Walking around the zoos - Zoo of Rivne - Ukraine - Meerkat

Greetings, dear friends! Yesterday I invited you to join my walk through the zoological park of the city of Rovno, Ukraine.

After purchasing the tickets, we began to move along the right side of the zoo, and we saw the first inhabitants of this wonderful zoo. They were pelicans.

If you missed getting acquainted with these birds, you can always read the post that I indicated in the link below.

Walking around the zoos - Zoo of Rivne - Ukraine - Pelicans

This year I want to introduce you to other inhabitants of this hearth of nature. Meet the meerkats!

I am sure that you are familiar, but not with each of them.

I know that people sometimes confuse meerkats with other, no less interesting animals, with gophers. But, this is a big mistake. The gopher is a rodent, and the meerkat is an active predator.

A meerkat relative described Rudyard Kipling in his story Riki-Tiki-Tavi from the Jungle Book.

Mongoose, the brave warrior, the one who is not afraid of snakes, this is the one who is the closest relative of meerkats.

Meerkats, like mongooses, are immune to the poison of most snakes. Small snakes may well become their food. They mostly hunt lizards and various insects. Birds and bird eggs can also make up the diet of these animals.

Meerkats themselves can become objects of hunting for other predators and they should be especially vigilant. While part of the family is busy searching for food, the other part, like this meerkat, stand like columns and look for the approaching danger.

Meerkats live in large families. They, kaak and gophers dig deep holes, these are whole systems of holes. Gophers also vigilantly look out for danger, like meerkats, the body shape is a bit like, on this, the similarity of meerkats to gophers ends.

On this photo confirmation of my words. Someone threw an apple at them. The man did not know that meerkats love scorpions more. From the first days they teach their offspring how to free a scorpion from a poisonous sting.

I made the next four pictures in the summer of 2013, and the previous ones, in 2018. Much time has passed, but the meerkats became no less attractive.

Our acquaintance with meerkats has come to an end. The hero of the first photos was tired and went to rest.
We need to go further, we still have a lot to see.

To be continued.

The zoo is located at the exit from the city of Rivne towards Kiev. The street is called Kiev.

Tickets at affordable prices, a children's ticket costs a little more than one US dollar, for adults, tickets cost about two dollars.

Photos taken with a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300 camera
Author @barski
Ukraine