So for my last post, I decided to share some of my favorite video clips! Here is one that shows a group of baby meerkat's first experience outside of the den... it is fascinating how easily they warm up to the human observers! The pups are so darn cute :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMIRwCNvI94
This video is made by Simon King and his crew, a wildlife film maker from the UK who has spent much time with meerkats in the Kalahari Desert.
This next video, also from the BBC channel, gives a great example of how meerkats hunt in groups, including a view of the meerkat on sentry duty and the calls they give to warn the group of an incoming threat. It is a good synopsis of the daily hunting routine of meerkats. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Meerkat#p00f3h6l
The National Geographic channel has a great little montage that highlights some of the most interesting facts about meerkats. It is great because it shows how they dig burrows and most importantly--how they eat a living scorpion without getting stung! http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/bugs-animals/spiders-and-scorpions/meerkat/ Forgive the cheesy narrator, its hard to make wildlife videos interesting! ;)
These next two videos are behind-the-scenes clips from Animal Planet's Meerkat Manor. They are interviews with the field researchers who explain some of the behaviors they observe in meerkats on a daily basis. This first one is about how a dominant female is chosen in a meerkat group: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZglquBWYgk&feature=related and this next one is about how the radio collars they put on the meerkats work and how they are able to get them on the meerkats without endangering themselves or the animals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydCMCAwd8Cg&feature=relmfu
So there you go, I hope you found some of these videos interesting! I think they help to provide visual examples to the many topics I have discussed over this blog. I hope you have learned about these cute, cuddly and fascinating creatures in great detail over the course of this blog. I have had a lot of fun researching and writing about them each week! :)
Resources:
http://animal.discovery.com/animals
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Meerkats in the Zoo--Are They Trainable?
I went to the San Diego Zoo for one last trip this semester and couldn't pass up the meerkat habitat, I just love these little critters! One of the zookeepers happened to be in front inviting people to come and ask questions if they had any. I figured this would be a great time to get some more information for my blog! So I decided to ask her about meerkats in captivity and if there are many behavioral differences, and also if meerkats were readily trainable in zoo settings.
The zookeeper had a lot of information. She told me that meerkats in captivity live longer and get to be almost twice the size of wild meerkats! This is due to the abundance of food and the inability to hunt and forage for food and dig new burrows--some of the only ways meerkats get exercise in the wild. She also said many of the meerkats alarm calls fall by the wayside in captivity, since there are no predators to warn the group about. This helps to explain why they were so quiet and lazy last time I observed them at the zoo!
Another interesting thing the zookeeper told me about captive meerkats is that their hierarchy system is somewhat diminished. There is still a clear alpha male and alpha female, but they are not so strict about who can and cannot have offspring. She speculates this is due, again, to the abundance of food and burrow territory, but more research is needed to know exactly why this happens. She also told me meerkats in captivity reproduce twice a year as compared to once a year in the wild, and typically have larger litters.
When I asked about how trainable meerkats are, the zookeeper said despite some of their best efforts, the meerkats here in the San Diego Zoo have not been easily trained. Their one big success story is getting several of the meerkats to use a litterbox! But mostly she believes the meerkats are best left to live as they please and attempts to train them have fallen by the wayside. She said they are very good with human interaction and will readily come up to all zookeepers when they are in their enclosure.
Overall it sounds like the meerkats in captivity here in San Diego live great lives! In comparison to their counterparts in the Kalahari Desert they are practically living in paradise! :)
The zookeeper had a lot of information. She told me that meerkats in captivity live longer and get to be almost twice the size of wild meerkats! This is due to the abundance of food and the inability to hunt and forage for food and dig new burrows--some of the only ways meerkats get exercise in the wild. She also said many of the meerkats alarm calls fall by the wayside in captivity, since there are no predators to warn the group about. This helps to explain why they were so quiet and lazy last time I observed them at the zoo!
Another interesting thing the zookeeper told me about captive meerkats is that their hierarchy system is somewhat diminished. There is still a clear alpha male and alpha female, but they are not so strict about who can and cannot have offspring. She speculates this is due, again, to the abundance of food and burrow territory, but more research is needed to know exactly why this happens. She also told me meerkats in captivity reproduce twice a year as compared to once a year in the wild, and typically have larger litters.
When I asked about how trainable meerkats are, the zookeeper said despite some of their best efforts, the meerkats here in the San Diego Zoo have not been easily trained. Their one big success story is getting several of the meerkats to use a litterbox! But mostly she believes the meerkats are best left to live as they please and attempts to train them have fallen by the wayside. She said they are very good with human interaction and will readily come up to all zookeepers when they are in their enclosure.
Overall it sounds like the meerkats in captivity here in San Diego live great lives! In comparison to their counterparts in the Kalahari Desert they are practically living in paradise! :)
Friday, May 4, 2012
Random & Interesting Facts About Meerkats... Complete with a quiz!
I thought it would be cool to do a post on facts about meerakts that most people don't know. So, here it goes! I'm also including a fun little quiz at the end for everyone to try! Answers will come with the next post :)
-Meerkats only have four toes.
-A male meerkat weighs on average only 1.5 pounds, females typically weigh around 1 or less
-Meerkats use their tails to balance. Their tails can be up to 9 inches long, almost as long as their body!
-If it is cold or rainy outside, meerkats will stay in their burrows and wait out the storm, hunting later in the day instead of the morning.
-Meerkats have ears that can open and close in order to protect them from getting dirt in their ears when they dig burrows.
-A meerkat's average life span is 12-14 years.
-Meerkats can eat scorpions because they are immune to their venom.
-Their is an extremely successful show in England starting an animated meerkat. (Kind of like the Geico Gecko!)
Meerkat Quiz:
Go here to try out the quiz! http://www.fellowearthlings.org/meerkat-trivia.html
Resources:
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/meerkats/quiz
http://www.facts-about.org.uk/facts-about-meerkats.html
http://denisiuk.dev.itechcraft.com/animals-194/small-mammals-9883/meerkat-9892.html/list-categories/page-0
-Meerkats only have four toes.
-A male meerkat weighs on average only 1.5 pounds, females typically weigh around 1 or less
-Meerkats use their tails to balance. Their tails can be up to 9 inches long, almost as long as their body!
-If it is cold or rainy outside, meerkats will stay in their burrows and wait out the storm, hunting later in the day instead of the morning.
-Meerkats have ears that can open and close in order to protect them from getting dirt in their ears when they dig burrows.
-A meerkat's average life span is 12-14 years.
-Meerkats can eat scorpions because they are immune to their venom.
-Their is an extremely successful show in England starting an animated meerkat. (Kind of like the Geico Gecko!)
Meerkat Quiz:
Go here to try out the quiz! http://www.fellowearthlings.org/meerkat-trivia.html
Resources:
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/meerkats/quiz
http://www.facts-about.org.uk/facts-about-meerkats.html
http://denisiuk.dev.itechcraft.com/animals-194/small-mammals-9883/meerkat-9892.html/list-categories/page-0
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