UTTAR PRADESH JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY

Meerkats are small carnivores inhabiting southern parts of South Africa. They are minute animals measuring 10- 14 inches. They tend to live in areas with plenty of sandy soil where they can dig elaborate underground burrows. Meerkat is an extremely sociable animal that inhabits territories in the desert in groups that usually contain between 10 and 30 individuals. They forage for food during the day in mobs or groups consisting a number of members. The Meerkats show a striking behaviour where when one mob or group forages for food, there is a sentry (one individual among the mob) that places himself on a raised platform and keeps an eye on the surroundings looking out for predators. Thus, the sentinel Meerkat uses its own foraging time to guard the mob. Another altruistic behaviour shown by them are that Meerkat females raise the pups of other female members of the mob. However recent studies show that, the sentinel is more ‘selfish’ than being ‘selfless.’  Nevertheless, this sentinel behaviour of Meerkats is definitely altruistic as it helps other foragers at the cost of the sentinel. Altruistic behaviour of Meerkats is extensively studied in this review.