These small, social mongooses are charismatic and winning. They\u2019re such manic, comic characters, and their cooperative society so enthralling. But looks can be deceiving. Behind the slapstick, meerkat society owes more to Stalin than it does Chaplin.<\/p>\n Meerkats live in family clans of up to 50. Their society is predicated on ruthless reproductive competition between closely related females who, when pregnant, will readily kill and eat each other\u2019s pups. This baby-eating bonanza is kept in check by the omnipotence of a matriarch with a zero-tolerance policy for breeding subordinates.<\/p>\n Her goal is to prevent any of her female relatives reproducing during her reign \u2013 and rope them into caring for hers instead. As such, she monopolises 80% of the breeding, and will use extortion and murder to achieve this end.<\/p>\n Vacancies for dominance don\u2019t come up often. When a matriarch dies, the top job falls to the eldest and heaviest female in the group. From the moment she inherits her status the new alpha\u2019s size increases, her testosterone levels rise, and her hostility towards other females surges \u2013 especially those closest in age and size, namely her sisters and later her daughters. The matriarch will competitively eat to retain her bulky authority and any females that get uncomfortably close to her supreme size will be evicted.<\/p>\n In the event that another female dares to give birth, the matriarch will kill her pups.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Banishment is basically a death sentence in the Kalahari. It follows a barrage of physical abuse, which may also supress her rival\u2019s reproduction. In the event that another female dares to give birth, the matriarch will kill her pups \u2013 often her own grandchildren \u2013 and banish the female. If they\u2019re lucky, evictees may be permitted back on one condition: they wet-nurse their murderous mother\u2019s babies.<\/p>\nInfanticide and cannibalism<\/h2>\n