Friends in low places

ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR

Friends IN LOW PLACES The predator-packed Kalahari is a dangerous place to be a small mammal. For meerkats and ground squirrels safety in numbers can involve a novel form of neighbourhood watch.

By Ann & Steve Toon

74 WILD SPRING 2013

www.wildcard.co.za

LATE RISERS It’s half an hour after sunrise when a meerkat and a ground squirrel emerge from the same burrow to greet the new day.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR

O

N AN EARLY MORNING GAME DRIVE along the Kgalagadi’s Auob riverbed, the sudden movement of a small head ducking into a hole alerted us to a meerkat burrow only metres from the road. We set up our cameras and trained our lenses on the hole, and within minutes a little head popped out: a ground squirrel. Then another; the same hole, but this time a meerkat. Other heads appeared in nearby holes, some meerkats, some ground squirrels. As the animals emerged warily into daylight and began sunning themselves, it became apparent that this one burrow was home to half a dozen ground squirrels and twice that number of meerkats, all living together in apparent harmony.

Such an arrangement is by no means unusual. Meerkats are strong diggers, but frequently save themselves the work by occupying burrows already excavated by ground squirrels, often while the squirrels are still resident. The presence of so many extra eyes doubtless has a benefit – the Kalahari is full of dangers to an unwary animal, with snakes, eagles, jackals and other predators on the lookout for a meal.

How much the stay-at-home ground squirrels really benefit from the added security is questionable though, as meerkats spend much of the day foraging away from the burrow.

Interestingly, researchers have identified significant differences between the alarm calls of meerkats and ground squirrels, linked to their different foraging strategies. Ground squirrels, which can find plants to eat within a short dash of their burrow, use one type of call which basically says ‘take cover now’.

Meerkats, on the other hand, cover considerable distances in the search for insects and other food, so running back to their burrow for every alert would waste too much energy and foraging time. Instead, they respond differently to different threats – backing off from an ambush predator like a jackal, for example. So they use more complicated alarm calls which include information about predator type and how individuals should respond. It’s important that the meerkats all respond the same way to a threat: if one runs in the opposite direction to all the others, it is much more vulnerable.

76 WILD SPRING 2013

Suricata suricatta

Xerus inauris

MEERKAT

GROUND SQUIRREL

They inhabit the driest, most open country of all mongoose species and the dry riverbeds of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park offer a perfect habitat.

Active in daytime, meerkats are gregarious and territorial, living in packs that can number as many as 30 or more animals, and defending their territory against interlopers. They feed largely on insects which they dig up, including the larvae of beetles, moths, butterflies and flies, as well as other invertebrates such as scorpions, spiders, lizards, small snakes and even birds.

A type of rodent, ground squirrels also favour arid habitats, and are numerous in the Kgalagadi. They are active in daytime and gregarious, but tend to live in smaller groups than meerkats, typically up to three females and two or three males, though sometimes larger numbers of males form bands.

Unlike meerkats they do not defend a territory and will tolerate other groups within their home range. They feed mainly on seeds, roots and vegetation, but will also eat insects and small vertebrates occasionally.

Co-habiting means more pairs of eyes to keep a lookout for danger.

Above: Sharing the burrow is a temporary arrangement, as meerkats usually rotate between different warrens in their territory every few months.

Male meerkats will happily share a burrow with male ground squirrels.

Left: In the cooler winter months meerkats warm themselves in the early morning sunshine before they begin foraging.

Right: A meerkat appears bemused by the misdirected attentions of its housemate. www.wildcard.co.za

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