Pictured: Tiny meerkat pups that fit into their keeper's hand



This pair of quivering meerkat pups are so small that they easily fit into the palm of their keeper's hand.

And though they are only 28-days old, brother and sister Zanzibar and Nairobi are already a huge hit with visitors to Taronga Zoo, in Sydney.

They are the latest additions to the site's meerkat manor - and are the first pups to be born there for nine years.

Supercute: Zanzibar and Nairobi are now four weeks old and are the first meerkat pups to be born at the Taronga Zoo, in Sydney, in nine years

Meerkat keeper Bobby-Jo Vial said: 'I'm extremely thrilled, I'm over the moon, I've been waiting for this for quite a long time now.

'They make me very clucky - Mamma Meerkat, that's me.

'They're already eating solid foods and displaying behaviours similar to adults. They're very precocious.'

Thriving: Both babies are doing well according to their keeper

Nairobi and her brother Zanzibar are part of nine-strong family at the zoo and weighed around 40 grams at birth. They will weigh about one kilogram (2.2lb) when fully grown.

The pups still spend most of their day living underground in extensive burrows so visitors have to patiently wait to spot them.

Making friends: One of the pups licks keeper Bobby-Jo Vial's nose

Feeding time: The pups snack on some tasty grubs

'Over the next two weeks they should start emerging from their indoor area so we really want to encourage visitors to just be patient as they're learning how to come out out,' Miss Vial said.

'We leave them with access to that safe area because being in Sydney, we have large aerial predators about and exhibit's quite open.

'Meerkats have to be doing exactly what they do in the wild - they have to be on guard, so we give them that option that they can run into their safe place.'

Feather-weight: Both pups weigh 184 grams



