IT’S the summer holidays and Dudley Zoo’s meerkats are already having bucket loads of fun following a delivery of new sand.

Instead of tipping the sand straight in, keepers have mixed in mealworms and filled buckets to make sandcastles around the enclosure.

Assistant curator, Jay Haywood, said: “The meerkats immediately dived into the sandcastles to find the treats hidden inside.

“Meerkats are excellent diggers and have very long claws which help them. They typically dig underground, but this is also a fun way for visitors to see them at work.”

He continued: “The sandcastles only lasted seconds, but at least they did the sand spreading across the floor for us, which saved us a job!”

Digging meerkats aren’t the only thing visitors should keep an eye out for at the zoo this summer, there are new babies to spot, including little Luna the Brazilian tapir, Archie the yellow-breasted capuchin and Kirk the ring-tailed lemur.

Children’s entertainers Flip and Dippy will also be clowning around with their magic, puppet and circus shows in the castle courtyard every Saturday and Sunday throughout the school holidays between noon and 3.30pm.