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AnAge entry for Suricata suricatta

Classification (HAGRID: 02506)
TaxonomyKingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Carnivora
                Family: Herpestidae
                    Genus: Suricata
SpeciesSuricata suricatta
Common nameMeerkat

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity20.6 years (captivity)
Sourceref. 671
Sample sizelarge
Data qualityhigh
Observations

In the wild these animals are estimated to live up to 15 years [0560]. In captivity, one specimen was 20.6 years of age when it died [0434].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity365 days
Male sexual maturity365 days
Gestation77 days
Weaning44 days
Litter size4 (viviparous)
Litters per year1
Inter-litter interval365 days
Weight at birth29 g
Weight at weaning225.5 g
Adult weight776 g
Postnatal growth rate0.0161 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual152 %

Metabolism

Typical body temperature309ºK or 36.3ºC or 97.3ºF
Basal metabolic rate1.7290 W
Body mass850.0 g
Metabolic rate per body mass0.002034 W/g

References
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3, PubMed
[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0560] van Staaden (1994), Suricata suricatta
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves

External resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemITIS 621906
Animal Diversity WebADW account
Encyclopedia of LifeSearch EOL
Genome ProjectSearch NCBI
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