Meerkat Mom Sadie Shows Off 3 New Pups in Washington

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. has announced the arrival of three meerkat pups, born to parents Sadie and Frankie. 

Six-year-old Sadie is a first-time mom, while Frankie had sired pups from his previous engagement at the Los Angeles Zoo. The pair was specially selected for genetic makeup, health, and temperament and were introduced in D.C. last November. Apparently they got busy right away.

Meerkats are clannish. They live in groups called mobs, usually of 10 to 15 individuals. The newborns’ mob includes their aunt Stella, sister of Sadie. The zoo’s Small Mammal House includes a system of tubing concealed in the rocks to accommodate meerkats’ propensity to tunnel. When Sadie gave birth, she surprised keepers and visitors by proudly presenting her pups in the main exhibit space.

The meerkat (Suricata suricatta) is native to southern Africa, found in Namibia, southern Botswana, and South Africa. It is a kind of mongoose, growing to around a foot long and weighing in at about two pounds, give or take. They are thriving in the wild, designated a species of “least concern” by the ICUN.

Watch the new meerkats enter the world here.

Photo credit: Ann Gutowski / Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute