Guarding the Castle!
One of our meerkats has been caught on camera doing a sterling job of guarding the 11th century Dudley Castle at the heart of the zoo.
The lone meerkat was spotted standing sentry when visitor and keen photographer Derek Bennett took his super shot.
Derek sent his snap into us at DZG and also posted it on the National Geographic website for all to see.
He said: “We had a pleasant few hours at the zoo and thought you may like the photo I took of one of your meerkats. It looked as if it was guarding the Castle!”
Derek’s picture has been posted at: http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/photos/6431860/
In the wild meerkats forage for food in a group with one sentry on guard watching for predators.
Sentry duty is usually approximately an hour long. On sensing danger the sentry utters an alarm bark which sends the group scampering underground.
