At Taronga Western Plains Zoo, we are lucky to have two groups, or "mobs" of meerkats.

Meerkats live in the sandy open areas of Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Angola and Southern Zimbabwe.

The meerkat is a small, diurnal (active during the day), social carnivore belonging to the Herpestid family (mongooses).

The social structure of meerkats is very complex and they live in groups varying between of two to 50 individuals, which consists of a dominant pair and their offspring.

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The gestation of a meerkat is approximately 11-weeks with litters of up to six pups and the whole family helps to raise the young.

Our first meerkat mob is located at the start of the zoo circuit and houses seven siblings including two males and five females. Mwali is our dominant female and is one of our oldest meerkats turning 11-years-old in July.

Guests can meet Mwali and her siblings during our Meerkat Encounter that we offer daily at 10am, but make sure you get in quick as places are limited and bookings are essential.

Our second Meerkat mob is located at The Waterhole where we have a family of eight meerkats, parents Midra and Howell and their six offspring.

This new exhibit opened in May 2020 and has many exciting features including an interactive tunnel, a pop-up window and a four-metre-high tree where you might be lucky to see Imka or Yera on sentry duty.

The best time to see our waterhole meerkat mob is at our daily feed at 12:45pm.

Meerkats are omnivores and in the wild will eat anything from insects, small lizards, birds, foliage and roots. Here at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, we feed our two meerkat mobs up to six times a day and their diet consists of crickets, mealworms, cat kibble, vegetables, mice, chicken and eggs.

Meerkats are a crowd favourite as they display many natural behaviours such as sentry, ensuring one of the mob are always on look out while the rest forage for food and dig their incredible burrow systems.

As meerkat keepers we like to find new ways to enrich our two mobs and encourage them to use their natural behaviours.

Daily we provide enrichment such as pinecones, PVC pipes/feeders, scent sprays, insect scatters, and adding rotten logs and branches to their exhibit.

Being a meerkat keeper is a lot of fun as they are very curious and active animals.

They climb us like furniture when trying to find the best sentry position and choose to relax in the sun next to us when we respect their space.

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