Funny,AnimalsNOV 13, 2020

This Dad’s An Electrician In A Zoo And Here’s How He Spent His Morning With A Bunch Of Meerkats

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There’s no doubt that among everyone’s extensive lists of absolutely adorable animals, meerkats would be at the top. And if they aren’t yet, they will be soon!

Twitter user Lucy (@doodlingglass), with whom Bored Panda got in touch, has shared some pictures of the adorable conditions her dad works under—namely, that one time her dad, an electrician at a zoo, was doing some electrical work in one of the enclosures and a family of meerkats decided to come over and keep him company while he worked.

No matter what you do at a zoo, it's bound to be fun because the animals will always be curious about you

Image credits: @doodlingglass

So, Lucy’s dad Colin is an electrician in one of the zoos on the southern coast of England. He helps fix the rides found at the zoo and also tends to all of the electrical issues that may arise in the animal enclosures.

One day, he was working on some problem in the meerkat enclosure when, suddenly, some of its inhabitants came over to check out what all the commotion was about.

Lucy shared a handful of photos on her Twitter showing the adorable meerkats giving her dad a hand with fixing whatever issue there was in the enclosure.

An English zoo electrician was working in a meerkat enclosure when some of them came to 'give him a hand'

Image credits: @doodlingglass

The meerkats are seen sniffing about the tool bag that Colin had left open (with one little guy even jumping in), investigating the portable light, and interacting with the screwdriver Colin held in front of the meerkat.

“Meerkats are naturally super curious, so they just went up to explore while he was working! There’s another photo of one of them sitting on my dad’s shoulder. He bent down to pick something up and they climbed up his back! I didn't post that one because I didn't think my dad would be very impressed!” joked Lucy.

Turns out, many of the animals in the zoo are quite relaxed, so Colin ends up working in the enclosures while the animals are still there. Except for the camels, as explained Lucy, because they spit on him.

They were rifling through the electrician's bag and examining all of his tools in their own cute way

Image credits: @doodlingglass

“We always get selfies of him with the animals, the most recent being the fruit bats. We live in different countries, so we always get updates, and when we go to visit him, we go to the zoo so he can show off. There was a monkey there that he befriended who would follow him around the enclosure,” said Lucy.

For those unaware, meerkats, also known as suricates, are small mongeese found in southern Africa. They have broad heads, large eyes, pointed snouts, long legs, a thin, tapering tail, and brindled coat patterns. They typically grow up to be around 9.4 to 13.7 inches (24–35 centimeters) in head and body length, and weigh between 1.3 and 2.1 pounds (less than a kilogram).

The electrician's daughter tweeted some of the photos of the adorable encounter and they went viral

Image credits: @doodlingglass

And it’s not just meerkats that keep Colin company, according to Lucy: “The other animals haven't interacted with the tools and stuff, really, but they do like going over and watching him work, especially the monkeys. We always get photos of them looking over his shoulders or posing for selfies.”

Lucy’s tweets went viral soon after posting—and why wouldn’t they? Just look at the cute meerkats! The tweets garnered over 160,000 likes with over 30,000 retweets.

The photos of the adorable meerkat helpers managed to get over 160,000 likes with over 30,000 retweets

Image credits: @doodlingglass

Many have commented how cute and adorable the meerkats were in the photos. As is tradition on the internet, there were some jokers, jesting “is your dad a meerkat?” because of how the caption is worded and how the pictures are of meerkats. One other tweeter joked that one of the meerkats looks like it shoved one of its adorable paws into an electrical socket because of how its fur was standing up straighter than usual.

“I was very surprised that the photos got so much attention! I posted it to show my friends and then it just took off. I was talking to my dad about it and he said that the meerkats let the fame go to their head and started charging £15 for a photo now—typical dad joke!” said Lucy.