Story Behind The Shot: Photographing Meerkats

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I travelled to the Makgadikgadi Pans region of Botswana earlier this year to photograph some of the cutest creatures in Africa -- meerkats!

Members of the mongoose family, meerkats are found in the desert region of Southern Africa. They are social animals and live in large family groups. They sleep in a network of underground tunnels, and venture out during the day in search of food: scorpions, beetles, lizards, eggs and small mammals.

These meerkats are completely wild, but over time they've become habituated to humans. This means it is possible to get very close to them. When people are around, these clever little creatures will sometimes climb on top of the nearest person for a better view out over the long grass.

Sometimes they just decide that sitting on a warm human is more comfortable that sitting on the coarse sand! Meerkats forage in groups, and they need to be extremely vigilant while they are out in the open. There's at least one sentry on duty at all times, keeping watch for birds of prey, jackals and other predators. Meerkats aren't very tall so they try to seek out the high ground in order to get a better view of their surroundings. The higher the vantage point the better so they will go to impressive lengths to find that perfect lookout post!

For a behind-the-scenes look at this project, including lots of amusing meerkat antics, check out this 2-minute video.

One of the highlights of my time in Botswana was getting to spend time with some adorable three-week-old baby meerkats. These tiny babies first emerged from the den a day or so into my trip and after that I spent a lot of time with them so they became very comfortable around me. In fact, it wasn't long before they were treating me like their own personal plaything!

Spending time with these charming little creatures is always a privilege. For more photos check out my meerkat image gallery. You can also get more behind the scenes photos and video by following me on Instagram. To get a free high-res Meerkat desktop background, please subscribe to my new monthly newsletter.

This post was adapted from Burrard-Lucas Wildlife Photography.

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