Animal Planet: Welcome to our live chat, and thank you for joining us after Animal Planet's Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom special, Meerkats Unmasked.
Do you want to know more about why meerkats do the things they do? Well, Peter Gros, our guest wildlife expert and former co-host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, is here to give you the answers.
Peter Gros: Hi! It's very nice to be with all of you, and I'm certainly looking forward to hearing your questions.
Kellie: What is the average lifespan of a meerkat?
Peter Gros: The average lifespan is really hard to tell because, until recently, they've been so hard to study. They're estimating anywhere from 10 to 12 years, but there are varying figures since Simon is really the first one to be able to study them up close in the wild. I think the record in captivity is up to 15 years, however.
Carly: How do meerkats defend themselves against large desert predators like lions and cheetahs?
Peter Gros: Meerkats defend themselves by staying in a group — known as a mob or a gang — and they work together in a group by surrounding and moving very quickly toward large animals. How well they survive is completely dependent on how well they work together as a group. Thus the name, "mob" since they work together as a highly skilled and highly orchestrated mob or gang.