# Where Do Meerkats Live?

> Where meerkats live: Desert and dry savanna, native range cues, and human overlap. Status Least Concern.

- **Species:** Meerkat (*Suricata suricatta*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Insectivore (mostly)
- **Habitat:** Desert and dry savanna
- **Lifespan:** About 10 years
- **Top speed:** Up to 32 km/h (20 mph)
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/meerkat/where-do-meerkat-live/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/meerkat/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

The meerkat is a small, highly social mongoose native to the deserts and dry plains of southern Africa, famous for standing upright on its hind legs to watch for danger. Meerkats live in tight-knit groups called mobs, take turns as lookout sentinels, and raise their young cooperatively. They are immune to some scorpion and snake venom and typically live around 10 years.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a sighting hotline. This page is native range and habitat.

## Teamwork and sentinels

Meerkats live in cooperative groups of up to 30 or more. While most of the mob forages, one or more take turns standing guard on raised ground or a bush, scanning the sky and horizon for predators. The sentinel gives different alarm calls for different threats, telling the group whether danger comes from the air or the ground.

## Help protect the Meerkat

Even familiar animals lose ground as wild habitat keeps shrinking worldwide.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/meerkat/where-do-meerkat-live/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.