The San Diego Zoo welcomes baby meerkats

For the first time in six years, baby meerkats can be seen popping out of dirt tunnels, scurrying over rocks and under bushes and standing upright on their hind legs at the San Diego Zoo.

Four puppies, born about six weeks ago, are making themselves comfortable in their habitat at Conrad Preby's Africa Rocks and delighting zoo visitors with their antics. The four are the very first offspring of mother Shaka and father Bafana.

The zoo's meerkat pack, or “mob” as they are called, numbered 17 at one point before dwindling to three females in recent years after the breeding male, a meerkat named Bantu, died in 2021 at the age of 12.

The lack of a male led to a predictable result: no breeding. Finding a would-be surrogate father took time, delayed in part by the pandemic, said Lisa Martin, wildlife keeper at the zoo.

“We tried, but it took a while to find a guy we could integrate into the group,” Martin said.

Bafana – whose name means “the young ones” in Zulu – came to San Diego in February from Hemker Park and Zoo in Minnesota. The transfer took place as part of the survival plan for meerkat species, which takes into account the aim of maintaining genetic diversity in captive populations.

Bafana had a few months to settle in – which gave the meerkat matriarchs time to figure out who the breeding female would be. Shaka, whose name means “leader” or “power” in Zulu, became pregnant and after a gestation period of 10 to 11 weeks, the babies were born – doubling the zoo's meerkat population.

“I always marvel at their social structure,” Martin said. “It is the women who determine the dynamics and hierarchy. They fight, they fight, they can be aggressive at times and dictate who the dominant woman is going to be.”

Meerkats – squirrel-sized mongooses native to southern Africa – became known to some through the BBC documentary series Meerkat Manor, which ran for four seasons starting in 2005 and was revived in 2021, and the Disney character Timon, who starred in it “The Lion King” franchise.

According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, as of August 2023, 333 meerkats were being cared for at 67 zoos in the United States. Meerkats are not considered threatened or endangered in the wild.

“They’re really very animated characters,” Martin said. “They are active. Not only are they active towards their surroundings, they are also active among themselves. The puppies are on top of each other, they are over the adults. It’s just entertaining.”

Meerkats spend a lot of time grooming and playing with each other to form a close unit, zoo officials said. They take turns acting as sentries to keep an eye out for danger. When there are young, meerkats take turns babysitting by watching and training the young.

But meerkats have another side: They can be fierce fighters, a trait seen in the wild when one group has a territorial dispute with a neighboring pack.

“If the two groups meet for a duel, the result can be tragic. Meerkats are aggressive fighters, often killing each other in these confrontations,” the zoo’s website says. “They are aware of the high costs of all-out war and try to avoid serious conflict if possible. Usually any physical contact is preceded by a lot of aggressive posturing and bluffing.”

Meerkats can also be aggressive within the gang, especially when regulating the group's pecking order. Typically, a dominant female and a dominant male give birth to most of the young.

Once this decision is made, the pack will likely remain stable for a while and the other women will take on the role of aunts. That stability tends to remain until another woman decides to seek a change, Martin said.

“They have teeth and they inflict injuries on each other,” Martin said. “They do it intentionally to make their case and come to a solution.”

When females other than the dominant female become pregnant, their offspring rarely survive. They are eaten.

Staff knew Shaka was pregnant after she gained weight and showed other signs of motherhood. On August 20, none of the meerkats waited for breakfast. The mob was underground taking care of the babies, who are about the size of a matchbox car when they are born.

For the first few weeks, the young remained in the burrows until the adults carried them into the main habitat with their eyes not yet open. Her first steps were hesitant.

Nowadays they can be seen outside sunbathing and imitating the adults. They can now balance well enough to stand upright, lean on their paws, and assume the typical meerkat guard position when basking or watching for threats.

Bafana, the meerkat father, is very protective of the pups and their mother, warning when something seems dangerous — a bird flying by, a loud noise, anything moving quickly, zoo officials said.

Lacy-Jean Pearson, a senior wildlife warden, and her colleague Candice Dymek hosted the group's lunch break one afternoon. Using tongs, they held out chunks of food and made sure each animal got bites of mouse meat, earthworms, dry pellets and other pieces of food.

As puppies grow older, they are taught to assume a position on the cinder block at feeding time.

“They will all line up and then we can walk the line to make sure everyone gets their fair share,” Pearson said. “Right now it's a little harder when they're young (and we are) and trying to train them to make things work.”

The other adult women are Mava, whose name means “experience” or “wisdom” in the Xhosa dialect, and Msizi, whose name means “helper” in Zulu. The meerkats' aunts took turns staying underground with the pups, and one of them began producing milk and helped raise them.

Pearson said she has already noticed differences between the teens, who don't yet have names.

“You're more shy, you seem to be more vocal and you're definitely pretty brave. So far, these are the standouts,” said Pearson.

Originally published: October 5, 2024 at 5:00 am