Meerkat at Smithills Open Farm (2)

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Meerkat at Smithills Open Farm (2) by David Dixon as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Meerkat at Smithills Open Farm (2)

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 4 May 2017

Smithills Open Farm is a working farm which is run as a visitor attraction (http://www.smithillsopenfarm.co.uk/ farm website). As well as traditional farm animals (cows, sheep, pigs, goats etc) the farm is also home to a number of other animals including a clan or gang (group) of meerkats. The meerkat is a small carnivore belonging to the mongoose family (Herpestidae). Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. Despite their cute appearance and their popularity in a certain TV advertising campaign, Meerkats make poor pets. They can be aggressive especially toward guests and may bite. They will scent-mark their owner and the house as part of their “territory” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cambridgeshire/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8716000/8716037.stm BBC).

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

Image Location

coordinates on a map icon
Latitude
53.604695
Longitude
-2.452277