Meerkats: A Hospital Trip
Posted at 8:59 am April 8, 2009 by Laura WeinerOur three meerkat pups in the exhibit on the San Diego Zoo’s Elephant Mesa just had their first vaccines and are doing well. They were not pleased with being held and given shots, and I swear one of them actually was yelling “Ow!” during the procedure. But all three of them passed with flying colors and are enjoying life as a meerkat with their 10 brothers and sisters. (Read Laura’s previous blog, Meerkats: 8th Litter.)
As always there is drama on the Mesa. Seronga, our least-dominant adult female, has always been picked on. This past month it has been worse than normal, and she has needed to have a portion of her tail amputated. When meerkats fight, they will bite the sides of the face, the base of the tail, or the tail tip. Seronga’s tail tip has been looking pretty gnarly as of late and the vet staff decided it was time to intervene. This meant she would have to take a trip to the hospital for the procedure.
Taking a meerkat out of a group and reintroducing it almost always causes problems. Meerkats are so territorial that they will attack this “new” meerkat even though it may have been in the mob for years. Seronga actually had a chance at a good reintroduction since she spends so much time by herself. I was still quite worried, so we took some precautions.
When she went up to the hospital we also brought a bag of dirty hay along. Meerkats are very sensitive to smell, and to return her to the exhibit smelling clean and sanitary like a hospital would not do. The hospital staff rolled her around in the hay to get her smelling nice and stinky, just the way the meerkats like it!
We arrived at back at the exhibit, and she started barking at her family. I had saved the carnivore diet from today’s feeding to have something to distract the masses from attacking her. I released her from the crate and let the rest of the mob into the service area. Immediately I gave everyone a meatball and thankfully they concentrated on fighting over the meat and not Seronga.
She ran out into the exhibit, and no one was really paying attention to her. Marula, the oldest of the offspring and her arch nemesis, targeted in on her and Seronga rolled up into a ball. Once she did this everyone else noticed and came running over. She curled up with her head facing up so she could bark at everyone, almost to say “Hey, leave me alone! I raised all of you ingrates.” Or maybe something like that.
After a few minutes they left her alone, and all was back to normal. I was grateful that she was safely reunited with her mob and only had a short tail to show for it.
Laura Weiner is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
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April 8th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Oh, the poor thing. I hope she doesn’t get picked on too much. Meerkats always look so happy together, it’s hard to believe how vicious they can be. I bet she enjoyed her roll in the smelly hay!
April 8th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Awww….. I hope it continues to go well with Seronga, and they accept her once and for all, and she no longer needs to be separated from the mob again. =) I used to watch Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet, and it used to break my heart when the mob would kick one of it’s members out, so I could only imagine how it feels to them. I Hope the reintroduction goes well. Thank you Laura for the update on these cute little creatures.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
What an engaging post about the meerkats. They have a lot of drama that reminds me of high school cliques or the movie “Mean Girls.” I always pull for the underdog, so I hope Seronga is able to hang in there and keep what’s left of her tail. I will definitely be looking at the meerkats at my local zoo from a new perspective the next time I see them.
April 11th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Another SDZ Meerkat Manor episode! Boy, I awear, these meerkats are acting just like the Kalahari meerkats on Animal Planet’s “Meerkat Manor”! They are behaving just like the African meerkats in their actions, behavior, hassleing each other, and fighting. At least Seronga was able to give that message to the other meerkats after she got back from the hospital. I bet that she was just flat tired of being harrassed all the time and decided to send that message to them! You all are doing a great job with this crazy mob! Glad to hear that the 3 newest pups are doing well, and Seronga’s tail is no worse for wear–just a little shorter for her to sit on.
Keep up the great work with this meerkat group! You all have the most interesting animals to work with, and they are alot of fun to watch. Have a nice Easter weekend!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
April 13th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Laura do you have one group of Meerkats or two? I recall a new mother an pups being separated and put into a new area. I thought that was Seronga, but I may be confusing the Meerkats with the Swamp Monkeys. Hopefully they will leave her alone and let her tail heal properly.
April 16th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Hi Margaret,
We currently have 3 meerkat groups. There is one in the children’s zoo, my group of 16 that just moved near the Kopje exhibit, and then a group of 2 in the Elephant Mesa exhibit. So far Seronga seems to be doing well in the new area. My next blog will be about their move. It was a great day for us all!