Scientists have revealed that the most "murderous" mammal on the planet is the cute meerkat - which you may remember as the funny sidekick of Simba in Disney's animated movie, the Lion King.

In a new study, scientists analyzed more than 1,000 species of mammals and collected data on how many deaths they caused using lethal violence among members of their species.

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Their findings reveal that the highest rate of deaths among all mammals is 19.4 percent, which is the result of attacks among the meerkat species.

Meerkats are carnivorous. They are mostly found in the Kalahari and Namib deserts of the southern regions of Africa. Meerkats live in mobs and practice infanticide (or killing their young).

The second most "murderous" mammal is a type of monkey known as Schmidt's Guenon, at 18.2 percent and followed by the red-fronted lemur at 16.7 percent. Some of their close relatives also have the same high rate of violence.

The top ten murderous mammals include the New Zealand sea lion at 15.3 percent, followed by the long-tailed marmot (which is a large squirrel) at 14.5 percent. Surprisingly, the lion is only at 13.3 percent followed by the mongoose at 13 percent. The grey wolf is at 12.8 percent, and the Chacma baboon is at 12.4 percent. On the bottom of the list is the long-tailed chinchilla and the diademed sifaka (which is a type of lemur) at 12 percent.

Surprisingly, the Dama gazelle and the California ground squirrel are more murderous species at 11.8 and 11.9 percent respectively, than the jaguar and the cougar at 11.1 and 11.7 percent.

According to the lead author of the study, José María Gómez from Granada University in Spain, it is surprising how cute animals like meerkats, marmots, and ground squirrels have high levels of mortality towards members of their species.

The researchers also found that many primates exhibit high-levels of intergroup aggression and infanticide Human beings have a rate of two percent when it comes to murderous tendencies among the same species.

This new study has been published in the journal Nature.