 "Photo: Jessica Smith")
Riverbanks Zoo recently included its meerkats on the new SCE&G Zoo View Web cam earlier this month.
According to the zoo press release, the meerkats are wild animals that are native to South Africa.
The popular meerkats of the gang are Princess, Harry and Gator while Princess is the leader and the only female of the family.
From Zoo statistics, meerkats look as if they are wearing sunglasses due to the dark patches surrounding their eyes. The dark patches help protect their eyes from the harsh rays of the sun.
Meerkats have large appetites, because they eat everything from insects to poisonous snakes and scorpions. They are able to digest snakes and scorpions because of their immunity to venom.
The meerkats run in gangs of 30 members and are very family-oriented.
One of the males stands up to 12 inches high when on guard duty while the other meerkats hunt for food.
Dargan Davis, Riverbanks Zoo public relations director, said this is the reason that the meerkat exhibit was first selected to show on the Web cam.
"We chose to highlight them because they are wildly popular," Davis said. "People see the meerkats on 'Meerkat Manor' which shows on Animal Planet. You won't get to see them unless you travel to South Africa, and we thought why we don't give the public a view of the meerkats."
Davis also said the upcoming views for the Web cam will be the elephants on March 8, Koalas on April 5 and Siamangs on June 7.
Davis said that the Zoo cam was beneficial to the viewing the animals in their natural habitats.
"They are tremendously popular and educators use it," Davis said. "The general public enjoys watching the animals here at Riverbanks."
Sue Pfaff, assistant curator of mammals at Riverbanks, said the zoo was fortunate to have the meerkats.
"'Meerkat Manor' has brought a lot of attention to the intriguing life of meerkats," Pfaff said. "Riverbanks are fortunate to have meerkats to see in person, especially since meerkats are not native to North America."
"Meerkat Manor" follows a gang of meerkats, which lets the viewers in on their social lifestyles. Meerkats are very much like humans, but with a lot of fur.
The viewers that visit the zoo are in for a real treat as they see their favorite animals on the Webcam.
To learn more information about the meerkats, visit www.riverbanks.org and to see the meerkats go to www.scegzooview.com.
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