suricate
(ˈs(j)ʊərɪkeɪt)
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 Province; the meerkat or zenick.
| 1781–5 Smellie tr. 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. |