Pictures: Meerkat pups pop up at Shropshire college

The four-week-old meerkats have come above ground for the first time at North Shropshire College's Walford campus.

And they have delighted students, who will soon get the chance to name them.

The new pups are from the same female that gave the mob their last litter. The female was exchanged with a wildlife trust to inject new life last year.

Twin meerkat pups were born at the college in August and the winter arrivals were unexpected.

Sam Cank, senior animal care technician at the college, said: "The pups are the latest in a breeding programme at the college.

"We are excited to see our breeding programme progress and the group expanding. Meerkat mothers would normally have pups in the summer but ours seems quite happy to have hers in the winter.

"The Walford meerkats live in the Harris Centre, a modern animal care teaching building."

The mob lives in an artificial burrow which is heated, allowing them to live comfortably in the British climate.

Sam added: "The meerkats play an important role in teaching animal care students how to look after non-domesticated exotic animals."

Members of the public will have the chance to see the meerkats at the forthcoming annual Spring Lambing Day at the Walford campus on March 20 from 11am to 4pm.

Last year thousands of people attended the event.

About 40 ewes gave birth to about 70 lambs on the day, so many visitors were lucky enough to see a lamb born right in front of them.

The Walford campus has more than 90 different species of animals ranging from a 275-strong dairy herd to alpacas, meerkats and chinchillas.

The lambing day will be the 14th the college has held since 2001.

For more information about animal care qualifications at the college, or the Spring Lambing Day, go to www.nsc.ac.uk, call (01691) 688080 or email admissions@nsc.ac.uk