Meerkats

Nature 2 Minutes

There are few animals on Earth who work as well together as meerkats. These squirrel-size members of the mongoose family live in groups of different sizes, from as little as three to as big as 50 members. Everyone in the mob participates in gathering food, keeping a look out for predators and taking care of the babies.

Meerkats live in the deserts and grasslands of the southern tip of Africa. They are super cute, with bushy, brown-striped fur, a small, pointed face and large eyes surrounded by dark patches. These extremely social animals live together in burrows, which they dig with their long, sharp claws. Living underground keeps mob members safe from predators and out of the harsh African heat. These burrows contain multiple entrances, tunnels, and rooms. A group will use up to five separate burrows at a time.

Meerkats only go outside during the daytime. Each morning, as the sun comes up, the mob emerges and begins looking for food. They use their keen sense of smell to locate their favorite foods, which include beetles, caterpillars, spiders and scorpions. They’ll also eat small reptiles, birds, eggs, fruit and plants. Back at the burrow, several babysitters stay behind to watch over newborn pups. This duty rotates to different members of the mob, and a sitter will often go all day without food. The babysitters” main job is to protect pups from meerkats in rival mobs who, if given the chance, will kill the babies.

While the rest of the mob forages for food, one of the meerkats (or sometimes more), called a sentry, will find a high point, like a termite mound, and perch on its back legs. From here it scans the sky and desert for predators such as eagles, hawks and jackals. A sentry who senses danger will let out a high-pitched squeal, sending the mob scrambling for cover.

Meerkats dig safe places called bolt holes throughout their foraging area, where they can hide in an emergency. But if caught in the open by a predator, a meerkat will try to look fierce, lying on its back and showing its teeth and claws. If a group is confronted, the meerkats will stand together, arching their backs, raising their hair and hissing. This sometimes fools an attacker into thinking they are a single large, vicious animal.

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Published by pat frederick

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241 thoughts on “Meerkats”

    1. she’s really beautiful…

      i thought wakanda was michelle obama’s life story, till i heard her say the main female role was 100 pounds soaking wet…LOL…that’s michelle’s left butt cheek

      Liked by 1 person

  10. “Hotelier refuses £1 million offer from Home Office to house asylum seekers — The hotel boss accused the government of “becoming disruptors in the hotel industry”

    November 17, 2022
    editor: REMIX NEWS author: THOMAS BROOKE

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “A hotelier in the U.K. has rejected an offer in excess of £1 million from an agency acting on behalf of the Home Office to convert his hotel into accommodation for asylum seekers, it has emerged.

    Richard Martin, who owns the 3-star Blazing Donkey Country Hotel in Sandwich, Kent, revealed he had been offered £1,080,000 and a guarantee of 100 percent occupancy for at least 12 months at the hotel if he permitted it to be used exclusively to house asylum seekers.

    The hotel boss said he turned down the proposal as he “couldn’t think of anything more absurd.” He explained that he would have had to lay off staff at the restaurant and cancel hundreds of weddings booked at the venue.

    “We spent 30 years building up the business, but the money doesn’t come into it,” Martin told local media outlet Kent Online. “We didn’t consider the offer (…) at all, as our reputation would have been shattered overnight. “Quite honestly, my wife and I felt repulsed and very angry that they would think I would ever consider it,” he added.

    Martin said he “could not believe they even approached us, as the agency acting on behalf of the Home Office “must have known” that to convert the accommodation into a facility for asylum seekers would result in the redundancy of some staff and canceling hundreds of weddings.

    There are now over 200 hotels across the U.K. who have accepted contracts to house asylum seekers at a cost of £7 million per day to the U.K. taxpayer. Martin accused the government of “effectively becoming disruptors in the hotel industry” and added that he hopes “no other hotelier in the county worth their salt considers this sly approach.”

    Liked by 1 person

  13. WOW! Moms for Liberty on the MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    FTA
    On Tuesday evening, the Berkeley County School District in South Carolina swore in the board members who were elected last week, six of whom were endorsed by the conservative activist group Moms for Liberty.

    Within two hours, the school board had voted to fire the district’s first Black superintendent, terminate the district’s lawyer, ban critical race theory and set up a committee to decide whether certain books and materials should be banned from schools.

    In addition, the board voted to replace the chair with Mac McQuillin, a local attorney and one of the board members backed by Moms for Liberty.

    The rapid moves Tuesday in the Berkeley County district, the fourth largest in the state, showed the impact of Moms for Liberty’s focus on electing conservative school board members, and prompted uproar among some community members in attendance.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/moms-liberty-berkeley-county-school-board-superintendent-rcna57528

    Liked by 1 person

      1. That’s ok. I wasn’t on board with some of the stuff he said either.
        I just posted it in case you wanted to see it.
        Some people were only seeing clips.

        Liked by 1 person

  26. so this same sex marriage thing—here’s one guy’s opinion…the states can fight this…
    from tcth

    Mike Robinson
    Mike Robinson
    November 17, 2022 2:28 pm
    Reply to Citizen817

    But the 10th Amendment says absolutely nothing of this.

    “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

    Please now “let that sink in.”

    Unless the US Constitution explicitly afforded this decision-making to the US Congress, then: by the US Constitution, the US Congress does not have it.

    It thus becomes irrelevant that some attempt is made to “codify this into Federal law.” Each of the Fifty States will have to decide upon this issue for themselves one by one.

    Like

  28. now THIS kid…this kid has the RIGHT attitude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    entire article (there’s a video interview at the link)
    This 8-year-old little boy in Kentucky, like many boys his age, really, really wanted an Xbox.

    But on his $5 allowance, it became clear it would be a long time before he would be able to afford the gaming system. So this young man, Nash Johnson, decided on a new plan.

    He’d need to get a job in order to afford an Xbox.

    Nash, an elementary school student, didn’t have any prior experience. “This will be my first job ever!” he wrote on the application. That wasn’t an issue. The problem was Nash’s age. You have to be at least 16 to work at Drake’s.

    But that didn’t deter a quick-thinking Nash from throwing his hat in the ring.

    “It didn’t ask for my actual age and it didn’t ask me when I was born, so I put I was under 18,” Nash said.

    This kid is going places. They didn’t ask his precise age, so he just put under 18.

    He was determined to get hired and afford the Xbox.

    The little boy’s mom, Belinda Johnson, had a chuckle when she learned her son had answered the help wanted ad. But she wasn’t the least bit surprised.

    “That kid is not afraid to fail. He’s a go-getter,” Belinda explained. Belinda noted that she teaches Nash financial literacy with spend, save and give jars.

    This kid is being raised right. He knows the value of money and that he has to work to get what he wants.

    And, in the end, his entrepreneurial spirit paid off.

    Though Nash didn’t land the dishwashing gig at Drake’s due to being just 8, the management surprised him with a staff T-shirt … and an Xbox.

    “I was, like, shocked, very shocked,” Nash said.

    The only thing that would have been better? If he was allowed to roll up his sleeves and get to work scrubbing pots and pans.

    “I wish I had the job and the Xbox,” Nash confessed. “I do have the Xbox, but I wish I had the job.”

    He got his Xbox. But he was so excited to work that he still wanted the job.

    What a trooper.

    The young Kentuckian even got a shoutout from his senator for his industrious spirit.

    https://notthebee.com/article/this-industrious-8-year-old-boy-really-wanted-an-xbox-so-he-applied-online-for-a-job-at-a-restaurant-washing-dishes-he-didnt-get-the-job-but-he-did-get-the-xbox

    Liked by 1 person

  29. “There are still idiots out there”

    “Now we call it an election”

    “Cute as a couple of Ducks”

    “Walk in fridge”

    “Stoveinkerator”

    “Look at me, I definitely am not an undercover cop vehicle”

    Liked by 1 person


  30. Kari Lake, Arizona Republican candidate for governor, waves to the media as she walks into a voting precinct to vote with her family on Election Day in Phoenix, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ OANN: “Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has announced that she will not concede the race to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

    This comes after the Associated Press called the race in favor of Hobbs on Monday.

    The Trump-endorsed Republican said that this past week has confirmed everything she has been saying about the elections in Arizona. “When we called for Katie Hobbs to recuse herself, they ridiculed us… turns out, we were right,” Lake stated. “The Fox was guarding the hen house and because of that, voters have been disenfranchised.”

    Lake continued to explain that polling stations had problems with tabulating machines and printers on election day. The Republican announced that she has assembled a great legal team to “right these wrongs.”

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Liked by 1 person

  37. t’s a sad state of affairs but due to the political targeting & demonization of the @GOP by @katiehobbs & her friends, We are exercising extreme caution before holding any public events.

    (And making sure Ray Epps is out of state 😉)

    — Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) November 17, 2022

    Liked by 1 person

  38. “Biological male who was 72nd on boys’ track team takes first place on girls’ team”

    Libs of TikTok
    12 min ago

    EXCERPT: “Washington’s Seattle Academy High School girls’ cross-country team qualified for the state championship thanks to trans student, Aspen Hoffman. Last year, Hoffman was a mediocre cross-country runner on Seattle Academy’s boys’ team. During freshman year, Aspen Hoffman competed as a boy and finished 72nd in the League finals. Now, as a sophomore competing as a girl, Hoffman broke Seattle Academy’s school record in the girls’ 5000-meter category and ranks 1st in League. Hoffman’s time in the 5000-meter would rank him 48th if he had competed in the boys’ division. Earlier this semester, Hoffman took 2nd at Districts, qualifying Seattle Academy for the State championship.

    Seattle Academy competes in the Emerald Sound Conference which is comprised of 14 schools. Libs of TikTok spoke with a coach in the conference who told us, “allowing [Hoffman] to compete against biological girls deprives other girls’ teams of the chance to compete at State (which is a big deal). If [Hoffman] competed in the boys’ division, [Hoffman] would place 56th on the boys’ team.”
    —————-
    It’s not just the coach that was upset over Hoffman’s wins. Libs of TikTok spoke to several parents of young female athletes in the conference who are understandably upset.

    “[Hoffman] is larger than any of the girls, and shamelessly takes 1st place on the podium. Now my daughter is competing against a male for scholarships. And we can’t even say anything. You can’t even approach it in a nice way without being labeled a hateful bigot. You will get threats against you,” said one father.

    Parents are terrified to even raise concerns about Hoffman’s presence on the girls’ team. Another parent noted, “parents are upset but they know it has to go to the state committee, which isn’t politics, it’s the state high school board, and unless there’s any kind of pressure put on them to change the rule nothing’s going to happen.”

    More: https://www.libsoftiktok.com/p/biological-male-who-was-72nd-on-boys

    Liked by 1 person

      2. Look at this shit…..

        “In 2007, the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) adopted the International Olympic Committee’s position, which stated that trans individuals could participate in sports in their reassigned gender, provided they had undergone surgery and a minimum of two years of hormone treatments. Then in 2018, WIAA updated its policy lifting the surgical component, “an MTF [Male to Female] student must have one calendar year of medically documented testosterone suppression therapy to be eligible to participate on a female team, consistent with WIAA policy.” However, in 2021 they disregarded all scientific reasoning and eliminated all requirements related to medical evaluation and hormone therapy.

        “All students should have the opportunity to participate in WIAA athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity… Athletes will participate in programs consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed. School personnel responsible for student eligibility will work collaboratively with the student-athlete to determine eligibility.”

        Even more troubling to students and parents, WIAA eliminated aggrieved students and competing schools’ right to even question the participation of a trans student in female sports.

        The rationale behind the changes was outlined in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s 2021 Gender Diversity Toolkit where they inaccurately argue trans athletes on teams have “not been shown to diminish opportunities for others” and that there are “no competitive advantages.”

        Liked by 1 person

  41. H/T GA

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Well, looky here…..”AT A GLANCE:

        – The Legislature adopts the laws that govern elections.

        – Voter Registration and Early Voting is administered by the County Recorder.

        – Election day activities, including polling place set up, poll worker hiring and training and tabulating votes is administered by the County Election Director.

        – Approving election day voting locations, emergency early voting locations, and approving budgets are administered by the County Board of Supervisors.

        – Certifying state results, developing the Election Procedures Manual, maintaining the statewide voter registration system and administering HAVA money are administered by the Secretary of State’s Office.

        – All of these entities work together to administer elections in Arizona.”

        Of particular concern!!!! “Certifying state results, developing the Election Procedures Manual, maintaining the statewide voter registration system and administering HAVA money are administered by the Secretary of State’s Office.”

        https://www.azcleanelections.gov/election-security/how-elections-work

        Liked by 1 person

  42. dem da orders investigation into her county’s election…fellow dems are not happy…
    FTA
    “The allegations of election improprieties in our state’s largest county may result from anything ranging from malfeasance to blatant criminal conduct,” Abbott added. “Voters in Harris County deserve to know what happened. Integrity in the election process is essential. To achieve that standard, a thorough investigation is warranted.”

    Members of the Democratic Party are lashing out at Ogg for investigating the Harris County election process, accusing her of supporting “election deniers and QAnon conspiracy theorists.” The chair of the Harris County Democratic Party, Odus Evbagharu, gave a statement on Wednesday about the DA’s investigation, saying that he does “not agree with urging the prosecution of election workers for faithfully doing their jobs in support of the Democratic process.” He accused Ogg of wanting to score “political points” instead of “having true concern about… the issues that impacted the midterm elections.”

    “We cannot be helping amplify false rhetoric in the battle to preserve our democracy, freedom, and rights,” added Evbagharu.

    On the same day that Ogg and Abbott reached out to the TDPS for support, the Harris County Republican Party filed a lawsuit against the county’s elections administrator, Clifford Tatum, and Harris County itself. The lawsuit alleges that Tatum had violated Texas state election laws in a number of ways, including the premature release of voting results on election night, telling poll workers to issue second ballots to voters who couldn’t properly scan their original ballots, and coercing election judges to allow results to be picked up from polling places by county personnel.

    The lawsuit insists that the elections in Harris County were conducted in a way that “illegally disenfranchised tens of thousands of registered voters from casting their votes.”

    https://100percentfedup.com/democrat-da-orders-investigation-into-texas-midterm-election-issues-receives-backlash-from-own-party-for-supporting-election-deniers/

    Like

  43. Entire Article @ NewAmerican:

    “A federal judge ruled Friday that the Biden administration cannot force doctors to treat patients based on their “gender identity” rather than their biological sex, including by requiring doctors to prescribe hormones and surgery to alter their patients’ sex characteristics.

    Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas found that the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) declaration that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits doctors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) had absolutely no basis in law or Supreme Court precedent.

    The case, Neese v. Becerra, was a class-action lawsuit brought by two Texas physicians who, though they treat transgender patients, do not believe that catering to their patients’ delusions is normally in their patients’ best interest and could even be detrimental to their health, whether by permanently altering their bodies — particularly those of minors — or by failing to treat a condition specific to a patient’s biological sex. One of the plaintiffs, for instance, claimed he had to “firmly explain” to a male patient who had prostate cancer that he needed to get it treated even though he identified as a woman and therefore, in his mind, could not possibly have a prostate.

    The doctors sued the government after the Supreme Court, in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of SOGI and the Biden administration took the next logical “woke” step by applying the court’s reasoning across the board. HHS argued that the ACA’s prohibition on sex discrimination by healthcare providers, which refers to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1974, actually extends to SOGI. According to a press release from America First Legal (AFL), which litigated the case, “The Biden Administration planned to use its interpretation to force doctors to provide medical care against their best medical judgment or face the loss of access to any medical plans that receive federal funding.”

    There is much to criticize in this entire chain of events, from the federal government’s involvement in healthcare and education to its infringements on property rights (via antidiscrimination law) to the Supreme Court’s tortuous rewriting of Title VII, which Justice Samuel Alito observed in his Bostock dissent would keep the courts “mired for years in disputes about” its reach. Top that off with the Biden administration’s militant pro-LGBT stance, and the dangers to everyone’s liberty cannot be overstated.

    Fortunately, Kacsmaryk, at least, isn’t buying the administration’s line that laws can be retroactively — and by executive or judicial fiat — altered in accordance with the political winds. In Bostock, he noted, the Supreme Court explicitly stated that its decision did not “sweep beyond Title VII” and that the court did not “prejudge” the question of whether other laws might be subject to similar reinterpretations. As to the ACA, “When adopting [the ACA], Congress could have included ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ in the statutory text. Congress chose not to do so. Instead, Congress limited [the ACA’s] protections to those afforded by other federal statutes — including Title IX. Because Title IX does not protect ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity’ status, neither does [the ACA].”

    Kacsmaryk, in fact, went to great lengths to debunk the notion that Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal funds, has anything at all to do with SOGI. “Title IX,” he wrote, “says nothing about ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity.’ And why would it? Title IX’s protections center on differences between the two biological sexes.” The fact that members of Congress have tried — and failed — to amend Title IX to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” ought to be sufficient evidence that the law as it currently stands does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of SOGI.

    “This is a historic victory against both the imperial presidency and extremist gender ideology. Forcing doctors to treat boys as girls and women as men is sheer anti-science lunacy,” said AFL President Stephen Miller. “This decision affirms that Biden broke the law by ordering doctors to substitute superstition for biology and to conduct barbaric experiments on children including chemical castration and permanent sterilization.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. doctor’s would never recommend diet pills for an anorexic…
      just because the patient has body dysphoria does not mean the doctor has to go along with it

      Liked by 1 person

  44. previous;y unknown queen discovered in Egypt
    entire article
    Archeologists have discovered hundreds of mummies, interconnected tunnels, and even the pyramid of a previously unknown queen — 100 years after King Tut’s tomb was found.

    The historical finds were discovered at an archeological site called Saqqara in Giza, just south of Egypt’s capital of Cairo, by a team that had been working at the site for two years. Archeologists found “300 beautiful coffins” that are believed to be from the New Kingdom period, a 500-year era of prosperity in Egypt between 1550-1070 B.C.

    “The coffins have individual faces, each one unique, distinguishing between men and women, and are decorated with scenes from the Book of the Dead,” according to Egypt’s former Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, who is working at the site. “Each coffin also has the name of the deceased,” he said.

    The researchers opened the coffins and were surprised by the good condition of many of the mummies that have been inside them for many centuries. Hawass attributed this discovery to the period in Egypt’s history when mummification techniques peaked. He also noted that some of the coffins had multiple lids and that “the most amazing coffin” had a mask of a woman that was made of solid gold. Researchers believe some of these mummies consist of King Tut’s closest advisers and generals.

    As for the pyramid of the previously unknown queen, her name was revealed to be Neith. “It is amazing to literally rewrite what we know of history, adding a new queen to our records,” Hawass said of the find.

    The area of focus for the researchers was the pyramid of another pharoah, King Teti, the first king of the sixth dynasty who is believed to have reigned for 12 years. Found near Teti’s pyramid are 22 interconnected tunnels ranging from 30 to 60 feet deep, all of them are believed to have had burials during the New Kingdom period. It was previously believed that the majority of burials in Saqqara were from the Old Kingdom period, which lasted from 2649-2130 B.C.

    Hawass attributes the impressive number of coffins and mummies found at this site to Teti being worshiped as a god, which meant that everyone wanted to be buried in the same vicinity as the king, who was worshiped 1,000 years after his death.

    King Tut was born in 1341 B.C. and began his rule at just nine years old. He is referred to as “the boy king,” and reigned for less than a decade, dying at 19. Scientists believe he died from malaria or another infection based on digital imaging and DNA testing. His tomb was unearthed in 1922 in what is regarded as one of the great archeological finds in modern history.

    Some of the coffins and antiques found this year will be on display in Giza at the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is under construction but expected to open in 2023. For an ancient Egyptian experience in the United States, 13 cities across the United States will have an “Immersive King Tut” exhibit, which allows visitors to “unravel the myths and legends” of the time.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/archeologists-discover-hundreds-of-mummies-tunnels-and-pyramid-of-unknown-queen-near-king-tuts-tomb

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “Recently Fired Pelosi Seen On Street Corner With Sign Reading ‘Will Trade Stock Tips 4 Food’

      WASHINGTON, D.C. — Since her involuntary retirement from her lucrative gig as Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi has been seen lingering on the street corners of the National Mall with a cardboard sign that says “Will trade stock tips 4 food.”

      “We’re not sure where the congresswoman’s millions of dollars all went, but it’s clear this firing has affected her finances severely,” said TMZ reporter Jeffrey McHara, speaking over a grainy video of Pelosi panhandling, acknowledging that the footage was difficult to watch due to the Speaker’s having gone four days without a hair salon visit.

      With experts saying she will not seek reelection to a leadership role, most onlookers had expected Pelosi’s firing would allow her to spend more time focusing on her family and insider trading. These hopes have been tempered, however, by the footage of Speaker Pelosi without her dentures and formal eyebrows, panhandling in public.

      At publishing time, former Speaker Pelosi was able to transcend homelessness after she identified as transgender, causing her hometown of San Francisco to approve her for the “Guaranteed Income for Trans People (GIFT)” program. She will now be receiving a $1,200 per month stipend to supplement any additional monies she is able to make from selling nonpublic information about the stock market.

      Liked by 1 person

  46. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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