NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



The natural enemies of the meerkat are few. 

 The eagles are those they are in ever-present 

 dread of, for, without an instant's warning, an 

 eagle will drop like a stone from the sky, and the 

 first intimation of its presence is its outspread 

 wings when breaking its fall preparatory to seizing 

 its prey. The Honey Ratel is another enemy 

 which perseveringly digs the meerkat from its 

 burrow and devours it. These ratels are relent- 

 less in their pursuit of prey. Should one happen 

 on a little colony of meerkats, it patiently digs 

 them out one after another, and satisfying its 

 hunger off the body of one, it carries the others, 

 one at a time, away to its lair. 



When meerkats increase unduly in numbers, 

 food becomes scarce and the balance of Nature is 

 restored by the adults devouring the young of 

 each other. Should famine threaten, the weaker 

 ones are attacked, slain, and eaten in obeyance of 

 the law that the fittest shall survive to perpetuate 

 their kind for the ultimate good of the race. 



The meerkat is not a very quick-breeding animal. 

 Two are the usual number produced at a birth. 

 The young are reared in a nest at the end of the 

 burrow. A Slender-tailed Meerkat is about four- 

 teen inches in length from the nose to the root of 

 the tail. The tail tapers to a point, and is six to 

 seven inches long, reddish-yellow in colour, and 

 tipped with black. The eyes are dark brown, and 

 the surrounding skin is black. Ears small, dark, 

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