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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