If you love meerkats and want to decide whether they are rodents or not, you’ve definitely come to the right place. This post is going to address the question “Are meerkats rodents? Read on,
What are meerkats?
Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) are small carnivores that live in the dry, open country of southern Africa. They have long faces with tawny fur and white patches on their underbellies and black eye stripes.
Meerkats look like mongooses, but they belong to the Family Herpestidae, which also includes the brown-necked mongoose, banded mongoose, dwarf mongoose and others. Meerkats are diurnal, ground-dwelling mammals.
They live in groups of up to 40 members, called mobs. Since a meerkat’s lifespan is only 6-7 years in the wild and 12-14 years in captivity, they usually have a new litter every year.
Are meerkats rodents?
Meerkats are not rodents; they are part of the mongoose family. A meerkat is a predatory mammal that lives in southern Africa.
Meerkats are known for their upright stance and social structure, which includes sharing burrows with other meerkats.
The word „meerkat” comes from the Afrikaans word „meerkat,” which means „lake cat” in English. The word „meer” means lake, and the word „kat” means cat. Meerkats were named by early Dutch settlers who thought they resembled cats
Is a Meerkat a Rat?
Meerkats are found in southern Africa. They live in the Kalahari Desert, which is mainly in Botswana, but also goes into Namibia and South Africa.
Meerkats live in groups of 20 or more, but they usually split up into smaller groups to look for food. They like living in the desert because there are lots of places to hide from predators.
What are the 3 species of meerkats?
The three species of meerkat are the yellow mongoose, suricate, and slender mongoose. Meerkats belong to the family Herpestidae, which is Latin for „the smelly ones.” Other members of this family include jackals, civets, and mongooses.
The yellow mongoose, which is native to Africa, is larger than most other mongooses and is brownish-yellow in color. The suricate, or African meerkat, lives in southern Africa and is light grey with a white tummy.
The slender mongoose, common to Sub-Saharan Africa, has a grayish-brown coat and grows to about 20 inches long. Meerkats are small mammals that live in underground burrows. They are social animals and form groups called mobs of 20 to 50 meerkat
What animal looks like a meerkat?
There are several animals that look like a meerkat. Some animals are more common than others. There are many species of animal that look similar to the meerkat, but there are not many that are the same size and have the same kind of body shape.
The most common animals that look like a meerkat include:
Gerbils – These rodents have long tails and short, rounded ears like a meerkat. They also have large eyes and furry bodies. The gerbil is found in North Africa and parts of Asia, including Pakistan, India and Nepal.
They live in burrows underground and can grow to be up to 3 inches (8 cm) long!
Groundhogs – Groundhogs have similar coloring to a meerkat with their dark brown fur on top and lighter tan underneath. They also share the same body shape as well as long tails that are useful for balance when standing upright on their hind legs for long periods of time looking out over the landscape around them
Conclusion
Like most animals living on the African continent, meerkats exhibit a variety of characteristics that make them unique. Meerkats have defined characteristics that make them very different from other rodents (mice, rats, etc) or even other small mammals. They have specialized features that make them unique in their own right. If you have any question about the meerkats kindly leave a comment below.
Lydia King is a huge animal lover and has always been fascinated with learning about the animal kingdom. She enjoys writing about anything animal related from scientific information about rare species to animal references in pop culture.
