Meet Marwell's meerkats.. (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Meet Marwell's meerkats..

10:30am Wednesday 25th March 2009 in News By Ash Bolton

THEY are the new celebrities of a Hampshire zoo after landing a starring role in a popular TV advert.

Now the meerkats at Marwell are bathing in the limelight after going down a storm on a spoof commercial called comparethemeerkat.

The advert features a meerkat called Alexander with a heavy Russian accent who advises people where to get their car insurance from.

But although they are cute and cuddly looking, visitors to the zoo will have to watch themselves as the real life meerkats are prone to biting fingers.

Bill Hall, animal liaison officer at Marwell Zoo, said the animals new found celebrity status hasn't quite gone to their head just yet.

He said: "I don't know whether we have had more people coming in to see the meerkats but I think more people are aware of them because of their superstar status in the latest advert.

"I haven't heard anyone speaking to them in Russian yet but I'm sure that will happen."

Bill explained that the zoo's group of slender tailed meerkats come from South Africa, not Russia, and are mainly desert animals.

He added: "We have a group of seven including an adult pair called Chico and Nutmeg and they do what meerkats do. They dig, they hunt they sit and they stare."