Meerkats

Objectives:

• Students will be able to describe the physical characteristics of meerkats.

• Students will be able to identify the behavioral characteristics of meerkats.

• Students will be able to explain how meerkats are organized into groups and how they defend themselves.

Suggested Grades:

3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade

Lesson Procedure:

Print the reading comprehension worksheet passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions. Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt:

Meerkats are feisty little mammals that live in the semiarid plains of southern Africa. They are a type of mongoose, and they live in large groups known as gangs or mobs! Each mob of meerkats is made up of several families consisting of up to 30 individuals. There is a dominant couple - a male and a female - in each mob. The female who is usually larger is the leader of the group. Meerkat mobs are very close, and its members spend a lot of time grooming each other, hunting for food and playing.

Meerkats live in burrows. Even though they are very good diggers themselves, they usually take over burrows that other animals have already made and abandoned. There are more than a dozen entries and exits to each burrow and many tunnels and levels inside. These underground homes stay at around the same temperature all year, even when it is very hot or very cold outside.

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