Kid Territory: Critters: A Mob of Meerkats

Here's Kala and Hari when they were small and being raised in the nursery...

...and here are Hakuna and Matata as young pups in the Children's Zoo nursery.

Meerkat pups raised in our nursery need to be fed using a bottle with a special nipple.

Zookeepers often take a meerkat, or two or three, out for a stroll.

Three meerkats were selected to pose for a Thanksgiving photo shoot. You can see what a handful they are!

Zoo names: Kala and Hari, Hakuna and Matata
Species: meerkat
Location: San Diego Zoo

Our gang of four

“So cute! So playful! So energetic!” That’s what our guests exclaim, watching the antics of the Children’s Zoo meerkats. All so true! And then come the questions. “How old are they? Which one is the boss? Do they make good pets?

Here’s the scoop

Meerkats have starred as animal ambassadors in the Children’s Zoo since 1984. Over the years, baby meerkats came from Zoo exhibits into the nursery for various reasons, like health problems or neglect from their mothers. Hand-raising the tiny babies often allows them to become animal ambassadors. The meerkat pups learn to wear little harnesses (imagine a meerkat the size of a hamster!) and feel comfortable around crowds of people. And since meerkats are social among their own family groups but don’t easily accept new members, coming to the Children’s Zoo means they form a new group.

Sassy siblings: Kala and Hari

Our current mob of meerkats started in May 2006, when a meerkat mother at the exhibit on Elephant Mesa didn’t take good care of her two new babies. Instead of keeping the babies underground for several weeks as most mothers do, this mom let other meerkats bring the pups out of the tunnel. Zookeepers always want to keep mothers and babies together, but when the tiny babies became dangerously cold and hungry, keepers rescued the twins and took them to the Children’s Zoo nursery for hand raising. At first we called the infants Girl and Boy, and later changed their names to Kala and Hari, after the Kalahari Desert in Africa, the meerkats' native habitat.

When Kala and Hari got older, they graduated from the nursery into the nearby outdoor exhibit. Luckily, we were able to introduce them to an older male, Bahati. He was the last member of a trio who came to the Children’s Zoo as babies with medical problems, nearly 10 years before. He was so easy-going that we carefully worked out an introduction to the youngsters, and they all became pals, grooming and playing and cuddling as Bahati taught them how to be adult meerkats.

Here's a blog about Kala and Hari...
Watch a podcast with Mother Meerkat and Bahati

The gang’s all here: Hakuna and Matata

Meanwhile, across the Zoo, Kala and Hari’s mom raised a group of four pups. Then she had another set of twins in November 2007, which she neglected, so Kala and Hari’s newest siblings entered the nursery. We began the whole process again, naming the male Hakuna and the female Matata, after the famous “no worries” song from the movie Lion King. And when those youngsters got old enough, Kala and Hari accepted them.

Read a blog about Hakuna and Matata

And the boss is ???

In meerkat society, an alpha male and an alpha female run a meerkat mob, and that female is the big boss of the group. It’s been interesting watching Kala and Matata jockeying for the “Boss of the Exhibit” title. Kala started out as the most dominant, then little Matata stepped up in the ranking. And the boys? Hari and Hakuna just hang out and get along with everyone! Despite the occasional skirmish among the girls, we feel fortunate that these four meerkats merged into a successful group, and we have the opportunity to work with them as ambassadors.

Good pets?

Our guests are fascinated by the meerkats' personal stories and hearing about the adaptations and natural history of meerkats. The most frequent question, though, remains, “Can they be good pets?” The answer is NO. Meerkats are wild animals, they are illegal to have as pets, and the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park (which has a mob of meerkats in the Nairobi Village area) have a special license to house them. And even though the handlers have intensive training and have worked with the meerkats so much, we point out the leather gloves we wear (and it’s not because of cold hands or for a fashion statement!).

Where you can see them

Our four meerkats live in the Children’s Zoo, near the exit. Most of the time they are snoozing, wrestling, sunbathing, and being admired by visitors. If the numbers don’t add up to four meerkats, somebody might be out for a walk, at a school program, or appearing at a special Zoo event. They’ve even been on TV!

Animal Bytes: Meerkat
Read a blog about the meerkats on Elephant Mesa: Meerkats—Scent-marking
Watch a video of one of the keepers handling Hari
Job Profiles: Taking Care of Animals