Portrait of Meerkats (or Suricate).

A highly successful species that belongs to the mongoose family.
A meerkat 'mob' can contain up to 20 meerkats.
The word 'Meerkat' is of Dutch (Afrikaans) origin and means 'lake cat'.
Apart from eating scorpions as shown in 'A food chain of the Kalahari' illustration, they are primarily insectivores but also eat lizards, snakes, plants, eggs and small mammals. They are immune to the scorpion's sting hence their ability to prey on them!