If the individual Meerkat on guard spots approaching danger they will sound the alarm to the rest of the group. Meerkats are known to use a wide range of vocal calls to communicate between one another sounding long howls to warn the rest of the band of an approaching birdof prey and using short double-barks to alert them of a predator nearing the group on the ground. The individual territory of a Meerkat group covers a large enough area to ensure that the band has everything they need to most successfully survive. This includes areas of both hard and soft sand as although the hard sand provides the perfect ground for building their tunnels in it requires more energy for Meerkats to forage for food in it too.