In the B. Sc. Thesis the life of meerkats in their natural habitat in semi-deserts and deserts of southern Africa is presented. Their paws are made for digging in the sand, where they spent a majority of the day searching for food for themselves and the other members of the colony. While searching for food they are commonly attacked by predators who strike either from the air or from the ground. Meerkats cooperate not only with searching for food but also with rearing the pups. Only the dominant male and female reproduce, the other members of the colony help with providing food, babysitting and even nursing the pups. Between all the members of the colony, we can see a lot of playful contacts and grooming. We then compared their life in the natural habitat with life in captivity. We interviewed caretakers in ZOO Ljubljana and in Mini ZOO Land Slovenske Konjice. We concluded that their space in captivity is settled in a way that meerkats can express their natural behaviour patterns like digging in the sand. They also have indoor or heated space so the temperatures in colder months are more similar to the ones in the natural habitat. In captivity meerkats are fed with a mixture animal and plant origin feeds, to keep their diet similar to the one in the natural habitat. Like in natural habitat, in captivity, only the dominant pair reproduce and the other members merely help with caring for pups. Caretakers notice a lot of grooming and playfulness among the members of the colony.
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