Mob

From Meerkats Wiki

A meerkat mob is a group of meerkats that do everything together. A meerkat mob normally consists of mostly brothers and sisters. The meerkats are very cooperative and do everything as a group. They work as a unit and every meerkat will do their part for the mob. The meerkats do everything as a group, such as traveling to forage and moving to a new burrow

[edit] Dominant pair

The mob will have a dominant pair. The dominant female will normally keep all of the breeding rights to herself. She is normally the leader of the group, and has more power over the dominant male. The dominant male is supposed to keep an eye out for the group. He will not let any other meerkat breed the dominant female. The dominant male is usually the largest or most powerful meerkat in the group. He tries to stay on the dominant female's good side and grooms her.

[edit] Mothering in the group

The dominant female will keep the breeding rights to herself and will not allow any other female become pregnant. If another female becomes pregnant, the dominant will most likely evict that female. In some cases, the dominant female will kill the children of the other female.

When the dominant female has her children, the whole group will help out. When the group goes out to forage, the babies will be watched by selected meerkats. Their job is to stay at the burrow and watch the pups until the group returns. Mature females are able to create milk and feed the pups, just like the mother would.