MammalBase - Accepted taxon: Suricata suricatta

Accepted taxon: Suricata suricatta
Taxon:	Suricata suricatta
Rank:	Species
Higher Classification:	CARNIVORA \| FELIFORMIA \| Herpestidae \| Suricata
Reference:	Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), JHU Press, 2005.

Fig.1 - Ternary plot of the proximate analysis for the Suricata suricatta diet.
CF (Crude Fibre) 6, ASH (Ash contents) 6, NFE (Nitrogen-Free-Extract) 14, CP (Crude Protein) 56, EE (Ether Extract) 17. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 1. List of Diet Items for Suricata suricatta.
TSN Complete name	Part	Ratio ^a.	Reference(s)
Insecta	WHOLE	37.50	Grzimek,B…
Vertebrata	WHOLE	16.67	Damuth, J…
Vertebrata	EGGS	9.72	Damuth, J…
Mammalia	WHOLE	8.33	Grzimek,B…
Coleoptera	WHOLE	5.56	Damuth, J…
Magnoliopsida	SHOOT	4.86	Damuth, J…
Scorpiones	WHOLE	4.86	Damuth, J…
Reptilia	WHOLE	4.17	Grzimek,B…
Orthoptera	WHOLE	3.47	Damuth, J…
Myriapoda	WHOLE	2.78	Damuth, J…
Isoptera	WHOLE	2.08	Damuth, J…

^a. Standardized values. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 2. List of Standard Traits for Suricata suricatta.
Trait	Selected Value	All Value(s)	Reference(s)
Dietary category: Eisenberg 1981	Insectivore	Carnivore, Frugivore-omnivore, Insectivore	– A. R. Friscia, B. Van Valkenburgh, A. R. Biknevicius, 2007, 'An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans', Journal of Zoology, vol. 272, no. 1, pp. 82-100, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554, Juhn, M., Balisi, M., Doughty, E., Friscia, A., Howenstine, A., Jacquemetton, C., Marcot, J., Nugen, S., Van Valkenburgh, B. 2024. Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology. Paleobiology. None(None), pp.1-10. Available at: 10.1017/pab.2024.27.
Dietary category: Miljutin 2009	Animalivore	Animalivore, Frugivore	– A. R. Friscia, B. Van Valkenburgh, A. R. Biknevicius, 2007, 'An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans', Journal of Zoology, vol. 272, no. 1, pp. 82-100, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554, Juhn, M., Balisi, M., Doughty, E., Friscia, A., Howenstine, A., Jacquemetton, C., Marcot, J., Nugen, S., Van Valkenburgh, B. 2024. Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology. Paleobiology. None(None), pp.1-10. Available at: 10.1017/pab.2024.27.
Locomotion: Eisenberg 1981	Terrestrial	Terrestrial	– John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554
Temporal habits	diurnal	diurnal	– John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554

Table 3. List of Standard Measurements for Suricata suricatta.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	62	62	-	-	-	659	-	-	Nelson, A…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	-	-	-	-	-	730	-	-	Juhn, M.,…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	57	57	-	-	-	709	-	-	Nelson, A…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	2	2	-	-	-	655.89	-	-	Engelman,…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	43	43	-	-	-	585	-	-	Nelson, A…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	-	-	-	-	465	-	1,000	-	Freudenth…
Head-Body Length (HBL)	nan	mm	62	62	-	-	-	306	-	-	Nelson, A…
Head-Body Length (HBL)	nan	mm	57	57	-	-	-	334	-	-	Nelson, A…
Head-Body Length (HBL)	nan	mm	43	43	-	-	-	299	-	-	Nelson, A…
Head-Body Length (HBL)	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	291	-	-	Engelman,…
Occipital condyle width (OCW)	nan	mm	2	2	-	-	-	14.42	-	-	Engelman,…

Table 4. List of other Measurements ^b. for Suricata suricatta.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
brainmass	nan	g	-	-	-	-	-	10	-	-	Engelman,…
skull_length	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	64	-	-	Engelman,…
BMR (kJ/h)	nan	kJ/h	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	McNab, B.…
femur circumference	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	14	-	-	Nelson, A…
humerus circumference	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	13	-	-	Nelson, A…
BMR,mlO2/h	nan	mlO2/h	5	5	-	-	-	310	-	-	Genoud, M…
relative blade length (RBL)	nan	unitless	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	Juhn, M.S…

^b. other Measurements. Source Measurements which are not listed on or mapped with the Standard Traits..

Table 5. List of Data Sources for Suricata suricatta.
Taxon	Reference	Match	Status
Suricata suricatta	Gittleman,J. L., 1985, Carnivore body size: ecological and taxonomic correlates, Oecologia	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Friscia,AR, 2006, An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans, Journal of zoology	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Damuth, J. 2010. ABSOLUT 6 a mammalian database compiled by the national center for ecological analysis and synthesis (NCEAS ) workshop on mammalian communities.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Nowak,R. M., 1991, Walker's mammals of the world,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Grzimek,B., 2003, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Mammals I-V,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Nowak,R. M., 1991, Walker's mammals of the world,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Law, C.J., Blackwell, E.A., Curtis, A.A., Dickinson, E., Hartstone‐Rose, A. and Santana, S.E., 2022. Decoupled evolution of the cranium and mandible in carnivoran mammals. Evolution.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Engelman, R.K., 2022. Occipital condyle width (OCW) is a highly accurate predictor of body mass in therian mammals. BMC biology, 20(1), p.37.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	DeMers, A.C., 2023. Functional Significance of the Mandible, Tooth Roots, and Tooth Crowns, and their Implications for Fossil Dietary Inference (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	McNab, B.K., 2008. An analysis of the factors that influence the level and scaling of mammalian BMR. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 151(1), pp.5-28.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Nelson, A., Engelman, R.K. and Croft, D.A., 2023. How to weigh a fossil mammal? South American notoungulates as a case study for estimating body mass in extinct clades. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 30(3), pp.773-809.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Genoud, M., Isler, K. and Martin, R.D., 2018. Comparative analyses of basal rate of metabolism in mammals: data selection does matter. Biological Reviews, 93(1), pp.404-438.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Freudenthal, M. and Martín-Suárez, E., 2013. Estimating body mass of fossil rodents. Scripta Geologica, 145, pp.1-513.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Juhn, M.S., Balisi, M.A., Doughty, E.M., Friscia, A.R., Howenstine, A.O., Jacquemetton, C., Marcot, J., Nugen, S. and Van Valkenburgh, B., 2024. Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology. Paleobiology, pp.1-10.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Suricata suricatta	Rowan, J., Beaudrot, L., Franklin, J., Reed, K.E., Smail, I.E., Zamora, A. and Kamilar, J.M., 2020. Geographically divergent evolutionary and ecological legacies shape mammal biodiversity in the global tropics and subtropics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(3), pp.1559-1565.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted

Citation for this page: [The MammalBase community 2026. / CC BY 4.0. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7462864 Suricata suricatta , Accessed 30th April 2026 at https://mammalbase.net/me/14397]