Feeding through the ages: Revisiting the diet of meerkats

We investigated the diet and foraging behaviour of a social carnivore, the meerkat ( Suricata suricatta ), living in stochastic dryland, and examined seasonal, as well as age-related variation in diet. Insecta constituted the highest percentage of prey eaten (88.4%), followed by Arachnida (5.7%), Diplopoda (4.3%), and Reptilia (1.1%). Within Insecta, Coleoptera (70.4%) was the most dominant prey order in the diet, followed by Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. There was seasonal variation in the diet of meerkats, with the three main Coleoptera families eaten year-round, but higher consumption of Coleoptera adults in the wet season than in the dry season. We found that old adult meerkats (>24 months) consumed the most large-sized prey, while sub-adults (6–10 months) had the highest prey count of small adult Carabidae beetles. Yearlings (15–24 months) ate the highest percentage of Hepialidae caterpillars. Whether the high representation of Coleoptera in the meerkat diet reflects dietary opportunism associated with the relatively high abundance of Coleoptera, or specialisation in the diet regardless of abundance, remains to be determined. • Prey diversity: We identified 84 meerkat prey items, including 18 orders, 33 families, and 43 genera across six classes. • Insectivores: Over 80% of the meerkat diet comprised Insecta, with the bulk of the diet (70%) being Coleoptera. • Seasonal diet patterns: Meerkat diet varied between dry and wet seasons, with three Coleoptera families eaten year-round. • Age-related diet: Older adults ate the most larger prey items, while yearlings had the lowest counts for large prey items. • Adaptive foraging strategies: Meerkats dug up prey but used specialised techniques to find and extract certain prey items.