abandonment of an entire gang. The alpha male will determine the win and either signal for the fleeing of the remaining surviving members or alert the gang that they are now safe and the fight is over.

Territorial fighting can also be seen between meerkats when a beta male or female breaks off from his/her gang and tries to join a new one in hopes of finding a better chance for mating. The new gang will initially see this as an intrusion and start a fight with the lone meerkat. If they survive and successfully integrate into the new gang, they will be accepted by other members and no longer be seen as an intruder. In some cases, a couple of beta males/females will group together and try to take over an existing gang. This is a rare win, but if they do succeed, they automatically become the new alpha male and female for that gang.

Overall, meerkats are not very ferocious animals. They show much affection and care for their fellow gang members, often marking them with their scent, grooming and licking them--activities that are only done to accepted gang members. Much fighting is done together in order to protect the gang and their home. Moral of the story: meerkats may look nice, cute and friendly, but mess with their gang and you're in trouble!

                                           Same-gang meerkats grooming each other.

Resources:
http://www.meerkats.net/info.htm
http://ladywildlife.com/animals/meerkat.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/mammals/meerkats.html