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What is the Kalahari Research Centre (KRC)?

The Kalahari Research Centre (KRC) is a leading field research and study site based in South Africa. The KRC is run by the Kalahari Research Trust, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to promote research, environmental education and conservation in the Kalahari region. A majority of the study site is based at the Kuruman River Reserve, a 32km2 area of semi-arid dunes surrounding the dry riverbeds of the Kuruman River in the South African Kalahari of the Northern Cape. Some studies extend onto nearby land, extending the total study area of approximately 50km2.

The Kalahari Research Centre is used as a research base for a range of studies and projects including the Kalahari Meerkat Project, Cape Ground Squirrel Project, Damaraland Molerat Project, Hot Birds Project, studies on Bat-Eared Foxes, Yellow Mongoose, Leopard Tortoises, Barking Geckos, and more. The KRC is always eager to welcome and support new projects and research ideas on the local flora and fauna.

How long has the Kalahari Meerkat project been running for?

The Kalahari Meerkat Project at Kuruman River Reserve started in 1993. However, Prof. Tim Clutton-Brock and co-workers at the University of Cambridge started meerkat research at a different site, around Nossob camp in the Gemsbok National Park (today known as the Kgalagadi National Park) about 300 km to the North-West of Kuruman River Reserve prior to this.

Does the Kalahari Research Centre only conduct meerkat research?

No! There are many other researchers on-site conducting their own studies, both short and long-term. Other long-term studies on-site include the Damaraland Molerat Project (University of Cambridge) consisting of both captive laboratory studies and wild field studies, the Cape Ground Squirrel Project (University of Zurich), and the Pied Babbler Project (ANU University), Hot Birds Project (Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology). Smaller projects include studies on the Yellow Mongoose, Barking Geckos, and Bat-Eared Foxes.

More about the KRC Research Projects HERE

What are the aims of the Kalahari Meerkat Project?

The Kalahari Meerkat Project aims to explore both ultimate and proximate causes of cooperative breeding in mammals. Thanks to the long-term data that has thus far been collected, and the ability to study the meerkats so closely throughout their lives on an individual and population level, a variety of questions can be investigated within evolutionary and behavioural ecology that are not possible with most other mammalian species.

Within the broader research area of cooperative breeding, research aims look to explore the costs and benefits of cooperative breeding, hormonal regulation, demographic consequences of cooperative breeding, the mechanisms and evolution of communication, cognitive abilities and its evolution, anti-predator strategies, patterns of decision-making in cooperative groups, and more. Research topics are ever expanding and deepening our understanding of meerkats as well as other cooperative breeders throughout animal taxa including mammals and beyond. With the long-term data available at the Kalahari Research Centre, the impacts of climate change across species on-site can be studied and continually monitored.

Who is Tim Clutton-Brock?

Tim has been based at the University of Cambridge since 1976 and was the Prince Philip Professor of Animal Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from 2007 to 2013. He established the Large Animal Research Group (LARG) in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge in 1978, and continues to lead it. Together with his collaborators and students, he has initiated and maintained five long-term, individual-based field studies all of which are still running - of red deer and Soay sheep in Scotland, of banded mongooses in Uganda and of meerkats and Damaraland mole-rats in the southern Kalahari.

Tim founded the Kalahari Meerkat Project in 1993, and the Kalahari Research Trust and the Kalahari Research Center in 2001. Between 2001 and 2017, he acted as the Secretary to the Trustees of the Kalahari Research Trust, while in 2017 the Trust moved to Zurich from its original base at Cambridge and Marta Manser took over the role of Secretary. Together with Marta, Tim acts as one of the two directors of the Kalahari Meerkat Project.

Tim's research has explored the evolutionary causes and ecological consequences of animal societies and breeding systems. His early work on red deer and Soay sheep investigated the ecology and evolution of sex differences in development, behavior, breeding success and survival and their consequences for the demography and population dynamics of females and males. His work provided the first estimates of variation in the lifetime breeding success of individuals (an index of evolutionary fitness) and the strength and targets of natural and sexual selection in polygynous vertebrates while the research of his collaborators measured the heritability of different traits. With Paul Harvey, he also developed the use of quantitative studies of interspecific differences to test the generality of evolutionary explanations of variation in animal behavior and life histories.

In 1993, the work of Tim's research group moved from studies of polygynous systems to explore the evolution and ecology of cooperative breeding systems, first in meerkats and then in banded mongooses and Damaraland mole-rats. Both meerkats and Damaraland mole-rats live in stable groups where a single female in each group virtually monopolizes reproduction and other group members of both sexes help to rear her young. Systems of this kind raise important evolutionary and ecological questions since individuals do not appear to maximize their own breeding success and survival. Both projects have explored the extent of cooperative behavior in different categories of individuals, the hormonal mechanisms controlling it and the costs and benefits of cooperation to the breeding success and survival of individuals. The current work of Tim's group is exploring the dynamics of breeding groups in meerkats and mole-rats; the relative importance of the characteristics of individuals and their groups in determining variation in lifetime breeding success; and the effects of cooperative breeding systems in mitigating the consequences of climate change.

Tim is a Fellow of The Royal Society, and was awarded the Society's Darwin Medal in 2012 for his work on the diversity, evolution and ecology of animal societies and breeding systems. His books include: Primate Ecology (Ed. Academic Press 1977), Red Deer: Behavior and Ecology of Two Sexes (Ed. Chicago 1982); Reproductive Success (Ed. Chicago 1988); The Evolution of Parental Care (Princeton 1991); and Mammal Societies (Wiley Blackwell 2016).

Who is Marta Manser?

Prof. Marta Manser is a Swiss professor of Animal Behaviour in the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich. Her research interests focus around behavioural ecology and the involvement of cognition, communication, bioacoustics, coordination & cooperation, societies, and the evolution and mechanisms of these.

Marta was the first PhD student at the Kalahari Meerkat Project working under the supervision of Tim Clutton-Brock at the University of Cambridge, where the communication studies of the meerkats first began in 1995. Highly interested in the evolution of communication in the meerkats and the discovery of many call types, Marta’s research expanded further into other mongoose species. This has further allowed Marta to develop a large research group studying communication, coordination, and cognition across an array of group living species. Marta is also a director and trustee of the Kalahari Research Trust, Kalahari Research Centre, and leads the Kalahari Meerkat Project and Cape Ground Squirrel Project. She continually works alongside several other researchers and institutions conducting research at the Kalahari Research Centre, including Tim Clutton-Brock.

Marta currently leads the Communication and Cognition Animal Behaviour Group at the University of Zurich. They are interested in the understanding of animal societies. Using a comparative approach, they investigate proximate and functional aspects on group coordination (leadership and collective decisions) and in particular, communication and cognition in mammals. This allows identification of which selective factors favour communicative complexity and the underlying cognitive mechanisms. The focus of studies is on phylogenetic closely related or sympatric living species showing variation in their social structure. Based on behavioural observations of habituated animals in their natural habitat they test specific hypotheses with field experiments, and also on captive animals.

Research themes in this group include:

Communication and cognition in small mammals
Hormones and vocal production and perception
Communicative complexity and social complexity
Animal communication and human language
Leadership and collective behaviour in meerkats and banded mongoose
Social dynamics and mitigation strategies in cooperative breeders
Spatial orientation in meerkats
Behavioural ecology in ground squirrels
Social and genetic structure of slender mongoose
Behavioural ecology in tortoises

How can I support the Kalahari Research Centre and what does it help?

Support from Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project and other sponsors and donors are vital to the running and maintenance of the continuing research at the Kalahari Research Centre. The centre and Kalahari Meerkat Project are run by the Kalahari Research Trust which is a not-for-profit organisation promoting research as well as education and conservation in the Kalahari region. All support goes directly to the trust and therefore the research projects to help fund: accommodation, supplies, and equipment for volunteer research assistants and students to continue with the long-term data collection; land and facility purchases and maintenance to ensure the security of the study site, suitability for developing research, and conservation of the natural environment in the Kalahari; and direct funds to specific research projects, questions and investigators to enable important studies to be carried out and continued.

All support, however small or large, is greatly appreciated. Our work would not be able to happen without it.

Join the Friendsof the Kalahari Meerkat Project (FKMP)

Make a donation

Can I visit the Kalahari Research Centre?

The KRC is not open to the public or for day visitors. As a research project, it does not have the resources to host regular short-term guests in this way.

However, in the future, Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project will have the chance to visit the KMP on an exclusive FKMP visit. Additionally, guests at selected local guesthouses in the Van Zylsrus area can come for short organised visits on Sunday mornings to see meerkat groups accompanied by a volunteer research assistant. Details of these visits can be found with our local guesthouses: Leeupan and Van Zylsrus Hotel. The KMP cannot take enquiries on any additional or alternative visits.

The KMP also offers the opportunity for production and film teams to film meerkats and the other habituated study species in their natural environment for documentary series – please contact Tim Clutton-Brock (thcb@cam.ac.uk) directly to organise. This does not apply to photographers or amateurs. Serious filming enquiries only, please.

How can I conduct research at the Kalahari Research Centre?

The KRC encourages researchers from a range of backgrounds, institutions, and disciplines to join our growing research community. We highly encourage start-up projects to widen the range of flora and fauna studied in the area, as well as projects that build upon the already studied species.

More information can be found HERE

How can I volunteer at the Kalahari Research Centre?

Keep an eye out for our adverts! We typically hire volunteers during hiring rounds twice a year with rolling start dates throughout the year. This enables us to have a range of experienced and new volunteer research assistants. We strongly encourage applicants from South Africa and the African continent, and also accept international applicants.

The volunteer positions are for 6 - 12 months, depending on the project, and volunteers are provided with extensive training in data and either field or laboratory skills. These include animal handling, radio-tracking, recording observations and behavioural data, and working with databases. It takes some time to learn the necessary skills, and there are opportunities throughout the 6-12 months to expand skills and knowledge with additional roles and responsibilities.

Successful applicants usually have a good degree in the biological sciences, interest in animal behavioural studies, and will be enthusiastic, hard-working and physically fit. The Kalahari can be a challenging environment with extreme temperatures, and the project is a remote location to work in. Field-based volunteers should expect to work alone for long hours in these conditions, walking several kilometres daily carrying all necessary field equipment. All volunteers should be respectful and able to live and work closely within a small team. Applicants to field-based projects must also be in possession of a full manual driving licence, and all applicants regardless of project should be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and Rabies prior to joining the project.

Accommodation and food will be provided, and we will contribute towards travel expenses following successful completion of the ﬁeld season including a limited number of full travel stipends for applicants from the African continent. All volunteers receive a monthly stipend to cover any additional personal expenses and a small satellite internet connection usage allowance per month. Volunteers work for 5 days per week and can take a 3-week holiday during their time.

More information can be found HERE.

What are the Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project?

The Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project (FKMP) is a society of supporters of the project, grown from the interest gained surrounding documentaries and series such as Meerkat Manor. Members of the FKMP receive information and newsletter updates on the meerkats in exchange for a membership fee or sponsorship which contributes to the running of the project and the research conducted. The FKMP is a large community of people with a shared interest in the meerkats and the discoveries made on their social behaviours, and a desire to support the important studies of the KMP at the KRC.

Can I join the Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project?

Yes! We'd love to have you as our Friend!

With your annual paid membership, you will have access to detailed descriptions of all of the KMP's current meerkat groups, the monthly Meerkatter - a 4-8 page journal featuring articles on meerkat behavior, meerkat profiles and meerkat group happenings, exclusive Meerkat Manor information, a Friends-only chat and much more.

Join the Friends

Where is Meerkat Manor filmed?

Meerkat Manor is filmed mainly on the Kuruman River Reserve and seldom on neighbouring farmland where the habituated and studied groups of meerkats can be found. The meerkat groups are studied as part of the Kalahari Meerkat Project based at the Kalahari Research Centre, in the Kalahari Desert region of the Northern Cape, South Africa. It is a remote location near the small town of Van Zylsrus. Larger towns such as Upington, Kathu, and Kuruman, are several hours drive away.

Is Meerkat Manor real?

While some of the stories of the meerkats are dramatized for TV enjoyment, and appear to occur in fast succession, the meerkats and their activities are indeed real! The meerkat stars are just some of the studied wild meerkat groups that are habituated to human presence for behavioural studies. Meerkat Manor follows the real groups and their day-to-day activities and stories over 6 months – 1 year, which is then condensed down into the series you watch across a few weeks. Much of what may be seen in a single episode, could have been taking place across weeks, or even months. If you are interested in finding out more information on the real lives of your favourite meerkat stars, consider joining the Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project to support the research and maintenance of the long-term study, while receiving regular detailed updates on your favourite meerkats, the rest of the study population, and other projects at the KRC!

Who makes Meerkat Manor?

The Meerkat Manor series have been produced by Caroline Hawkins and Oxford Scientific Films, based in the UK.
https://www.oxfordscientificfilms.tv

Meerkat Manor is distributed globally by Banijay Rights
https://www.banijayrights.com

How is Meerkat Manor filmed?

Meerkat Manor is filmed by an excellent team with experience in wildlife film-making and cinematography. The meerkats are already habituated to human presence from being studied, so this takes away some of the difficulties in filming wildlife, as they are not as elusive as they might be otherwise. Even so, the film crew is always assisted by an experienced research assistant or project manager to be able to track the groups across their large territories, help the crew to identify individuals and their behaviours, and advise them on their approach to ensure the meerkats are comfortable and not stressed by their presence. Film equipment can be bulky and unlike any other equipment the meerkats are used to from regular data collection and observations, and so they often have to be introduced to this slowly. Drone equipment is also used on occasion, but this is used sparingly and with select groups that have been habituated to it, as the drones can elicit predator-like responses in the meerkats.

Filming takes place over several months to a year, to be able to follow storylines in detail and gain the best chance of capturing as many unusual occurrences as possible.

Check out Behind the Scenes of Meerkat Manor here.

How can I watch Meerkat Manor?

BBC America, Channel 5, AMC, Discovery Plus, Amazon, Apple TV

How are meerkats habituated?

Meerkats’ habituation to humans is slowly built up over time. Once a group and their location have been identified, often from the use of camera traps while occupying a burrow with pups, a radio collar is deployed on an individual so that their location can be tracked even when they change burrows. Once this is done, the group will be tracked before they awake in the morning, and an observer will sit quietly at a distance, observing them through binoculars until they begin foraging and leave their burrow. Over time, as the meerkats become more comfortable to human presence at a distance, the observers will slowly observe them at a closer distance, introducing different movements and sounds, until they can comfortably observe, identify, and weigh them within a couple of metres. Eventually, the group will also be observed as they forage when comfortable enough.

Once a group is fully habituated, they will show very little interest in the humans that follow them daily! While they may interact with observers at the burrow while being weighed, once the meerkats begin foraging, the observers are just part of the environment to them. Occasionally, the meerkats may use an observer as a guard post if they happen to be the tallest and easiest accessible option in their vicinity, and they may even allow observers to gently groom them which helps us to monitor their health and pregnancy status. But despite this, they are still completely wild with no reliance or concern for their human observers.

New pups born into a habituated group are often easy to habituate as with the adults showing no concern for humans being around, the pups don’t either. With that being said, some meerkats become very protective over their pups and show more caution with the observers at these times, and this can make habituating the new pups take a little longer.

During the process of habituation and weight data collection, crumbed boiled egg and water is used by observers as a small incentive and reward. It was found that boiled egg is a favourite treat of the meerkats, and once they had tasted it, they were keen to approach humans for more! Only a very small amount (around a pinch!) is used per individual, but this helps to encourage them into the scales to be weighed three times per day. With a ‘yum-yums’ call by the observer and the sight of the scales, the meerkats know what to expect and will happily hop on the scales for a small amount of egg before or in-between foraging. Some meerkats also appreciate a small amount of water as a reward. Meerkats typically receive all the water they need from their food, but in the dry heat, a drink of water can be a refreshing and welcome treat. Again, they do not become reliant on the egg or water, with individuals often showing less interest when food resources are naturally high.

As well as providing small rewards for the more hands-on data collection of weights, observers are also trained to make a ‘habituation hum’ while approaching the meerkats. The same soft but distinctive melody is used by all observers, and enable the meerkats to identify humans are approaching and to not be concerned. While the Kalahari is arid, there are many dunes, bushes, trees, and sometimes long grass that can make a human approaching the group be quite inconspicuous. By calling out this hum, the meerkats are less likely to be startled by an approaching observer, and this helps with habituation levels.

As meerkats are such a social species, even making habituation progress with a single individual can have a massive impact in helping the habituation of other individuals.

Does the project intervene with sick or injured meerkats? Are snake-bites treated?

As the meerkats we study are wild animals and we wish to study their natural behaviours and life history, this involves letting nature takes its course as it would without any interference or intervention wherever possible. This means that any injuries or illnesses of a natural cause such as predators, snake-bites, attacks between individuals or rival groups, parasites, disease, infanticide, starvation, and similar, will not be treated. It is important to study these events as they naturally occur to fully understand meerkats as a whole. We are not present with the meerkats enough to even be able to intervene in many cases, and meerkats have an incredible ability to often recover from most ailments they encounter in the Kalahari, including snake-bites.

Exceptions to this would be any human cause of illness or injury. While much of our studies are non-invasive, there are some aspects of our studies that come with small risks. Fitting radio collars and taking samples from our meerkat individuals are always conducted under anaesthesia by fully trained and experienced veterinarians and project managers with a high consideration for the meerkats health, well-being, and welfare. If there are any concerns that these procedures pose a severe risk to the meerkat, they will be stopped or not conducted at all. Occasionally, meerkats wearing a radio collar may quickly put on weight due to natural growth, pregnancy, seasonal weight fluctuations, or dominance acquisition. This may result in the radio collar becoming tight which may rub the skin or harbour ticks beneath the collar that the meerkat cannot reach to groom away. In these instances, the collar will be adjusted or removed, any wounds will be treated, and ticks will be removed to ensure the meerkat is not suffering from human actions. These occasions are rare, as the meerkats are usually seen often enough to spot any signs of tight collars before they become such a major issue. Other human causes may include in-direct causes such as snare-like injuries from poorly-discarded man-made materials or similar that can be identified as definitely having a human cause.

Observers also ensure to reduce any likelihood of disease transmission through groups. Each group has their own assigned equipment, and equipment is regularly cleaned. There are no known reports of transmission of bacteria or viruses between humans and meerkats, but care is always taken to reduce interaction as much as possible, and for observers to regularly sanitise their hands. Any illnesses seen in the meerkats are therefore usually naturally occurring, and are not additionally spread by our movements between the groups.

Meerkat tuberculosis is an often-fatal bacterial illness that often appears to spread quickly through meerkat groups, and is not yet fully understood but is a unique strain and cannot be transmitted to humans. There are several studied meerkat groups that have become extinct due to the disease, and where new groups show symptoms there is additional care is taken to ensure the TB does not spread to other groups due to our observational activities. Spread to other individuals and even groups is thought to be via bodily fluids and therefore grooming and fights between meerkats could be the main sources of transmission. Due to this, in the past, some meerkat individuals showing late-stage TB symptoms were euthanised in the hopes of reducing the spread across our studied population, as these individuals were most likely to be at risk of being attacked by rival groups and posed a great risk to the entire study population of 12-15 groups being wiped out. Euthanasia of meerkats showing symptoms of TB is no longer conducted. This is mostly so that we are able to study the full course of the disease to better understand it. There have been only few instances of TB in recent years, and there have not been any out-of-group transmission noted, so it is not a major concern at the current time. This may change should TB become more widespread across the study population in the future.

Please see Prof. Tim Clutton-Brock statement regarding this topic that came up with the first Meerkat Manor series:

“The death of Flower has caused a number of people to write to me about our policy of intervention so I thought it was sensible to clarify the situation. The Meerkat Research Project monitors the breeding success and survival of individuals and investigates the factors that effect reproduction and survival. Obviously, our results would be valueless if we intervened to save animals that would die. We consequently make no attempt to avoid individuals being killed by predators or dying for other reasons, with the exception of animals in the later stages of TB which are euthanased to reduce the rate at which the disease spreads.  It is important to remember that the meerkats we observe are wild animals not domestic animals that are within our control. Even if we wished to protect individuals against natural processes (which we don’t), we should only be able to do so to a very limited extent: we are working with 12-15 groups and, on average, are only with groups for less than 25% of their time.
Any interventions that we carry out are aimed to answer questions about the animals. We do, for example, anaesthetise individuals to fit and remove radio collars and if their collars appear to be becoming too tight we quickly check and adjust them. We also give individuals (very) small rewards of egg or water to induce them to climb onto scales so that they can be weighed; and we carry out playback experiments with recordings of their calls to investigate the effects of different vocalisations.  All these interventions are necessary to answer the questions that we are investigating.
The film teams are only allowed to film on the Reserve if they agree not to interfere with the animals. We certainly would not allow the film teams to do anything that affected the animals’ welfare. They focus almost entirely on Whiskers for around five months for each series and I review the programmes after they have been edited and advise on the scripts but we do not control what the film teams shoot, how it is presented or what is said in the programmes.  However, our experience is that the programmes keep very close to the actual events that occurred during the periods that the animals were being filmed.  We believe that our collaboration with Oxford Scientific Films is useful and productive and that the programmes give a realistic view of the daily lives of the animals.”

Are the meerkats tame? Do meerkats make good pets?

No! While the meerkats are habituated to human presence, they are in no way tame and are not reliant on people. Each meerkat group is often seen 3 days per week, some times more, but rarely all day every day. Meerkats can and will bite if provoked or during play, will continue to respond to predators as they would naturally with humans around, and move across their territories as they wish. While the Kuruman River Reserve is surrounded by a fence-line, the meerkats can cross these fences with ease and are in no way restricted in their movement or behaviours.

We do not believe that meerkats make good household pets. There are several reasons for this:

Meerkats are exceptionally social animals who will suffer from being alone. They require the intrinsic behaviours and bonds of a group to thrive.
They will defend their family and territory, and as a pet they might attack and bite intruders – even if they are your friends or other pets. They will mark family and territory (you, your furniture etc.) either with urine or with their anal glands – a revolting smell that keeps for days. Meerkats cannot be housetrained.
You will probably not be able to provide appropriate food and accommodation, i.e. several square kilometres of sand in an arid, but not too cold environment, and a good supply of suitable invertebrate food that can be presented in an enriching way. Meerkats will dig for most of the day to replicate foraging behaviours, likely destroying your home or garden.
Some pet meerkats are caught in the wild – pups that were robbed from wild groups. Many of them die during transport, like too many other pups in the international pet smuggling trade.
Meerkats belong in the wild of the Kalahari where they can thrive.

Is there official Kalahari Research Center merchandise?

Visit the Official Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project Store on Zazzle!
https://www.zazzle.com/store/fkmp_store

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The KRC is partnered with, supported by, and works alongside an expanse of leading scientists, universities, institutions, and organizations across the globe.

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MASSELLAZ FOUNDATION IRENE M.STÄHLIN STIFTUNG) STIFTUNG EXEKIAS

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