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Group living
Meerkats (Suricata suricata) are very social animals, and each animal in the group has a role to do in order to secure the safety of their offspring. A select few in the group operate as “look outs” to inform the group when a predator is coming. They sit up in trees and keep a vigil
From an outsiders' perspective it would appear that the “Look outs” show altruistic behaviour; for when they are on guard they do not feed. However, they live in a very close nit society and they benefit enormously by doing this. Other members in the community are aware of who the individuals are that act as “look outs” and provide them with food, etc.
Group living has strong advantages, Lima (1989) proposed his Model of Co-operative Vigilance; he described this as a trade off between foraging and vigilance. The more vigilant an individual is the more increased is each individual's survival due to the dilution effect
