By Susan Milius
Like children begging treats from indulgent grownups at a party, meerkat pups get fatter when they have more adult meerkats to pester for food.
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That conclusion arises from a bit of managed foster care, explains Timothy Clutton-Brock of the University of Cambridge in England. He and his colleagues are studying the many cooperative behaviors within groups of the arid-land mongoose Suricata suricatta, which pokes around for beetles and other small prey in Africa.