Also -kate, -cat. [a. F. surikate, ? of native African origin.
Schreber, Die Säugethiere, 1778, p. 435, points out (a) that Buffon’s statement (see quot. 1781–5) as to the native home of this animal is wrong, and (b) that Du. surikat or surikatje is applied not to it, but to the tailed makis, esp. the macaco (as Pallas remarks, Misc. Zool., 1778, p. 60 n.).]
An animal of the genus Suricata, esp. S. zenik or S. tetradactyla, a viverrine burrowing carnivore of Cape Colony; the meerkat or zenick.
1781–5. Smellie, trans. Buffon’s Nat. Hist. (1791), VII. 166. The Surikate, or Four-toed Weasel … is a native of Surinam, and other provinces of South America.
1800. Shaw, Gen. Zool., I. II. 384. The Surikate is distinguished by a long sharp-pointed nose.
1875. Zoologist, X. 4511. The suricate is nearly allied to the civet, but is a considerably larger animal.
