For the first time in six years, baby meerkats can be seen at the San Diego Zoo — popping out of dirt tunnels, scampering over rocks and under bushes and standing upright on their hind legs. Four pups born about six weeks ago are getting comfortable in their habitat at Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks, delighting zoo visitors with their antics. The four are the first-ever offspring of mother Shaka and father Bafana. The zoo’s meerkat pack, or “mob” as they are known, at one point numbered 17 before dwindling to three females in recent years after the breeding male, a meerkat named Bantu, died in 2021 at the age of 12. The lack of a male created a predictable result: no breeding. Getting a replacement would-be father took time, delayed in part by the pandemic, said Lisa Martin, a zoo wildlife care supervisor. “We were trying but it took a while for us to get a male that we could integrate into the group,” Martin said. The mother meerkat, Shaka, that recently gave birth to four babies at the San Diego Zoo on Thursday. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) Bafana  — whose name means “the boys” in Zulu — came to San Diego from Hemker Park and Zoo in Minnesota in February. The transfer was arranged under the meerkat species survival plan, which takes into account the goal of maintaining genetic diversity in captive populations. Bafana had a few months to settle in — giving the meerkat matriarchs time to figure out who would be the breeding female. Shaka, whose name means “leader” or “power” in Zulu, became pregnant and, after a gestation period of 10 to 11 weeks, the babies were born — doubling the zoo’s meerkat population. “I always have to marvel at their social structure,” Martin said. “It is the females that work out the dynamics and hierarchy. They scuffle, they argue, they can be aggressive at times determining who is going to be the dominant female.” Meerkats — squirrel-sized mongooses native to southern Africa — became known to some thanks to a BBC documentary series “Meerkat Manor” that ran for four seasons starting in 2005, with a revival in 2021, and through the Disney character of Timon who starred in “The Lion King” franchise. As of August 2023, there were 333 meerkats being cared for at 67 zoos in the U.S., according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Meerkats are not considered threatened or endangered in the wild. “They are really very animated characters,” Martin said. “They are active. They are not just active with their environment, they are active with each other. The pups are all over each other, they are all over the adults. It is just entertaining.” Meerkats spend a lot of time grooming and playing together to keep a tight unit, zoo officials said. They take turns acting as a sentry, keeping watch for dangers. When there are pups, meerkats take turns as babysitters, watching and training the youngsters. Senior wildlife care specialists Lacy-Jean Pearson, left, and Candice Dymek feed meerkats at the San Diego Zoo on Thursday. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) But there’s another side to meerkats as well: they can be fierce fighters, a trait seen in the wild when one group has a territorial dispute with a neighbor mob. “When the two groups meet for a face-off, the results can be tragic. Meerkats are aggressive fighters that often kill each other in these skirmishes,” the zoo says on its website. “Knowing the high cost of an all-out war, they try to avoid serious conflict if possible. Usually, a lot of aggressive posturing and bluffing precedes any physical contact.” Meerkats also can be aggressive within the mob, particularly when they sort out the group’s pecking order. One dominant female and one dominant male typically produce most of the pups. Once that decision is made, the mob likely will remain stable for a while, with the other females taking on the role of aunts. That stability tends to continue until another female decides to seek a change, Martin said. A meerkat stands at attention. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) “They have teeth and they will inflict injuries on each other,” Martin said. “They do it intentionally to make their points and come to their resolution.” If females other than the dominant female get pregnant, their offspring rarely survive. They get eaten. Staffers knew Shaka was pregnant after she began to gain weight and showed other signs of motherhood. On Aug. 20, none of the meerkats were waiting for breakfast. The mob was underground, tending to the babies, which are about the size of a Matchbox car when they are born. The first couple of weeks, the pups stayed in the burrows until the adults carried them, their eyes not yet open, out to the main habitat space. Their first steps were tentative. These days, they can be seen out sunning and mimicking the adults. They now can balance well enough to stand upright, leaning on their tales, assuming the trademark meerkat sentry position when they sun themselves or look for threats. Bafana, the meerkat dad, is very protective of the pups and their mom, alerting when anything seems dangerous — a bird flying by, a loud noise, anything moving quickly, zoo staffers said. Lacy-Jean Pearson, a senior wildlife care specialist, and colleague Candice Dymek fed the group lunch on a recent afternoon. They used tongs to hold out morsels of food, making sure every animal got bites of mouse meat, earthworms, dry pellets and other food items. As they grow older, the pups will be trained to take a position on the cinderblock at feeding time. “They will all line up and then we can go down the line to make sure everyone gets their fair share,” Pearson said. “It is a little harder right now while they’re young (and we are) trying to train them that’s how things work.” The other adult females are Mava, whose name means “experience” or “wisdom” in Xhosa dialect, and Msizi, whose name means “helper” in Zulu. The meerkat aunts took turns staying with the pups underground, and one of them began to lactate and helped nurse them. Pearson said she’s already noticed differences among the youngsters, who do not yet have names. “One is more timid, one seems to be more vocal and one is definitely quite brave. So far, those are the standout personalities,” Pearson said.