Maritime Aquarium's Meerkats To Move Into Larger New Exhibit

NORWALK, CT — The Maritime Aquarium's popular meerkat family is moving into a big new exhibit that connects their desert story to the influences of the ocean on climate and weather.

According to a news release, the meerkats will move upstairs into an exhibit twice as large as their original display on Dec. 26.

The new exhibit replicates the animals' native African-desert habitat and offers the meerkats many new opportunities for climbing, digging and exploring. Three viewing "bubbles" will also give guests the chance to pop up right next to the meerkats.

"These are active animals that are very charismatic with highly interesting social structures," Barrett Christie, the aquarium's director of animal husbandry, said in a news release, "so they're a lot of fun for our guests to follow."

With the move to the second floor, the meerkat exhibit now connects naturally with "Just Add Water," the aquarium exhibit that features desert-to-rainforest creatures in explaining how the world ocean drives climates around the globe.

"Incorporating the meerkats into 'Just Add Water' opens opportunities to continue and expand our conversation with guests about the role of the ocean in creating and affecting climates - and, thus, also creating and affecting diverse animal habitats – all around the world," Christie said.

According to the aquarium, meerkats are small members of the mongoose family that live in social mobs of up to 30 members in the Kalahari Desert, in the southern African nations of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

Meerkats were widely popularized by the comical sidekick Timon in Disney's "The Lion King" and celebrated in the Animal Planet television series "Meerkat Manor." They're fascinating for living in structured, cooperative societies, including a survival strategy where adults take turns individually standing guard, often balanced upright on their haunches, watching for predators while the others forage or sleep.

The exhibit features five sibling meerkats born at the Hogle Zoo in Utah. The exhibit opened in May 2010 as part of a larger temporary focus on African species, but the guest-favorite animals soon became a permanent fixture, allowing the aquarium to add a focus on the ocean's impact on climate for even desert animals like meerkats.

The exhibit is free with aquarium admission. More information about the aquarium's exhibits and programs can be found at www.maritimeaquarium.org.