Meet The 5 Meerkats 'Making Themselves At Home' At The Maritime Aquarium

NORWALK, CT — The Maritime Aquarium encourages guests to visit their newest "mob" of resident meerkats.

According to a news release provided this week by the aquarium, the facility's newest resident group of meerkats have been busy settling in and charming guests since coming on exhibit in late August.

Meerkats are incredibly social animals and live in tight-knit family groups known as mobs, according to the aquarium.

According to the release, the aquarium's mob is made up of four males and one female: Xander, Willow, Diesel, Turbine and Simon.

All five meerkats arrived at the Norwalk aquarium from Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Fla., this past summer, according to the release.

Meerkats live in matriarchal societies led by a dominant female, and that leader at the aquarium is Willow, the release notes.

The aquarium also provided the following information about its group of meerkats:

Life in the Mob

In a mob, everyone has a job. The meerkats take turns foraging for food and standing sentry against potential predators. One of the most iconic sights guests can expect to see is a meerkat posted upright in a vigilant stance, scanning the surroundings while the rest of the mob digs, explores, or socializes.

Even in a safe environment, this behavior continues because the lookout role is deeply ingrained, guided by social cues and group dynamics. It's a captivating glimpse into how cooperation and communication shape survival in the wild.

Why Meerkats?

Meerkats made their first appearance at the Maritime Aquarium in 2010 as part of a temporary exhibit highlighting African species. Their engaging behavior and dynamic social structure made a lasting impression on visitors. When the opportunity presented itself to welcome them back as a permanent part of the collection, it was a natural fit. The original mob has since passed away from natural, age-related causes after living well past their typical life expectancy, which is why a new mob now calls the aquarium home.

More importantly, meerkats help to tell a bigger story about how the ocean influences life beyond the shoreline. Native to southern Africa, they live in deserts and grasslands shaped in part by cold ocean currents along the region’s southwestern coast. Those currents suppress rainfall, creating the arid conditions to which meerkats have adapted. By featuring meerkats, the aquarium highlights the powerful and often surprising ways marine systems shape ecosystems on land.

"It is always fun to see the surprise when people find out we have meerkats that reside here," Dylan Salamone, assistant curator of mammals at the aquarium, said in a news release. "We often get the question of 'why?' That question provides us with a great platform to educate people on how connected ecosystems are. Our Just Add Water Gallery allows guests to see animals from a variety of habitats and gain perspectives about how each animal from a unique ecosystem is affected by the state of our waterways and oceans. The meerkats are full of energy and naturally draw people in and spark questions, which opens the door to deeper learning about ecosystems."

Come Say Hello

Whether they're digging elaborate tunnels, taking turns as the neighborhood watch, or interacting with one another in endlessly entertaining ways, the meerkats offer guests a chance to observe cooperation in action and to see how the ocean affects life on land.

More information is available on the aquarium's website.