suricate bedeutet nur "Erdmännchen"; meerkat bedeutet "Erdmännchen" und "Meerkatze".

The meerkat or suricate Suricata suricatta, a small mammal, is a member of the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan". A meerkat clan often contains about 20 meerkats, but some super-families have 50 or more members. Meerkats have an average life span of 12–14 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meerkat

I know them as meerkats, but suriacte seems to be derived from the latin name.

Note that the wiki article tends to refer to them as "meerkats", as does the film of the same name. I'd assume it's the better known term, but could be wrong.

Zu # 1: Meerkatze bezeichnet im Deutschen eine Affenart (engl. guenon).

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meerkatzen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guenon

I've only heard of meerkats, never of suricates.

The latter might be a technical term used mainly by scientists, but that's just a guess.