The Kalahari Meerkat Project

Browsing thorough links about meerkats, I came across a really cool website about a current long-term research project. It is called the Kalahari Meerkat Project and it is being conducted by a team of researchers interested in the evolution of cooperative behavior in meerkats clans. The team consists of several professors, doctoral and Ph. D. students from Cambridge University and the University of Zurich. Volunteers are also welcome to come learn about the project and help with current studies.

                                                             The KMP logo

The project is geared at uncovering both the proximate and ultimate causes of cooperative behavior in meerkats. Several of the current studies include looking into the hormonal variation of male and female meerkats and looking for links to hormones and cooperative behavior. The researchers suspect that it has something to do with their level of glucocorticoids and are in the works of preparing a study to test their hypotheses. Another study is interested in the rise of disease among social groups of animals such as meerkats and is looking into how the naturally occurring disease TB has entered the meerkat population and how it is spreading.

The researchers work with habituated meerkats living in the Kuruman River Reserve in the Kalahari Desert. They work with over 200 meerkats and observe 13 different clans for their studies. All of the meerkats being studied have identification collars on and are used to being around the researchers. Most of them can even be held by the researchers without running away or biting them.

                              A Kalahari Meerkat Project researcher observing one of the meerkat clans.

The Kalahari Research Project also allows other individual researchers to come and work with their group of habituated meerkats. Their goal is education and better understanding of the meerkat population and will allow other researchers to conduct studies if they fit in with their research goals. There have been a number of very interesting studies conducted by outside researchers associated with the Kalahari Project, ranging from pup exploitation of adult meerkats to the development of the alarm call behavior among individual meerkat clans. This project and its funding allow researchers to learn more about this amazing animal and will hopefully lead to a better understanding and more public awareness of meerkats and the amazing social network that exists among their clans.

The website has a ton of information about the project and continually updates its current studies and findings as they become available. There are volunteer opportunities and ways for individuals to get involved if they would like to do so. You can also access pictures and information about the specific meerkats the Project studies. Check it out and learn more about this awesome project! :)

Website/Resources: http://www.kalahari-meerkats.com/index.php?id=home
http://friends.kalahari-meerkats.com/