Snow Kats

After a long break the mob is back again ;-)

These last days brought tons of snow, even down here in the city. This is a rare event, as winters in Freiburg are mostly mild with lots of rain and the odd snowflake.

We walked out to visit the kats, as the minor roads are full of snow and ice and it is not nice to bike.

When we arrived at the enclosure, it was late afternoon and the kats were napping or rolling under the big heat lamp. Caruso was on the big lookout hill doing guard duty. As there were only few visitors and it was comparatively quiet, you could hear the distinct squeaky sounds she made.

The three youngsters have grown, but they are still smaller than the adult kats. All three have developed the distinct "ridge" on their heads, lacking in pups or subadults.

We wonder, if they will stay on the small side, as their father, Jolly Roger, was a rather small and delicate kat. Maybe they will still grow a little bit.

All kats looked healthy so far. Möfzi is still alive and her general condition is much better than in August. Her fur looked good, she lost the unkempt patches and she is no longer skinny. Her movements are a bit stiff, but Möfzi is really old now, at least 10 years.

As the snow inside the enclosure had not been removed, there were only some small paths the kats had trodden out in the snow. Most of the enclosure is covered in about 15 cm of powdery snow untouched by any paws.

Möfzi and Sayuri however were undeterred by this and came up to gather their treats. There were some extremely cute moments with Sayuri falling over and rolling in the snow. She looks so funny in her winter fur with her flat, stubby tail sticking out.

Möfzi stayed feeding on the egg treat until she was shivering with cold. This is the moment, you would like to pick her up and stuff her into your jacket ;-)

Here are two particularly cute pics of Sayuri, the little snow princess.



Hey, did YOU throw that stuff on me???

And here is a video taken today by Christian:

The Mob is settling down again

Today`s weather was pretty mixed, high humidity and smaller tunderstorms in the mountains.
When the sun came through in the early evening I took me and my bike outside.

When I arrived, Stubby Tail was on guard duty on the bigger lookout hill and Sayuri and Snoutie were competing for invisible mice on the former lookout hill, which is sort of molten down to a small heap.

Flat Ears was napping in the sun in the usual meerkat-style furball position, which means with his head between his legs. Would be very uncomfortable for a human, unless you`re a Yogi.

I had brought some extra small cherry tomatoes for which the meerkats are really crazy.

I threw one tomato in the general direction of Flat Ear, but he did not notice and slept on.
The second tomato caught Flat Ears on the back and he woke up to explore this interruption.
He wolfed down his tomato in two bites ;-)

Möfzi discovered the first tomato, which had roled into a crevice in the ground. She had not started on the tomato yet, when Snoutie joined her, trying to snatch it away.

Today I realized that the youngsters will sometimes still make begging calls, or if frustrated they will start barking. The begging calls will *sometimes* still work with Möfzi, but not today.

The turmoil starting in the crevice attracted Caruso first and then Sayuri also joined in. Everybody was pressing against everybody, with Möfzi on the bottom and the youngsters in a furry pile on top, kicking, chattering and trying to pry themselves between Möfzi and the tomato. I think Möfzi won.

This behaviour is what we call "Stopfbällchen" in German, actually I can`t think of a good translation for this word, maybe Christian will come up with something?

I was really angry that I forgot to bring my camera!

Everybody looks healthy so far.

Möfzi's fur is better, the unkempt patches are gone and she has gained weight. Her legs are pretty stiff, but she can still defend her food and will do a hipslam, if necessary.

The girls look OK, but I saw some new tooth marks above Caruso`s right eye, which had already healed, but with the fur not re-grown yet.

Sayuri looks pretty wild, the fur on the right side of her lower jaw and her neck is still short and must have been shorn off completely for medical treatment now showing the grey skin beneath.

In comparision to her siblings, she looks smaller.

The last thing that will distinguish an adult meerkat from a juvenile is usually the size of the kat's head.

A juvenile's head is smaller and the groove in the middle is less visible.

Caruso's and Snoutie's heads already look more like those of the adult kats, whereas Sayuri's is still smaller. But as we know from the past, she will catch up.
Maybe with all this fighting going on in the group, she spent too much energy for growth.

She has found a good way standing and looking up at the same time now.

As shown in previous posts, she will stand up "sailorfashion", legs wide apart.
In the meantime she can do this while looking up and will hold this position for a couple of seconds, until she will loose her balance and sometimes still whack her chin on the pavement.

Tonight she was a bit unsteady, which is often after a long day and sometimes also when she is growing.

Until now no new dominant couple has emerged, I think we will have to wait until next spring, before this matter will be setteled.

Meerkats in Love???

Things seem to have settled down a little bit in the mob.

The youngsters are mainly together with Orlok and Stubby Tail, while Flat Ears will mostly sit apart from the group performing guard duty.

Möfzi looked better, even though she still has this patch of matted fur sticking out from her side. She is not as skinny as at the beginning of August and is still able to move pretty fast, if she needs to.

What I watched yesterday was that Sayuri is no longer sidling up to Orlok, but will be apart doing her own things.

I watched a short but tender grooming session between Caruso and Orlok!
There was a lot of squeaking going on between the two of them, but I do not know, if both were squeaking, or only one of them.

Some moments later Stubby Tail interrupted the session with a display of jealousy!
He acted in a very aggressive way towards Orlok with chattering and chin-rubbing. He also attacked some of the plants, biting into them and shaking them...

So whatever the relationship between Orlok and Stubby Tail may be, now it looks like Orlok has found a new object of desire...

It is still too early to tell and I only had this short impression, but I will certainly be on the lookout for any further signs of "Meekat Love" going on in the mob.



JAWS!! featuring Sayuri

Things can only get better...

Today in the early evening I briefly visited the kats.

Things have improved regarding the bite wounds and swellings. Caruso`s eyes are almost back to normal, her left eye still looks a bit sore, her right eye is OK. The fur on her head is still a little patchy in some places, but it will re-grow.

Sayuri`s jaw looks better, the swelling has receded, but the right side of her face looks still a bit mangy.

Möfzi is weak, but she looked better with her fur groomed and it looked like she had put on a little weight.

With none of the males being interested in Sayuri yet, the question of the future dominant couple is still open.

Shortly before I left I watched a cute playfight between Sayuri and Snoutie with lots of little squeaky "I-love-you"-sounds being passed between them.

Here are some quick shots I took with my own new camera (yeah!).

Left to right: Mr-Well-Groomed Snoutie, little ruffian Sayuri, sweet Caruso.

Here is a sequence of pics from the playfight between Sayuri and Snoutie. Looks like a lot of fun ;-)

The End of Innocence

As the two young females Caruso and Sayuri reached puberty, they started competing for dominance.

Or rather, Sayuri started competing for dominance!

We had alway suspected that she had it in her to take over the position of the future dominant female of the group.

Sayuri has a very headstrong and tenacious personality most certainly resulting from her difficult start into life.

Everything that came easy to her siblings, meant a tough fight for her: being nursed by Möfzi above ground meant that she often had to fight for hours on end to get out of the burrow, while her siblings could simply walk out.

We often watched her struggling to get out of the burrow and nearly making it to the top only to roll back down after another uncoordinated motion. After some rest she would try again and fail and try again and again and again... until she was either picked up by one of the adults or actually made it outside.

The first 3-4 weeks of her life probably set the path to forming her character.

When she was about 4-5 weeks old and the pups were starting to eat solid food, she received additional treatment by the Mundenhof crew.

This became a turning point in her life, as she became more independent from her mother`s milk and could eat on her own getting stronger and better coordinated by the day.
During feeding time she was often first and last on the tray set out for the kats, eating anything she could get, growing and getting stronger.

At about 6-7 months old she had almost grown as tall as her siblings.

We watched her climbing the lookout hills, the small hill first, then the big hill.

She managed to sit up without falling over.

She learned a way to stand up in a peculiar way with her legs wide apart enabling her to make use of her little stub tail. This makes her look like a sailor on deck of a ship in a storm ;-)

Once she is determined to do something which comes to her mind, she is like a bulldozer set on track, going strong, no matter what comes in her way.

About two months ago I watched one of the males (I don`t remember correctly if it was Orlok or Flat Ears) sniffing her.

Playfights between Sayuri and Caruso often ended with Caruso trotting off, even though she could have taken advantage, as Sayuri certainly has a weaker position due to her motion-coordination problems.

Their difference in character becomes obvious though.

Caruso - even though she is in a better physical condition - is lacking the will to fight or to take over a dominant position.

She will often take solace with her brother Snoutie, who also took care of her severe bite wounds probably inflicted by Sayuri.

One of the keepers reported that Sayuri will hog the food bowl and snarl at Caruso. They have to make sure that Caruso will get enough food.

Another sad thing is that Möfzi is obviously on her last legs.
She has become very skinny and is always hungry. Christian took some pictures of her in the late afternoon light, where she looks really touched by the hand of death.

The last time I visited some days ago, she looked better, there are ups and downs, but the path is clearly set towards her end. We both suspect that she might have cancer.

She is still interested in everything going on around her, but she will not engage in any fights or competitions for food as she is lacking the strength to do so.

We will often see her sitting by herself or resting in the sun. Sometimes her children will come to groom her or sit with her, but the other members of the group are acting mostly indifferent towards her.

Last time I visited, she gave me a playfull nip into my finger, as she had already done on several occasions before. She will still sit up, but standing up will often be to difficult for her and send her tottering. Sometimes her bad leg will slip under her, but her eyes are still full of life.

This is probably her last summer, but at least she had the opportunity of successfully raising a litter once in her life.

We will miss you, Möfzi!

Brace yourself for some really shocking pictures taken on August, 01 and August, 06.

Carusos eyes had both been infected and were suppurating, Sayuri had a swelling on her lower jaw. All wounds have been treated and both kats are on antibiotics.

Sayuri with swelling on lower right jaw, pics taken by Christian on August, 01.

Caruso with both eyes infected due to bite wounds, pics taken by Christian on August, 01.

Left: Snoutie licking Caruso`s eyes
Right: Snoutie and Caruso grooming

Left: Sayuri terrorizing Caruso
Right: Sayuri watching interaction between Caruso and Snoutie


Möfzi on a bad day, pics taken by Christian on August, 01.

Sayuri with swelling on lower jaws, pics taken by Doro on August, 06.

Left: Caruso, left eye is still infected, right eye is better, pics taken by Doro on August, 06.
Right: Möfzi (top) and Sayuri (bottom) grooming. How tall Sayuri has become!

Mundenhof kats at Smithsonians "Surprising Science"

An article on the Smithsonian magazine website features the "Air Raid" video.
This has been around since February but Doro just discovered it.
They wrongly attribute the kats to Hannover instead of Freiburg though.

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2009/02/23/meerkats-and-ground-squirrels-live-together-respond-to-threat-differently/

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For those who haven't heard of "Smithsonian": Smithsonian magazine is a monthly magazine created for modern, well-rounded individuals with diverse interests. It chronicles the arts, history, sciences and popular culture of the times. Each subscription includes a complimentary membership to the Smithsonian Institution. The printed version has a circulation of ca. 2 million (too bad that isn't where the kats are :)

The institution itself is "an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men" founded from the will of British scientist James Smithson in 1846 (it is however a US foundation. It seems Smithson was fed up with British society of his time). In practice the institution runs several museums (including many very well known ones in Washington DC) and funds research. Establishment from the funds of Smithson was carried out by Congress and so it is associated with the US federal government.
Probably one of the best known museums run by the institution is the National Air & Space Museum, which has pretty much everything that has ever flown (or attempted to). That is also one I have personally visited.

Meerkat Birthday Video

Here comes the promised video taken yesterday.