MEERKATS
ARE PERFECT
AMBASSADORS.
WHO DOES NOT
LOVE AND CARE
ABOUT THE FATE
OF MEERKATS?”
—Thomas P. Peschak,
photographer
At dawn, meerkats
emerge from their
burrows and face the
rising sun to warm
up—but the Kalahari
Desert may be get-
ting too warm for
them. As summers in
the region get ever
hotter, scientists are
finding that meer-
kat pups are growing
more slowly and adults
dying more quickly, a
trend they fear could
worsen. It’s not just the
heat: When rains fail,
grasses suffer, ants and
termites decline, and
insect-eating animals,
like meerkats, strug-
gle—an illustration of
how climate change
can disrupt the deli-
cate ecological balance
even in an environment
that’s already hot.MAR. 2 1 NO SAFETY IN NUMBERS
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