A brain CT scan was performed last week in the CT department at Rambam Health Care Campus, on “Betty” – a 7 year old meerkat (suricate) from the educational zoo in Haifa (“Timon” from Disney’s film “Lion King” is a meerkat).

Betty, who has been living in the zoo for five years, a member of a meerkat clan, began to show symptoms of vertigo: unexplainable falls and loss of stability. Since a meerkat’s ability to survive in its natural environment depends on its ability to stand on its two rear limbs, it was clear she had contracted an illness or had come down with an unknown problem. After test results revealed nothing, zoo caregivers turned to Rambam for help, suspecting the beloved meerkat had a brain tumor.

The CT scan was performed during the night, when no (human) patients were scheduled to undergo this test. Anesthesia was delivered using fine needles from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Rambam. After scan data will be processed, caregivers at the educational zoo will finally find out what disrupted Betty’s stability.

Background about meerkats

The meerkat is a small carnivorous mammal. It inhabits all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and South Africa. Meercats live in clans that contain between two to thirty individuals. Clans are headed by one dominant couple. Usually, this “alpha pair” reserves the sole right to mate.

However, meerkats demonstrate altruistic behavior within their colonies. One or more meerkats stand sentry while others forge or play, to warn them of approaching dangers. Meerkats also babysit the pups in the group and actively teach their young. They tend to every member of the group who is ill or hurt, sharing the food and body heat with the sick individual regardless of its position in the social hierarchy.

Diet: Insects, small mammals and small reptiles