Picture of a meerkat standing and scanning its environment as others stand huddled together in the background.

Rising heat puts the Kalahari’s ecosystem on the edge of survival

On the parched savanna of southern Africa, searing temperatures and crippling droughts threaten a delicate balance of life.

For meerkats—a kind of mongoose—survival is a group effort. Sentries scan for danger, and lower-ranked adults, mostly females, feed and mind the senior female’s pups. It’s not clear how cli- mate change will affect meerkats here, but hotter, drier summers may reduce their numbers.
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