Following an epic performance for Team GB so far, we’ve decided to name the our latest additions to the zoo after British Olympians.

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Seven baby slender- tailed meerkats have joined the mob and we’ve named them Jazz Carlin, Owain Doull, Becky James, Max Whitlock, Justin Rose, Vicky Thornley and Mo Farah.

The cute critters were born from two neighbouring families, with four babies from Kinky and Monty and three from Stumpy and Poppy.

Shelly Morris, zoo keeper at Folly Farm, said:

[Pullout]“Our new additions to the meerkat mob are settling in really well! We regularly theme the names of our newest habitants and after such an epic week of sport, we decided to call the animals after our fantastic British athletes. Born just three weeks ago, they are still staying quite close to mum who is always on the lookout at Kalahari Critters, one of our animal enclosures.” [/Pullout]

She continued:

[Pullout]”Meerkats are highly intelligent animals who are really protective of their young. We tend to leave them to it and just monitor the babies to make sure they’re happy, healthy and have enough mealworms and vegetables to munch on. As members of the mongoose family, they love to dig and spend their day creating large underground networks with lots of entrances and exits. When it’s sunny they love to sunbathe on top of their mounds.”  [/Pullout]

Meerkats are found only at the southern tip of Africa in the Kalahari and Namib deserts, and in Angola and South Africa. They live in large groups of roughly twenty individuals. The new additions have grown Folly Farm’s meerkat mob to 28 across two enclosures.