Meerkat
| Meerkat | ||||||||||||
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| image:meerkat_small.jpg (larger image) | ||||||||||||
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| Suricata suricatta | ||||||||||||
The meerkat issmall mammal (weighing about 2 lbs20 inches long) inhabiting all parts ofKalahari Desertsouthern Africa.
Itcarnivorous, consuming mostly insects but also other small mammals,livescoloniesup40 individuals. They huntgroupsprotect their young.
Meerkat calls have recently been notedcarry an elementlinguistic arbitrariness,particular calls representingapproachsnakes, birdsprey, or other predators. How this has evolvednot clear; however,isclear demonstration that arbitrarinessnot solely relatedhuman language, although no-one would claim thatcalls ofmeerkat aretrue language.
