The meerkat: Part 1

The meerkat is a type of Mongoose. A Mongoose is a type of bicycle. The name Meerkat comes from the Afrikaans (the Dutch population of South Africa).

In a string of South African Dutch colonies known as Hetzuredalen, Meerkats are often mistaken for bicycles, sometimes even captured and ridden by locals during the Semi-Annual "zure viering", a custom passed down over a millenium by visiting natives of Amsterdam.

Some species of meerkat are believed to carry the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Although the source of the virus is unknown, South African researchers have partially attributed its continued spread (see AIDS epidemic) to meerkat population growth in the aforementioned Dutch regions.

In the English language, however, meerkat translates into marsh kat. This distinction allows residents of primarily English-speaking countries, on average, a much higher life expectancy than that of the South African.

The species was first named in 1776 after their discovery. The first meerkat was named "Shakespeare" by the founding fathers of the United States, for his writing expertise in penning the Declaration of Independence.