# Meerkat mystery malaise – solved! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 16, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923 "2012-10-16T19:48:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/1 "2012-10-16T19:48:33Z")
So two of our meerkats were separated from the mob a while back. As a very social species, in-group fighting is relatively common, and its up to the keepers and curator to make the call when this escalates to a dangerous state. So we separated a male-female pair, and made plans to transfer them to another zoo. During this time, we kept them in the quarantine suite of our vet clinic, in a metal mesh enclosure about 30 square feet. One day last week, they started looking a bit weird. Their eyes were sunken and dull, their coats seemed darker and less shiny. Zookeeper slang in this case is ADR – Ain’t Doing Right. We kept a close eye on them, then had the vet staff check them over, and monitored more closely their in- and output. They completely stopped eating for several days, and began vocalizing a lot more. They also became a lot more retiring, staying in their den box all day. We were baffled. Their blood work and fecal tests came back negative. Nothing seemed to have changed, in their diet or environment. Except… we’d recently acquired a new animal. It had been housed in the next enclosure, separated by both the metal mesh and a sheet of plexiglass. It wasn’t a species we had been particularly worried about housing next to the little mongooses. And yet, they had become completely terrified. All the signs we saw were directly caused by their fear of their new neighbour. So, what fearsome creature had we exposed the poor little darlings to? A rabbit! We put up curtains and they were back to normal the next day. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/2 "2012-10-16T21:08:05Z")
Animals is weird! Yay for recovered meerkats! ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/3 "2012-10-16T21:13:04Z")
Ok, this was awesome, and I’m glad you shared. :p:p RABBITS!!! :D:D:D:D:D /cue Monty Python jokes ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/4 "2012-10-16T22:00:18Z")
They were right to be afraid. Rabbits the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodents you ever set eyes on! ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/5 "2012-10-16T22:39:13Z")
The [culprit](http://tinypic.com/r/euimb8/6). And, **Mind’s Eye, Watering** , I know you’re quoting Python up there, but just to ensure correctness - rabbits aren’t rodents, they’re lagomorphs. Sorry! I can’t help it, I’m a zoo educator! ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/6 "2012-10-16T22:49:22Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > They were right to be afraid. Rabbits the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodents you ever set eyes on! piffle - lagomorphs not rodents! Wake me up early on a Sunday morning and this rabbitwoman will eat you alive. My 1.1kg rabbit regularly beats the snot out of my 6kg cat ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/7 "2012-10-16T22:59:39Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > The [culprit](http://tinypic.com/r/euimb8/6). That’s the eye…of a _killer!!_ ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/8 "2012-10-17T00:59:14Z")
**araminty** , when I saw just the title of this thread, before reading your post, I didn’t know you worked in a zoo and I thought you had meerkats as pets. (They actually sell them in pets stores in Japan - I’ve seen videos.) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/9 "2012-10-17T01:10:35Z")
Hey, don’t mess with rabbits - they have [terrible disapproval of humanity](http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com/). Not to mention meerkats, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/10 "2012-10-17T02:34:50Z")
I laughed, but I don’t blame the meercats for being scared. I once had to take a stray cat to the vet due to an encounter with a pet bunny. Bunnies can be very evil. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meerkat-mystery-malaise-solved/637923/11 "2012-10-17T03:09:57Z")
ADR, that’s a good term to know, though I don’t know if UK vets use it. I once had to take a cat to the vet with my diagnosis of “he’s lost his sparkle”. After checking him out and talking it over, the conclusion was that he’d got beat up in a fight.