Meerkat National Park is a large

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, that encompasses the

Square Kilometre Array The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental organisation, intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square ...

MeerKAT The meerkat (''Suricata suricatta'') or suricate is a small mongoose found in southern Africa. It is characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. The head-and-body ...

PAPER Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

and

HERA In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

telescopes. The park only allows visitors on preselect days during the year.

History

The National Research Foundation purchased privately owned

rangeland Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savanna ...

, removed livestock from the area and placed it under the protection of

SANParks South African National Parks (SANParks) is the body responsible for managing South Africa's national parks. SANParks was formed in 1926, and currently manages 19 parks consisting of , over 3% of the total area of South Africa. Many parks offer ...

. In 2020, this park was declared in partnership with the National Research Foundation and the Square Kilometre Array project. It added 3.4% to South Africa's national parks.

Objectives

In addition to hosting the Square Kilometre Array and other astronomical research projects, the National Research Foundation's South African Environmental Observation Network will seek to study large-scale management and long-term environmental research of the area, and the impact of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

on the local ecosystem. One of the objectives in creating the park was to increase the protection range of three unprotected ecoregions, including the

Nama Karoo Nama Karoo is a xeric shrubland ecoregion located on the central plateau of South Africa and Namibia. It occupies most of the interior of the western half of South Africa and extends into the southern interior of Namibia. Climate The climate o ...

ecoregion from 1.5% to 2%; and in doing so, conserve the vulnerable quiver tree forests and other threatened species in the region.

Regulation

To ensure long term viability of the Karoo site for the Square Kilometre Array project and other radio astronomy instruments, the

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature. It is located in Cape Town; the country's legislative capital city, capital. Under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameralism, bicameral Parliamen ...

passed the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act, 2007. The act gives the Minister of Science and Technology the authority to protect areas, through regulations, that are of strategic national importance for astronomy and related scientific endeavours.

Ecology

After declaring the park, a number of steps were taken to rehabilitate the land, including the removal of livestock, fences and copses of alien

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

, this saw an increase in wildlife numbers. The park has a healthy population of quiver trees.

Vegetation types

The park comprises five types of vegetation, namely Bushmanland Basin Shrubland, an aquatic type zone called Bushmanland Vloere, Northern Upper Karoo, Upper Karoo Hardeveld, and Western Upper Karoo vegetation. 223 plant species were documented in the park.

Biodiversity

Amphibians

* Common sand frog *

Common caco The Boettger's dainty frog or common caco (''Cacosternum boettgeri'') is a species of frog in the family Pyxicephalidae endemic to southern Africa. Range It is found in Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Afri ...

* Karoo toad

Birds

There are estimated between 215 and 264 bird species, with 25 near endemic and two endemic species, the

red lark The red lark (''Calendulauda burra''), also known as the ferruginous lark or ferruginous sand-lark, is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in western South Africa and possibly Namibia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tr ...

and

Sclater's lark Sclater's lark (''Spizocorys sclateri'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in Namibia and South Africa. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. It is threatened by habitat loss. Taxonomy and systemati ...

. *

Black harrier The black harrier (''Circus maurus'') is a medium-sized African harrier whose range extends from South Africa to Botswana and Namibia. It has a wingspan of and a body length of . When perched, this bird appears all black. However, in flight, a w ...

Chestnut-banded plover The chestnut-banded plover (''Anarhynchus pallidus'') is a species of bird in the family Charadriidae. This species has a large range, being distributed across Southern Africa. However, it occupies a rather small area. Identification It grows a ...

* Cinnamon-breasted warbler * Karoo korhaan *

Kori bustard The kori bustard (''Ardeotis kori'') is the largest flying bird native to Africa. It is a member of the bustard family (biology), family, which all belong to the order Otidiformes and are restricted in distribution to the Old World. It is one of ...

Lanner falcon The lanner falcon (''Falco biarmicus'') is a medium-sized bird of prey that breeds in Africa, southeast Europe and just into Asia. It prefers open habitat and is mainly resident, but some birds disperse more widely after the breeding season. A l ...

* Ludwig’s bustard *

Martial eagle The martial eagle (''Polemaetus bellicosus'') is a large eagle native to sub-Saharan Africa.Ferguson-Lees & Christie, ''Raptors of the World''. Houghton Mifflin Company (2001), . It is the only member of the genus ''Polemaetus''. A species of t ...

Secretarybird The secretarybird or secretary bird (''Sagittarius serpentarius'') is a large bird of prey that is Endemism, endemic to Africa. It is mostly terrestrial, spending most of its time on the ground, and is usually found in the open grasslands and s ...

* Verreaux’s eagle

Invertebrates

Termites are thought to be found within the park with the existence of heuweltjies. *

Honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the ...

Harvester ant Harvester ant is a common name for any of the species or genera of ants that collect seeds (called seed predation), or mushrooms as in the case of '' Euprenolepis procera'', which are stored in the nest in communal chambers called granaries. T ...

Mammals

There have been 29 species of mammal documented in the park, including three bat species: *

Aardvark Aardvarks ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') are medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammals native to Africa. Aardvarks are the only living species of the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata. They have a long proboscis, similar to a pi ...

Aardwolf The aardwolf (''Proteles cristatus'') is an insectivorous hyaenid species, native to East and Southern Africa. Its name means "earth-wolf" in Afrikaans and Dutch. It is also called the maanhaar-jackal (Afrikaans for "mane-jackal"), termite-ea ...

Black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas'') is a medium-sized Caninae, canine native to East Africa, eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly . One region includes the southernmost tip of the continent, includin ...

Caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized Felidae, wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long ...

Crested porcupine The crested porcupine (''Hystrix cristata''), also known as the African crested porcupine, is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae native to Italy, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest porcupine species in the world. ...

Natal long-fingered bat The Natal long-fingered bat (''Miniopterus natalensis'') is a species of vesper bat in the family Miniopteridae. It can be found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, possibly Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambiqu ...

Rock hyrax The rock hyrax (; ''Procavia capensis''), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (from some interpretations of a word used in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Common ...

Springbok The springbok or springbuck (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is an antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus (biology), genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first Species description, described by the Germa ...

Steenbok The steenbok (''Raphicerus campestris'') is a common small antelope of southern and eastern Africa. It is sometimes known as the steinbuck or steinbok. Description Steenbok resemble small oribi, standing 45–60 cm (16"–24") at the ...

Reptiles

* Karoo tent tortoise

Gallery

File:SKA-MPI-5.jpg File:SKA-MPI-4.jpg File:SKA-MPI-2.jpg File:Meerkat National Park, Square Kilometre Array radio telescope facility.jpg File:SKA site, South Africa 2014 59.jpg, alt=

References

{{authority control National parks of South Africa Protected areas of the Northern Cape