Meet the Meerkats

 Meerkats here, meerkats there,

Meerkats pop up everywhere.

Compare the Meerkat, Corrie Street,

Bow ties, jackets, suits complete.

On t-shirts, mugs and birthday cards,

Stuffed toys and books ... we work them hard.

I took myself to Edinburgh Zoo

So I could meet the meerkats too.

 

So entertainingly delightful are meerkats they always seem to draw people to them. Always cute and amusing, television fame has undoubtedly raised their profile, with more than one bright spark being heard to mutter "Compare the meerkat.com" while the rest of us were just content watching these furry bundles of fun at play.

Meerkats are highly sociable creatures, incredibly active during the day. Their curved front claws act as shovels, digging their

underground burrows and foraging for food. They feast on such mouthwatering morsels as insects, small rodents, small snakes, eggs and fruit, can often be seen grooming one another, and are not averse to a spot of gentle play wrestling. Their fur is pale brown and silvery brown, and their stomachs act as a kind of solar panel to keep them warm - not a great help in Scotland I hear you say. And they don't like the rain, much like everyone else up here. Meerkats are perhaps most famous for the way they stand upright on their rear legs, using their long slender tail as a tripod. This gives them the ability to see all around them, often keeping perfectly still whilst staring into the distance. Then, heads bobbing up and down they seem to acknowledge there is very little worth focusing their attention on, at least here at Edinburgh Zoo, as they gaze at the folk gazing back at them. Did I hear one say "Compare the human.com" as they scuttled away to find a much more amusing form of entertainment? Fame, it seems, can make those of us yet to find it appear boring and mundane. But remember, Mr Meerkat, there are others waiting in the shadows ready to steal the show! You are cute, we all love your antics, children adore you, we seek you out as soon as we arrive at the zoo, cameras at the ready. You were there before you were television celebrities, you will be there long after all the fuss dies down. We will still flock to see you. But fame, celebrity status? Like a pebble dropped into the ocean, it is there for as long as the ripples spread ever outwards. But when the water is still once more, like the ripples fame is gone forever ......