A MEERKAT DIARY

Meet the meerkats!

Veteran photographer Eszterhas continues to mine her incredible collection of baby animal images. Here, she recalls two weeks spent observing a family of meerkats in southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert. The pups are a mere two weeks old when she first encounters them. Her team includes zoologist assistant Becky Cliffe (who, like Eszterhas, presents white) and two Botswanan locals: naturalist guide Villa Moatshe and wildlife habituator Motto Keitumetse, whose job it is to get the meerkats accustomed to humans so that they’ll accept human visitors. Even so, Eszterhas and Cliffe start by lying on the ground with their equipment so as not to scare the meerkats—who eventually become so used to their observers that the mother climbs on Becky’s back, where the young ones join her and comfortably nurse. Day by day, the author recounts her observations, giving the individual family members names and marveling at their development. Like any family’s new babies, these are the subject of hundreds of photographs. Eszterhas has selected the most appealing and enlightening to accompany her text, providing lengthy captions in a font that resembles handwriting. She expertly weaves information about the species and their surroundings into this fascinating account of her work as a naturalist-observer.

An exceptional introduction to the young animal world.