Two newborn baby meerkats have made their first steps into the outdoor Tecton reptillary enclosure at Dudley Zoological Gardens.

The tiny pups were born in the underground burrow around four weeks ago and made their public debut over the past week to join the 13 adults, much to the delight of the zoo's late summer holiday visitors. DZG Assistant Curator, Jay Haywood, said:

"The pups are already very confident and have even started to taste their first solid foods, so they'll be eating whole mice with the rest of the adults in no time at all.

Keepers will have to wait until the pups are around eight weeks old to discover their sex.