Bloody Meerkats

[John M]

Why is Zaphod wearing a tag?
Has he been let out on bail for the Christmas holiday?

[Bob Dore]

Why is Zaphod wearing a tag?
Has he been let out on bail for the Christmas holiday?

See post #21. Zaphod formed and lead a large roving coalition (aka trapping party) in 2007 and was tagged so researchers could follow them and monitor their success or otherwise.

After a couple of months they joined forces with a number of lone females who had just formed their own group. Zaphod took over the male lead (whether he knew that the female lead was actually his niece we'll never know). Meerkats are matriarchal and Zaphod's tag would normally have been removed leaving just the tag on the female lead but to remove a tag requires the meerkat to be anaethetised and due to Zaphod's old age it was felt that this was too dangerous. The batteries have long since run out but the tag remains. The group still thrive and Zaphod is still there.

Edit: Just learned that Zaphod had his tag removed for his birthday using wire cutters:

Zaphod_11th_Birthday_1a.jpg

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Bob

[Mikey]

They must be an endangered species, one just went for £920 on Ebay

[BarryH]

They're breeding now:

http://www.comparethemeerkatbabies.com/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8210625.stm

Cheers
Barry

[Bob Dore]

They're breeding now:

They do that - frequently. Zaphod has fathered at least 60 pups and that's just the ones that have been recorded. Mabili, the most promiscuous of recorded females had 79 recorded pups during her 9 years.

I know a few humans who try to get that close but they fail miserably in comparison

Bob.