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I still can't decide whether this meerkat (Suricata suricatta) had a lot of fur or was a little overweight. Either way, most of the others were inside under the heating lamp whilst this one looked out for predators by himself.
I've actually been reading on the behaviour of these little guys lately and found something very interesting - mothers feed dead scorpions to very young meerkats, live scorpions without their stings for slightly older meerkats, and healthy live scorpions for older ones. They can tell which scorpions to feed their young depending on their calling sounds, which change with age. Pups which undergo these changes have greater chances of survival than those which do not go through all the phases.
Did you know? Meerkats can dig through a quantity of sand equal to its own weight in just seconds, and are immune to several different natural venoms. That's why they can feed on scorpions, for example.
Artis Zoo, Amsterdam, Holland.
Canon 7D.

Others

Description
I still can't decide whether this meerkat (Suricata suricatta) had a lot of fur or was a little overweight. Either way, most of the others were inside under the heating lamp whilst this one looked out for predators by himself.
I've actually been reading on the behaviour of these little guys lately and found something very interesting - mothers feed dead scorpions to very young meerkats, live scorpions without their stings for slightly older meerkats, and healthy live scorpions for older ones. They can tell which scorpions to feed their young depending on their calling sounds, which change with age. Pups which undergo these changes have greater chances of survival than those which do not go through all the phases.
Did you know? Meerkats can dig through a quantity of sand equal to its own weight in just seconds, and are immune to several different natural venoms. That's why they can feed on scorpions, for example.
Artis Zoo, Amsterdam, Holland.
Canon 7D.

Others