Multi-Meerkat Madness
- Thread starter lamna
- Start date
It's interesting to note that Edinburgh, which in a fit of what could be called 'species snobbery' (Get rid of popular animals for lesser, rarer species) removed both Meerkats and Ring Tailed Lemurs from their collection, now has both species back again, the lemurs in their old enclosure and the meerkats in the what could be called the premium location at the site of the old sealion pool.
I don't really understand this opinion whereby zoochatters complain about the success and popularity of Meerkats, I think they fill an important role, in that people go to the zoo to see the Meerkats but will inadvertently discover the more obscure and rare species which they wouldn't have seen had they not come for the Meerkat. Any species which captures the interest of the general public should be celebrated- would we rather the kids persuade their parents to go and see Peppa Pig at 'Peppa Pig World' or Meerkats at the zoo? Surely an interest in nature is a healthy and positive one for all species. The mentality that something is respected by the enthusiasts because it is hardly anywhere to be seen and then it gets popular and hugely successful and now everyone is sick of the site of them baffles me. It's a form of 'elite-ism' as everyone has seen them and knows what they are so the zoo nerds don't feel so special. As for the multi exhibit point, thankfully at least a couple of people have already acknowledged on here that this is an animal welfare necessity NOT A PUBLICITY STUNT as some peole are suggesting, anywhere that has a breeding group of meerkats will need at least a 2nd exhibit for the young males once turfed out by the alpha male. My home zoo is Marwell and there have been many comments on here in the last few months about marwell filling another exhibit with meerkats, which is a great example of anti meerkat zoochatters jumping on the band wagon for a nice dose of exaggeration, as Marwell is no different to any other zoo, as illustrated earlier in this thread with the list of places with 2 or 3 enclosures. Marwell has a bachelor group and a breeding group (which have 3 small pups right now) and have never had more than 2 'GROUPS', there was a short time a year or so ago that they had 4 places to see them over a couple of weeks whilst they were gradually introducing new animals to each other or waiting for another species to arrive, in which case for the zoo it was a matter of having either an empty enclosure or temporarily putting the meerkats in there. Marwell has Amur Leopards, Somali Wild Ass, Arabian Oryx, Fossa, Red Crowned Cranes and Mishmi Takin and people are referring to them as 'Meer-well' because they have 2 small groups.... take a step back people.
Now, I do agree with this point of your argument - the issue which many of us have a problem with is that a number of places have displayed the unfortunate tendency to *replace* obscure and rare species with Meerkats.
For instance, some years ago Edinburgh Zoo chose to go out of Meerkats - the enclosure was then used to house European Souslik, a very unusual species in UK collections. However, two or three years ago Edinburgh announced to some fanfare that "by popular demand" the Meerkats would be returning. They moved the Meerkats into the enclosure which at the time held Marbled Polecat - an even more unusual species in UK collections - for quarantine, displacing the Polecats into an enclosure tucked away where most members of the public would miss them. After the quarantine period was finished, the Meerkats then moved into their old enclosure sharing with the Sousliks - prey animals! - which rapidly disappeared. Around the same time, the collection also got rid of their Marbled Polecats as - from what I heard - they wished to build a play area where their enclosure was situated.