What Does “A Mob of Meerkats” Mean?
“Mob” is the standard, genuinely accurate term for a group of meerkats, and unlike some collective nouns that stretch to fit their animal, this one describes real, extensively studied social behavior. Meerkat mobs, sometimes also called gangs, are tightly organized cooperative societies, typically led by a dominant breeding pair, with the rest of the group, often extended family, helping raise young and defend territory.
Meerkat cooperation is genuinely remarkable. Mobs post sentries, individuals who take turns standing upright on elevated ground scanning for predators like eagles and jackals, calling out specific alarm signals that vary depending on the type of threat and whether it’s approaching from the air or the ground. Non-breeding members of the mob also help babysit and feed pups that aren’t their own, a level of cooperative care that’s made meerkats, particularly through the long-running Kalahari Meerkat Project, one of the best-studied examples of complex social cooperation in mammals.
Example: “A mob of meerkats popped up in unison at the sentry’s alarm call, scanning the sky for the circling hawk.”
Related: Collective Nouns for Mammals