Standing at only 30 cm tall, meerkats, also known as suricates, have captured the attention of television and film audiences around the world because of their endearing appearance and interesting social behavior. They depend on group cooperation to survive. They live in groups of 20 to 50 extended family members in large underground tunnels. These family groups, called gangs or mobs, are led by an alpha pair, with the female being dominant. Meerkats have a life span of up to ten years.
The Cheetah is credited as being the fastest land animal over short distances, and can reach speeds of up to 90 km/h (55.9 m/h) in pursuit of prey. This cat is characterized by a slender body, long legs, and a distinctly rounded head with small rounded ears which are set wide apart. It measures two meters from the snout to the tip of the tail, has a mass of 40 – 60 Kg’s, and stands about 800 mm high. It has a concave back and lower hind quarters. This Cat is characterized by a strongly spotted coat and by a long tail which is half as long as the length of its head and body. The tail has a unique pattern of striped markings.
There are two species of Zebra in Southern Africa, the Plains or Burchell’s Zebra and the Mountain Zebra. As the names suggest they occur in vastly differing habitats, although they are known to occur together in places where plains and mountains overlap. A third species, the Grevy’s Zebra is found in East Africa. No two Zebra have the same striping, as in fingerprints in humans the stripes of Zebra are unique to an individual.
