meerkat

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A small burrowing mongoose (Suricata suricatta) of southern Africa, having brownish-gray fur and a long tail, which it uses for balance when it stands on its hind legs.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The African penciled ichneumon, Cynictis penicillata. See cut under Cynictis.
• noun The African suricate or zenick, Suricata tetradactyla.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Zoöl.) A South African carnivore (Suricata suricata, formerly Cynictis penicillata), allied to the ichneumons, having a lemurlike face and only four toes; called also yellow mongoose and suricate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Suricata suricatta, a small carnivorous mammal of the mongoose family, from the Kalahari Desert, known for its habit of standing on its hind legs.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a mongoose-like viverrine of South Africa having a face like a lemur and only four toes