Meerkats Playing (VIDEO)

University of Cambridge

Caption

Meerkats are intensely social and all group members engage in bouts of wrestling, chasing and play fighting, though juveniles and adolescents play more than adults. Since they live together in such close proximity and interact many times each day, it is unsurprising that individual meerkats are able to monitor each other's strength, weight and growth. Moreover, it is likely that changes in growth rate are associated with olfactory cues that rivals can pick up.

Credit

Pauline Toni, University of Zurich and the Kalahari Meerkat Project.

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