Suricate or Meerkat (Suricata suricatta) adult with four pups bonding and showing affection near the entrance to their burrow. The adult is performing the role of a sentinel by looking at the sky in the event that birds of prey are in the area. A meerkat family congregates at the entrance to their burrow, where they display intricate social behaviour. They live in groups of between four and 40 individuals and everyone in the mob participates in gathering food, keeping a look out for predators, and taking care of babies. Each group is governed by a dominant breeding pair that sires up to 90% of the surviving offspring. Other individuals in the group are subordinate to the dominant individual of the same sex. Subordinate mammals display high levels of co-operative behaviour, helping in pup raising and feeding. Despite their co-operative behaviour and assistance in things like pup-feeding and babysitting of the dominant pair's offspring, the dominant female is aggressive towards subordinates, causing high levels of stress among the subordinate females. Photographed in the Auob riverbed of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in Southern Africa.