Meer-hat!

Our mischievous meerkats  had fun playing with a Santa hat with one disappearing inside!

Animal keepers are inventive with enrichment for the different species and Christmas is the perfect opportunity for unusual activities.

It didn’t take long for the meerkats to discover food hidden in the hat which enabled photographer Tom Anders to capture them looking as if the were trying it on.

James Dennis, Lead Keeper, said: “They really enjoyed it as you can see in the pictures.  They are highly intelligent animals and it didn’t take them long to figure out there was food inside!

“The two in the majority of the photographs where they are standing up in the hat are mother of the mob Cassie and the current alpha female Harley although Moana also joins in.”

Meerkats are listed as a species of least concern and live to three to six years in the wild but in human care can live up to 15 years.