File this post under Seriously Cute. It’s the latest update about the meerkats at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo.
This “flower power” mob consists of three juvenile sisters
At about 1.5 years old, the meerkats in this flower power mob are still considered juveniles. They were born as part of the same litter at Madison, Wisconsin’s Henry Vilas Zoo, where they were living before coming to Chicago. Their transfer is the result of a recommendation by the Meerkats Species Survival Plan®. This is a collaborative population management effort among institutions within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Meerkats are a matriarchal species, meaning that females are dominant. In a mob, one meerkat is always on sentinel duty, keeping a sharp eye out for predators while others forage. If they do spot a predator, the sentinel will let out a shrill call warning the other meerkats to take cover. Visitors at Lincoln Park Zoo can often spot the meerkat on sentinel duty because they’ll be standing on their hind legs atop one of the tall mounds in their habitat. The mob rotates sentinel duty throughout the day, so visitors might even catch a changing of the guard!
“Meerkats’ social nature and cooperation with one another is a great lesson that all of us can learn from,” said Lincoln Park Zoo Curator Cassy Kutilek. “Clover, Dahlia, and Violet are no exception; one of them is always on alert, keeping an eye on everything going on around their habitat. It’s been really rewarding to see their personalities come out as they’ve acclimated to their new home.”
Measuring between 10-14 inches long and weighing up to 2.2 pounds, meerkats are a small, slender member of the mongoose family whose native range spans southern Africa. As made famous by Timon in The Lion King, a meerkat’s diet primarily consists of insects like grubs and termites. They’re a very vocal species, with at least ten distinctive vocalizations, ranging from growls and clucks to their shrill alarm bark.
Meerkats have a grizzly gray and brown coat with a dark tip on their tail. They also have dark patches around their eyes that reduce glare from the harsh sunlight common to the savannas and grasslands they call home, not dissimilar to the black paint American football players place below their eyes for protection against the sun and stadium lights.
Meerkats are listed as a species of Least Concern with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List, meaning that they do not currently face any threat of endangerment or extinction.
About Lincoln Park Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo inspires communities to create environments where wildlife will thrive in our urbanizing world. The zoo is a leader in local and global conservation, animal care and welfare, learning, and science. A historic Chicago landmark founded in 1868, the not-for-profit Lincoln Park Zoo is a privately-managed, member-supported organization and is free and open 365 days a year. Visit us at lpzoo.org.
Photos by Christopher Bijalba.
