Meerkat Mayhem
Posted at 5:20 pm February 19, 2008 by Laura WeinerAll was back to normal in the meerkat exhibit at the San Diego Zoo after my last blog (see The Case of the Missing Meerkat). And normal for this group of meerkats is that Ngami, our dominant female, is once again pregnant. If you have stopped by the Elephant Mesa in the past few weeks you would have noticed her belly. It is huge! Meerkats have about a 2½-month long gestation and give birth to 2 to 5 pups. Our group has not had much success raising their pups so I am always concerned when I start to see Ngami’s belly swell and her weight increase.
Of course the pups are not the only problem. As Ngami gets further along in her pregnancy she gets a lot more aggressive with the subordinate females. This time Kasane is the focus. Seronga, the other subordinate female, has been staying away from the group most of the time for a couple of months now. She will be at one end of the exhibit while the other seven dig and sunbathe on the opposite side.
So poor Kasane is a mess. Both sides of her head are swollen from the bites Ngami gives her. Today I noticed the base of her tail was also chewed on. This is pretty normal behavior for meerkats so I am not overly concerned. She is on medication to control any infections but acting normally. If you watch the two of them they are constantly jockeying for position. If Kasane walks near Ngami she will vocalize with the equivalent of “Stay away, lady, this is my palm frond and you know it!” They also like to shoulder each other. This entails each of them shoving the other around without looking at them. They will use their whole body to push each other but refuse eye-to-eye contact. I have even caught them relaxing in a palm husk rear to rear, which was okay since neither was looking at the other. I am sure there was a little pushing going on.
Hopefully this week or early next we should have a new litter of pups. If the group does their job we shouldn’t see them for two weeks. Maybe some moving from one den to another is all we would want to see of them until March.
Oh, and one more thing to complicate everything: one of the young males was following Kasane around today trying to breed her. If she gets pregnant, then the soap opera that is the meerkat exhibit will get way more complicated! For now I am just hoping that this litter of pups is well cared for and soon there will be meerkat miniatures for all to see.
Laura Weiner is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
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February 19th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
How exciting — one litter on the way and perhaps a second. I fell in love with meerkats after watching Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet. What a fascinating social structure. And their pups are adorable. Please keep us posted.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Thanks for the update, Laura.
Do you separate the females at night at this point in a pregnancy when they are likely to get more ” violent” when no humans are around to intercede?
February 20th, 2008 at 8:47 am
What happened with their last litter? Did they survive?
February 20th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hi,
That was a very interesting blog. Thank you for the update. I have a question though…why don’t you all steralize the males (or the females)? I don’t want to ruffle any feathers just asking. Also, how is the little meerkat doing? I’m sorry I can’t remember the name.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
amanda…i believe that the had to be rescued and hand raised with the other babies…there is an earlier blog regarding the meerkats. the gang started fighting on top of a pup and this pup was taken away to be hand raised as was a second pup….meerkat society is a complicated….i marvel at a zoo’s willingness to take on such a complicated group of animals….what happens if the dominant female evicts poor kasane? I am assuming that this young male isn’t related to kasane….how did that happen. who is kasane realted to in the gang?
Moderator’s note: Here’s the blog Paula refers to: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/meerkat-pups-arrive/
February 20th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Hi, Paula! Looks like you all have your own version of Meerkat Manor going on there! Hopefully, Ngami will be able to kick in her maternal nurturing side of herself when she has her babies. Don’t want to hear about any more disastrous den moves that had you all rescue the other babies in the last few months. Reminds me of Yousarian on Animal Planet’s ” Meerkat Manor” when he tried to do a den move with Flower’s new babies, and it was a disaster from the start! By the way, you all didn’t write about how the rescued meerkat babies are doing, so I am hoping that you will write up an update about those babies ASAP! I would like to know how they are doing, how much they’ve grown, how healthy they are, and if they are back with the mob yet. Looking forward to seeing more updates real soon!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
February 21st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I’m looking forward to baby Meerkats – please make sure you take lots of pics for us unfortunate people who can’t get to you. How about Meerkats on their own cam – that would be really interesting.
Since I found this website (about six months ago now) I’ve bought myself a Panda sculpture (looks just like Bai and Zhen Zhen), some Giraffes (love them too) and, yes you’ve guessed it – Meerkats! I’ve made up my own family of them from separate designs but there’s a whole family group of them to buy as well. I’m tempted, but at £125 (I think that’s around $300) I need to think about it – a lot!
They are such wonderful little characters, even if they can be rather vicious to each other sometimes.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Here’s a quick update on the pups that were pulled from the last litter: The two pups are doing great in the Children’s Zoo Nursery. They are currently in the process of being introduced to their siblings. The group they are being introduced to is made up of a lone female and the two pups from Ngami’s first litter. So far all seems to be working. Thankfully they are all harness trained at the Children’s Zoo (a perk of hand raising babies) so much easier to separate if you need to.
On another note Ngami had her babies yesterday and so far everything is going well. Seronga is taking care of them so we’ll see what happens. I’ll write a full blog update this coming week.
Thanks for all of your interest!
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Laura, #8, thanks for the update on both litters. Glad to hear the older ones are doing well, and being integrated into a separate group. Also glad that Ngami is letting Seronga take care of the latest babies. Great practice for Seronga too.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Laura – really looking forward to your blog. Hope all is still going well with Ngami, Seronga and babies.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Laura, thank you so much for the update. I saw the two pupsfrom Ngami’s last litter on Sunday — so adorable. Please keep us updated, particularly when they emerge from the den.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
When will Meerkat Manor be back on Animal Planet as a new or continuing series? We miss it!
Thank you so much.