Three baby meerkats have ventured out for the first time at Port Lympne. Pictures: Dave Rolfe/Aspinall Foundation

by Thom Morris

tmorris@thekmgroup.co.uk

Three baby meerkats have ventured out into the open for the first time at Port Lympne animal park.

At almost two months old, the kittens are gaining confidence and regularly venturing out of their burrow to the delight of visitors.

These are the first kittens born to the park's female meerkat Tiggs, two, who was hand-reared by keepers.

Head keeper Richard Barnes said: "We made the difficult decision to remove Tiggs and her sister Tess from the meerkat group because her mother Tellula's previous offspring have died at a young age from a disease known as toxoplasmosis. It's fairly common in meerkats and affects the immune system.

"Sadly we lost Tiggs' sister Tess after just 10 days when the effects got the better of her. Although needing some treatment early on Tiggs was always a fighter and thankfully from a few weeks old she hasn't shown any signs of the illness."

Meerkat kittens are born after a gestation period of about 10 weeks. Their eyes and ears are closed until they are around 10 days old and they don't begin to emerge from the burrow until they are three-weeks-old.

You can adopt a meerkat group from £3 a month. To find out more visit www.aspinallfoundation.org