Bonnie and Clyde are two little meerkats who had a bit of a rocky start in life. At just 3 weeks
old their Mum, Mia was too poorly to look after them so left them alone without food. This would be very unusual for human babies but sort of normal for some animal babies. Animal Mummy’s are not as clever as human Mummy’s and don’t always know what to do with their babies. Fortunately, a kind man called Steve found them and took them home.
They were very cold and sleepy when Steve put them in a little box with a wire lid. He gave them a soft towel to sleep on and put a special heater pad under one end of their box to keep them warm. He fed them some special milk from a tiny bottle and left them to settle down in a warm room.
Steve fed Bonnie and Clyde every two or three hours for the first few weeks of their life. This was 
very tiring as he had to feed them in the middle of the night as well as during the day. Sometimes they would happily drink their milk and sometimes they didn’t want it as they were too sleepy. After every feed Steve would wet a piece of soft cloth with warm water and wipe their bottoms. Meerkat babies don’t wear nappies like human babies so wiping their bottoms with a warm, wet cloth helped them to go to the toilet.
When they weren’t sleeping Bonny and Clyde cried a lot. This was not because they were sad but because this is what Meerkat babies do to make sure that their family know where they are and can keep them safe. As they got older the crying stopped and they would use lots of different sounds to communicate depending on what they were wanted to say. Sometimes it was food, sometimes it was cuddles, sometimes it was just for fun!
The two little babies grew quite quickly and by the time they were 6 
weeks old Steve had to put them in a new box. They could now walk and run quite fast so he gave them some toys to play with. Meerkats love to be up high and look out at the big wide world, so their favourite toy was a little platform which they would climbed on to see over the top of their box. They would stand up on their back legs and wobble, which looked very funny especially when they were still quite small.
Their human friends Richard and Jean would visit them quite often to see how 
they were growing. Clyde loved to climb onto Jean’s shoulder and put his little hands in her hair or his cold nose in her ear. Jean didn’t mind! Bonnie was hoping she'd be her Mummy.
Bonnie was always interested in what Richard had in his camera case and would take out small items and carry them off. Richard tried to stop her but she was too quick!
Soon Bonnie and Clyde grew too big for their box and had to live in a rabbit hutch in the kitchen. They didn’t need milk anymore so Steve fed them on chopped chicken and fruit. They loved chicken but bananas and grapes were their favourite. Sometimes as a special treat, Steve would give them some little insects called mealworms. These little worms were very wriggly and difficult to pick up but Bonnie and Clyde managed to catch them before they got away!
As they got older Bonnie and Clyde grew to be quite mischevious exploring everything in the house. All objects had to be checked out - things that moved and things that didn't move. We had to be quick to come to their rescue sometimes when they got a bit carried away!. . . . . . . .
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This looks interesting! |
Come away it's dangerous! |
Wow what's this? |
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It keeps moving! |
This TV is boring! |
I don't like the look of that!! |
For more photos of Bonnie and Clyde and our meerkat family take a look at the meerkat album. We'll be publishing more stories of Bonnie and Clyde's Adventures soon so watch for the link on the home page and our Facebook wall!
See you all again soon. . . . . . . 
The Animal Ark, Norwich, Norfolk, NR9 5QS, www.theanimalark.org, info@theanimalark.org