A Chicago zoo has added a second mob of meerkats to its list of residents.

This small mammal was made famous in the early 1990s by Timon in “The Lion King.” Like the beloved animated character, meerkats’ diets primarily consist of insects like grubs and termites. Also like the chatty Timon, they are a very vocal species, with at least ten distinctive vocalizations ranging from growls and clucks to their shrill alarm bark.

Young sisters Clover, Violet, and Dahlia make up the new “flower power” meerkat mob at Lincoln Park Zoo, officials announced . They can be seen in their habitat at Regenstein African Journey; separate from the zoo’s existing mob.

Measuring between 10-14 inches long and weighing up to 2.2 pounds, meerkats are a small, slender member of the mongoose family whose native range spans southern Africa. Meerkats have a grizzly gray and brown coat with a dark tip on their tail. They also have dark patches around their eyes that reduce glare from the harsh sunlight common to the savannas and grasslands they call home.

Meerkats are a matriarchal species, meaning that females are dominant. In a mob, one meerkat is always on sentinel duty, keeping a sharp eye out for predators while others forage for food. If they do spot a predator, the sentinel will let out a shrill call to warn the other meerkats to take cover.

Visitors at Lincoln Park Zoo can often spot the meerkat on sentinel duty because they’ll be standing on their hind legs atop one of the tall mounds in their habitat. The mob rotates sentinel duty throughout the day; visitors might even catch a changing of the guard.

“Meerkats’ social nature and cooperation with one another is a great lesson that all of us can learn from,” said Lincoln Park Zoo Curator Cassy Kutilek. “Clover, Dahlia, and Violet are no exception; one of them is always on alert, keeping an eye on everything going on around their habitat. It’s been really rewarding to see their personalities come out as they’ve acclimated to their new home.”

At about 18 months old, these meerkats are still considered juveniles. They were born as part of the same litter at Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wis., where they were living before coming to Chicago. Their transfer is the result of a recommendation by the Meerkats Species Survival Plan®, a collaborative population management effort among institutions within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Meerkats are listed as a species of Least Concern; they do not currently face any threat of endangerment or extinction.