Baby Boom!

In a time of uncertainty and worry, Drusillas Park is pleased to be able to share some positive news! Three beautiful baby meerkats have been born at the zoo! Keepers spotted the fluffy little bundles of joy last week as they began to poke their heads out of their den for the first time.  

Drusillas’ dedicated team of Zookeepers have continued to work throughout the COVID-19 crisis and have gone above and beyond the call of duty to care for the animals living at Drusillas. 

Head Keeper, Sophie Leadbitter, said: “Well what a lovely surprise these three were! We were walking past the enclosure when we saw a flurry of activity around one of the burrows. When we stopped to have a look, we saw three tiny little heads bobbing up to get food from mum. My heart skipped a beat, we are so excited to have more babies!”

“We suspected that mum might be pregnant, but we weren’t one hundred percent and of course when meerkats have babies, they stay hidden deep in their burrows so we can’t see what’s going on and we definitely can’t disturb them.” 

“We couldn’t believe our luck that amongst all of this doom and gloom at the moment, there were three beautiful baby meerkats popping their fuzzy little heads up to say hello for the first time. We are over the moon to welcome the triplets! A very much needed bit of positivity for everyone.”

Zookeepers have been keeping a close eye on the babies, but mum and dad appear to be doing a sterling job. 

Head Keeper, Sophie Leadbitter, continued: “The babies look very healthy and well and mum and dad seem to be on the ball with looking after their little family. We are keeping a very watchful eye, but it’s important we don’t get too close or involved.”

“It’s a very exciting day for Drusillas and we can’t wait for the little trio to start properly venturing out of their burrow. We will be posting lots of updates on social media!” 

Meerkats are very social creatures, living in complex underground burrows in highly organised groups. Only one pair of meerkats will breed within a mob, giving birth to two to five young at a time. However, all the members of the group will help to look after the youngsters and share the responsibility of raising the pups.

In the wild, meerkats are native to south-west Africa and are members of the mongoose family. They have long been a favourite at Drusillas so the news of the triplets birth is really very special indeed.