User:BioWiki4155/Meerkat

Threats and conservation
The meerkat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. There are no significant threats except low rainfall, which can lead to deaths of entire packs; populations appear to be stable. ((My edits start here and are in bold text.) Research has shown that temperature extremes have negative impacts on Kalahari Desert meerkats. Increased maximum air temperature is correlated with decreased survival and body mass in pups, perhaps as a result of dehydration from water loss during evaporative cooling or decreased water content in food, or from the heavier metabolic costs of thermoregulation on hot days. Higher temperatures are also associated with increased rates of endemic tuberculosis infection; this may be due to decreased immune function resulting from physiological stress, as well as increased male emigration rates observed during heat waves.

Meerkats occur in several protected areas such as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Makgadikgadi National Park. The Kalahari Meerkat Project, founded by Tim Clutton-Brock, is a long-term research project run by four different research groups that aims focuses on understanding cooperative behaviour in meerkats. It began in the Gemsbok National Park (now part of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park) but was shifted to the Kuruman River Reserve in 1993.