3 baby meerkats make debut at Brookfield Zoo
BROOKFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- The newest residents of Brookfield Zoo are stealing the show.
Three baby meerkats born in October have made their big debut at the Desert's Edge exhibit at the zoo. They are already climbing and exploring their new home.
Known for their curious nature, meerkats are expert diggers with sharp claws built for speed.
Meerkats live in dry areas such as the Namib and Kalahari deserts in Africa, and prefer sandy or even stony ground. They avoid forests, mountains, and true deserts, the zoo noted. A true desert receives no more than 10 inches of precipitation a year.
Meerkats are immune to many venoms, including scorpion stings. In the wild, they eat scorpions, as well as spiders, centipedes, and various insects. They also eat reptile eggs, rodents, small birds, lizards, snails, and plants.
In the zoo, they eat cat food, dry dog food, vegetables, bugs such as crickets and mealworms, ribs, fish, and mice.
Meerkats need to eat every day because they have very little fat in their bodies.
And lest their cuteness fool you, they are also known to start dust fights to distract aggressors.
