Zookeepers Call For Meerkat Baby Names At Drusillas Park

Zookeepers are asking for name ideas after six baby meerkats were born at Drusillas Park in Alfriston.

They're asking for help to name the six new babies after what they're calling a 'baby boom'.

Now the park is re-open, they'd like to recieve ideas for names, preferably in groups of three because there are three males and three females.

Keepers would like each group of three names to tie together, so, for example, it could be Snap, Crackle and Pop for the boys, and Spring, Summer and Autumn for the girls.

Drusillas will select two lucky winners to name their meerkats, one winner will name the boys and one winner will name the girls.

The competition closes on Wednesday (8) at midnight and the winners will be announced on Thursday (9).

The competition has received more than 500 entries since it went live on Sunday morning (5).

Anyone who wants to be in with a chance of winning should go to the Drusillas Facebook Page for details of how to enter https://www.facebook.com/drusillaspark/ .

The competition post is pinned to the top of their page.

Head Keeper, Sophie Leadbitter, said:

"We are so pleased with the new arrivals.

"Our visitors really love to see the baby meerkats playing and enjoying the sunshine, and we are so excited they are now able to meet them. We are so very lucky to have had six new arrivals!

"Our meerkat mob is going from strength to strength and it’s really great to see.

"Six is a lot of babies to name, so we are appealing for the public’s help! We are hoping to pool some inventive name suggestions soon!

"The new little babies are all doing really well and it’s wonderful to see them running around together.”

Meerkats are very social creatures, living in complex underground burrows in highly organised groups. Only one pair of meerkats will breed within a mob, giving birth to two to five young at a time. 

However, all the members of the group will help to look after the youngsters and share the responsibility of raising the pups.

In the wild, meerkats are native to south-west Africa and are members of the mongoose family.

They have long been a favourite at Drusillas so revellers to the zoo have been thrilled by the antics of six tiny additions.

Drusillas zookeepers are looking forward to hearing all of the naming suggestions!