Four baby meerkats have joined the San Diego Zoo with the first birth of the tiny members of the mongoose family in six years.
The mother, named Shaka, is doing well and has a healthy appetite, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Zookeepers said Shaka has shown great maternal instincts, checking underground tunnels to ensure they are safe and enlisting other members of the mob — the large group of meerkats — to help watch over the pups. The pups spend their days eating, practicing digging, playing with one another and relaxing in underground burrows.
Meerkats have a matriarchal society with one dominant female and male that produces the most pups. The large mob offers safety and companionship, primarily made up of family members, grooming and playing with one another to survive.
Standing at a foot tall, adults take turns acting as a guard while others look for food without worry of danger. When on guard, a meerkat will climb to a high vantage point, stand upright and use its tail as a kickstand for balance, then call out if they see danger.
Meerkats are also skillful hunters; they can kill and eat venomous snakes and scorpions as they have some immunity. As desert dwellers, they can survive without drinking water and can get needed moisture from roots and fruit.
Shaka and her pups can be visited in their Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks habitat.
