Standing upright on its hind legs and missing nothing: that is how the meerkat keeps watch. This small mongoose of the Kalahari Desert lives in large families where everyone pitches in. While the rest look for food, one of them acts as a sentinel from the highest spot. If it sees danger, it sounds the alarm, and the most curious thing is that it uses different calls depending on whether the threat comes from the sky, like an eagle, or from the ground, like a jackal. The dark patches around its eyes work like sunglasses. And it is a brave hunter: it is partly resistant to the venom of some scorpions. In fact, adults teach the pups to hunt them by first offering them scorpions with the stinger removed. In the mornings, the whole family sits in the sun with their bellies exposed. Recharging for another day of teamwork.