--- title: Timon and Pumbaa: real meerkats and warthogs — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Timon and Pumbaa: real meerkats and warthogs», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A real meerkat would never live alone: meerkats live in mobs of up to about 50, sleep piled together in burrows, and take tur --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Timon and Pumbaa: real meerkats and wa… # Timon and Pumbaa: real meerkats and warthogs Lesson 125 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/1/) — A real meerkat would never live alone: meerkats live in mobs of up to about 50, sleep piled together in burrows, and take turns standing tall on their back legs as lookouts. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/2/) — A real warthog is a wild pig that mostly grazes short grass on its knees and digs up roots, eating insects only now and then, and it runs with its thin tail straight up like a flag. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/3/) — Timon and Pumbaa's friendship is not so far from the truth: on the savanna, banded mongooses, close cousins of meerkats, pick ticks off warthogs, and both animals gain. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/4/) — But the film mixes up Africa: «Hakuna Matata» is East African Swahili, while real meerkats live in the dry lands of southern Africa. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/5/) — Meerkats stand up tall on their back legs as lookouts for hawks and jackals, using the tail as a prop; the guard gives a quiet «all is well» call and a sharp alarm when danger appears. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/6/) — Meerkats live in groups called mobs or gangs of up to about 50, and a meerkat alone could not keep watch and feed at the same time. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/7/) — Meerkats are a kind of mongoose, not a kind of rat or squirrel. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/8/) — Meerkats eat beetles, grubs, spiders, lizards and scorpions; they bite off or avoid the stinger and can survive a little venom, and adults teach pups with dead scorpions first, then live ones whose sting has been removed. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/9/) — The dark fur round a meerkat's eyes cuts down glare from the bright desert sun, and meerkats can close their ears when they dig. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/10/) — Meerkats live in big burrows with many tunnels and sleep piled together, because deserts get cold at night. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/11/) — Warthogs are wild pigs that mostly eat grass, roots and bulbs, kneeling on tough pads on their wrists to graze very short grass. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/12/) — A running warthog holds its thin tail straight up, which may help its young follow it through tall grass, and it can run at about 50 km per hour. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/13/) — Warthogs often use old aardvark burrows and back in tail-first, so their tusks face the opening. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/14/) — Banded mongooses pick ticks off warthogs lying down; a friendship where both sides gain is called mutualism. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/15/) — A warthog has two pairs of tusks: big curved upper ones and short, razor-sharp lower ones that rub against the upper ones and stay sharp. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/16/) — A warthog's «warts» are thick bumpy pads that protect its face in fights. - ← previous: [The Lion King: real lions, prides and the circle of life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/124-the-lion-king-real-lions/) - next →: [The Lion King's hyenas, Rafiki and Zazu: real hyenas, mandrills and hornbills](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/126-the-lion-king-hyenas-rafiki-and-zazu/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)