28th November 2009 - Out with Mum
14th November 2009 - Keeping Warm
Picture Taken by Chris Rounce
12th November 2009 - Brothers & Sisters ?
Picture Taken by Chris Rounce
28th October 2009 - Comparethemeerkatbabies.com – again!
Anne and Arthur have produced two more baby meerkats – their second litter within four months. The first three babies are still small and playful and became internet stars from birth on this their very own website. Meerkats live in large colonies in the wild and rely on each other’s teamwork for survival. One is always on duty. Meerkats have become extremely popular over the past year thanks to a national advertising campaign by an insurance company. Meerkat adoptions are available at the Park and in great demand at £25 for a year’s adoption and the Safari Store is fast selling out of Meerkat Soft toys. Animal Director John Minion has an idea why they are so popular, “ People love to see animals that they can relate to and the Meerkats have families just like us. They are active and sociable and our visitors spend ages watching them and taking photos.”
23rd October 2009 - 3 Months Old Today.
The Meerkats have celebrated their third month by playing in the enclosure.
21st October 2009 - Firework Extravaganza
The Meerkats are looking forward to the YWP Firework and Bonfire Extravaganza which will take place at the YWP on the 31st October (far away from the animal enclosures). Please visit www.YorkshireWildlifePark.com and click on the link
17th October 2009 - Busy Day Part 2
A very busy day for the pups today. They are becoming very inquisitive and are starting to become mischievous, digging very deep holes in their enclosure.
10th October 2009 - Facebook Group
Are you a member - if not please click on the Facebook icon below.
7th October 2009 - A day in the Sun
The Meerkats pups have enjoyed an unexpected day in the sun. despite forecasts for rain, the weather has been excellent. The meerkats spent most of the day keeping watch on the rocks in the centre of their enclosure.
21st September 2009 - No Visitors Today!
Unfortunately the Park had to be closed today to allow essential maintenance work to take place. The pups are looking forward to visitors tomorrow...
17th September 2009 - Busy Day
A very busy day for the pups today. They are becoming very inquisitive and are starting to become mischievous, digging very deep holes in their enclosure.
13th September 2009 - 52 days old
The pups have been very active today. They now sit and wait for visitors to come over and take a look at them. Bandit loves climbing the rock pile.
11th September 2009 - 50 days old
We are delighted to report that the three pups, who are now 50 days old, are doing really well. The largest pup (now named Bandit) has made it to the top of the rock pile once, and continues to try and get up there more often. The two smaller pups have a long way to go before they can make it up there but they continue to eat really well and appear to be very healthy. All the pups play with each other more and more and this again is a great sign as shows they are gaining strength.
It is hard to believe that the smallest pup was hardly able to stand last week and now can sit right up like an adult meerkat, as well as bound around, climb rocks and chase his brother and sister! Mum and dad continue to do a great job with their little ones and all appear to have really enjoyed the last few sunny Yorkshire days.
9th September 2009 - 48 days old
48 days old today . Pups played and ate all day (you can see the littlest one is covered in egg!) They all have very different personalities and the largest pup, who now looks like a real meerkat has become very sweet and takes food nicely from the hand unlike his smaller brother and sister who snatch. ah, they are so lovely!!!
3rd September 2009 - Out and About
2nd September 2009 - A chilly Day
All three pups have eaten a nice breakfast of meal worms soaked in warm milk substitute, chopped chick and nectarine. As it is a very chilly day today, we hope the pups will spend most of their time inside.
29th August 2009 - Sad News........
On Friday
August 28th we unfortunately noticed that two of the meerkat pups did not seem
their usual perky selves. They have continued to eat solid foods such as fruit,
vegetables and meat, but appeared to be a little bit weak. We have since
then realized that mum is no longer nursing the four pups. In the wild meerkats
depend on subordinates to raise their pups. It is not just the mum that nurses
the pups but also other female meerkats in the band. Unfortunately Anne does
not have another meerkat female to assist with the nursing. Meerkat pups would
normally continue to drink milk in addition to eating solid foods for up to 65
days, and as our pups are only 40 days old, it is quite early for them to go
without milk. We have tried using a milk substitute but unfortunately, the
little pups do not seem keen on this new milk.
Sadly, despite all of our efforts, the smallest pup died in the late afternoon
on Monday 31st. We had made the decision to remove the pup from his litter that
morning, offering it feedings every half hour and keeping it warm, tucked up in
a tiny bed in our office, but it was just too weak. The largest pup continues
to grow and appears very strong and healthy. The second largest pup has a good
appetite and although she is much smaller than her big brother, she
also continues to eat well. The third smallest pup has an ok appetite, but at
this stage is quite weak.
Please note, this has been a very challenging time for all of us. Removing a
pup from his litter is only something that we would do as a last resort. If we
removed a pup and he/she survives she will have lost her family. There is a
large chance that Ann and Arthur and the other pups would not accept her back
into the band. Meerkat pups form very strong social bonds and this social
connection is critical to their survival
27th August 2009 - Keep up if you can.....
It's getting harder to take photos of the pups because they don't keep still! All pups continue to do well and guests continue to flock to YWP to see them.
The largest pup is almost twice as large as the other three and has made it 3/4 of the way up the largest rock pile. Dad Arthur continues to do a fantastic job chewing up larger pieces of food like locusts and ensuring that each pup has some food. Mum continues to focus on feeding herself!
25th August 2009 - Come and See us Soon
With less then a week of the school holiday left please don't forget to come and see us at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Please visit www.YorkshireWildlifePark.com for more information.
23rd August 2009 - It's a Hard Life
Being this small is a very tiring experience. This picture was taken by one of the park rangers this morning as one of our little pups (now 31 days old) did a bit of sun bathing..
22nd August 2009 - Photo Shoot
Another busy day for our Meerkat pups as many photographers came along to take their photographs. Since appearing on the BBC News Website homepage the pups have attracted massive attention from local and National media, check out page 19 of today's times Newspaper
20th August 2009 - Family Day Out
Another day in the Sun for our Meerkat pups. They spent the full day today entertaining the visitors to the Park
19th August 2009 - We're on the BBC
We are all very proud of our Meerkat Pups who can now be found on the BBC News Homepage. Click on one of the images below...
18th August 2009 - 28 days old today!
All the
pups are running about, climbing on the smaller rocks, digging and GROWING.
When we enter the enclosure they come bounding over to see what we've got for
them.
It's hysterical to see the differences between the largest pup and the
smallest. As you can see, the smallest pup has a bit of a funky hair do.
16th August 2009 - 28 days old today!
The pups have spent the entire day in the outside area today, and were so exhausted by end of day, guests kept coming to the staff and asking what was wrong with them. They would just fall over asleep as they were walking. In the end we picked them up and put them in pipe so that they could go indoors and get some proper sleep.
15th August 2009 - 28 days old today!
The pups have started eating solid food today. We are all very excited. Make sure you come down and see them at feeding time - visit www.yorkshirewildlifepark.com for further details or call reception on 01302 535057
11th August 2009 16:24am
"We're Out"
Visitors to the park today were amongst the first to see our 18 day old Meerkat pups venture outside into the enclosure.
10th August 2009 21:54am
"17 Days Old Today"
The Meerkat pups are 17 days old today. There eye's are now open and they are exploring the Meerkat House.
7th August 2009 07:32am
"Hallam FM"
The Meerkat pups will be able to listen to Hallam FM live today. The Sheffiled based Radio Station will be broadcasting live from the park between 10am and 2pm. Even more reason to pop down and see our newest arrivals.
5th August 2009 11:32am
"A hard day at the office"
The Meerkat pups have been very active today. Playing with one another. They have spent a lot of time with their mother Anne who is doing an absolutely fantastic job of looking after them..
4th August 2009 01:12am
"Mum, Dad - I Can See"
Today was a very special day for one of our pups whose eyes have no started to open. We are hoping to have some video to show you tomorrow.
3rd August 2009 14:33am
This photograph was taken when the pups were only 2 days old.
3rd August 2009 14:33am
Ten days
old today. The largest pup's eyes are very close to opening. One pup
appeared to be grooming themselves today. Their Coats are getting longer. If
you look close you can see how well developed the nails on front paws are. Mum
and dad seem very comfortable with visitors. They both took a nap in the
straw basket - lot's of grooming of each other, then mum went and curled up with
pups.
3rd August 2009 10:34am
The meerkat babies are getting more active by the day. Rangers are reporting that the babies are now talking to each other with lots of squeaks, so that sounds like their ears are now open and they are picking up sounds. Their eyes aren't open yet but should be any day now. Anne and Arthur leave the babies quite often now and go out into their enclosure to forage (or just to look at the visitors from their rock). Visitors get a great view of the babies through the window of the house - they are proving a big hit!
