Good question. Meerkats need each other.

They all work together to raise baby meerkats and keep them safe.

All animals need food. Meerkats eat many different things, like bugs and lizards. They learn how to hunt by playing and by watching older meerkats.

All animals have to avoid being killed. Meerkats look out for each other. Older meerkats look after younger ones. They call out when they see something dangerous.

All animals need water, but meerkats get most of their water from what they eat. Staying in cool burrows under the ground helps them need less water. They work together to build and fix their burrows. They need to get along to share their home.

You may want to study animals and grow up to be a biologist.

Meerkats require the same things that any other animal needs to survive: food, water, the right temperature, etc. They've just evolved to live in some pretty harsh climates.

Meerkats live mostly in Southern Africa in countries including South Africa, Namibia, and Angola. Here, the climate is dry, humid, like a dessert. They eat mostly bugs that live in that region, such as beetles and snakes. They also eat eggs, snakes, scorpions, and other animals in the dessert region. Meerkats live in tunnels under the ground to protect themselves from harmful predators and the hot sun. So to survive, meerkats mostly need a hot, dry region with tons of bugs to eat.