Baby meerkats making their first steady steps at Bishop Burton College

​They have become the country’s best-known insurance-selling mammals.

Now, two adorable baby meerkats are making their first steady steps at Bishop Burton College.

The creatures were born five weeks ago in the college’s new Outdoor Animal Handling Centre.

Sue Harvey, curriculum leader in animal management at the college, said: “For about the first four weeks we could hear the babies but not see them.

“Their mother burrowed them a home underground.

“It was not until a few days ago that they started to become a bit more confident and started venturing outside for us all to see.

“Now they can stand on their back legs without wobbling and falling over. They are also foraging food.”

The two parents arrived at the college with four offsprings from Kent last November.

They were introduced to allow students destined for a career in the animal world to learn all about the dynamics of social mammals.

The baby meerkats were born weighing about 1.2 ounces (35 grams).

Ms Harvey said: “The reason to introduce the meerkats was to help meet the needs of the students in the wider industry.

“Meerkats are popular animals, so it is important students get the chance to work with them to offer them more experience.

“A successful litter of pups clearly shows that the meerkats are settled and happy in their environment and that’s very pleasing.”

The creatures are primarily insectivores, but also eat lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders, plants, eggs, other small mammals, millipedes, centipedes and, more rarely, small birds.

Their enclosure has been specially designed to allow the meerkats to practice their natural burrowing behaviour.

It also contains upright logs and rocks, so the animals can perform their sentry duty properly.

National Diploma student Emma Gorman, 18, of Hull, said: “It’s great that we have such as wide range of animals to study.

“They will provide something interesting to study for independent projects and the pups in particular are great as we can observe the developmental stages.

“Most animals come to the centre fully grown, so to have the babies will be really valuable for students.”

Meerkats originate from the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and parts of South Africa.

In the wild, they have a typical life span of 10 years, however in captivity this can be 14 years.

Meerkats have soared in popularity, thanks to the popular ‘Compare the Meerkat’ insurance advert and the TV documentary series Meerkat Manor.

Staff and students are also hoping some wallabies will be introduced to the college later this month.