Meerkat pups welcomed at safari park
Meerkat pups are settling in and starting to 'show a bit of character' in their home at a safari park.
The four pups were born on May 10 to parents Cardi B and Biggie at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling.
It is the third litter for the pair since they joined the park in 2022.
Meerkat pups are born blind, deaf and almost hairless but keepers said that now, aged around one month, the animals have opened their eyes and begun exploring the outside world.
Meerkats are described as incredibly social animals and live in tight-knit groups known as mobs which work together to raise their young.
Carolyn Booth, Pets Farm Team Leader at Blair Drummond, said: 'The pups are just starting to find their feet and show a bit of character – it's a brilliant stage to watch.
'They're getting more confident by the day, and the rest of the mob has really stepped up to help raise them. It's a real family effort.'
The pups have now started nibbling on bits of solid food and spend time following the adults around and practising their digging skills.
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Summer reading: the 50 hottest books to read now
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Fortysomething Sarah takes her younger sister on an ill-advised holiday through the Highlands of Scotland: drink is taken, food is cobbled together, there is bad weather and worse parking as unsuitable men and unresolved teenage trauma intrude. This exuberantly funny road trip is also a love letter to the fractious bond between siblings. Dream State by Eric PuchnerIn this big, bittersweet American family saga, golden couple Cece and Charlie are preparing to marry – and then she meets his difficult, unhappy best friend … Mistakes are made and decades sweep by in an immersive panorama of friendship and rivalry, marriages and children, tragedy and love. Meanwhile, the climate crisis bites, and the sands of time are only running in one direction. A book to lose yourself in, but one that doesn't duck the big issues. The Names by Florence KnappThis year's buzziest debut lives up to the hype. It's a sliding doors story where the narrative splits into three paths after a mother registers her baby. We follow the lifelong implications of choosing three different names: Gordon, as her abusive husband (also Gordon) demands; the solid and confident Julian; or the wild yet cuddly Bear. The high concept is carried off with flair, in a tender, clear-eyed portrayal of the horrors of domestic violence and joys of family life. The Land in Winter by Andrew MillerUnseasonal reading, but Miller's tale of two young couples in the West Country who get snowed in during the big freeze of 1962-63 has an uncanny beauty and depth. The legacy of the second world war reaches into a present on the brink of seismic change, in a novel that travels into the darkest places of history and the strangest corners of the human mind. The Pretender by Jo HarkinBilled as 'Demon Copperhead meets Wolf Hall', this historical rollercoaster has a charm all of its own. 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The Tiger's Share by Keshava GuhaA novel of ideas crossed with a juicy family saga, this state-of-the-nation snapshot of contemporary India wittily anatomises the battle for resources – environmental, financial, social – in a clash between ambitious daughters and complacent sons. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie HughesAn expat couple, digital nomads in a rapidly gentrifying Berlin, meticulously curate their lives – from recipes to LPs, houseplants to sex parties. But meaning and happiness remain stubbornly out of reach … A cool indictment of modern emptiness and global anomie; shortlisted for the International Booker. The Death of Us by Abigail DeanA horrific home invasion breaks open the cracks in a couple's relationship. Decades later, their attacker is caught and they must finally face up to the repercussions of that night. A crisply written, slow-burn psychological thriller from a crime writer at the peak of her powers. 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Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Inside the wild rumours about Robert Irwin and Shawn Mendes that are rocking the internet
Robert Irwin is certainly no stranger to breaking the internet, but it seems that the Wildlife Warrior has found himself at the centre of another online storm. Instead of his raunchy Bonds underwear causing a stir, this time around it all has to do with wild fake images featuring Canadian singer Shawn Mendes, 26. The pair have been bizarrely romantically linked thanks to a slew of AI -generated posts and clickbait headlines suggesting they are secretly dating. Obviously there's no truth to the romance rumours, and insiders say the Irwin family are just as baffled as the rest of us. The strange pairing all started when the Treat You Better hitmaker teamed up with Robert, 21, and Oscar-winner, Javier Bardem, to promote the animated film Lyle, Lyle Crocodile back in 2022. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. In the video, Robert quizzes the pair on crocodile trivia, sharing his passion for reptiles with his signature enthusiasm. The clip, seemingly innocuous, was enough to send the internet into matchmaking mode. Hopeful fans across TikTok and X have been busy concocting AI-generated memes and images showing the duo as a fake couple. Some cheeky users have even praised the pair as the 'perfect match' and dubbed it the 'crocodile love story we never saw coming!' One fake clickbait laden image shows a shot of Robert flexing his form in Bonds underwear on top of another of Shawn leaning in to kiss an unidentified person. The fake headline on the image reads: ''He didn't say a word, but one quiet gesture from Shawn Mendes to Robert Irwin is breaking the internet – and fans think it means everything.' Another shows a tryptic of images - the first of Shawn bearing his torso as he reclines on a couch, coupled with another showing Shawn and Robert embracing, and a third of a smiling solo Robert. The headline on the fake image reads: 'Shawn Mendes and Robert Irwin just shared a moment so low-key, it broke the internet.' Hopeful fans across TikTok and X have been busy concocting AI-generated memes and images showing the duo as a fake couple According to insiders, the Irwin family are at a loss to explain the sudden concocted fake romance. 'It's been a whirlwind,' a source close to the family told Daily Mail Australia. 'People are congratulating Robert on social media like it's official, but he and Shawn are obviously just friends.' 'Shawn has always had fun with fans' theories, but there's clearly nothing going on romantically,' they added. Despite the relationship being fabricated, the clickbait seems to be doing the trick, with many fans swooning over the pairing on social media. 'Well, it's about time we saw some exciting news! I've been following Shawn Mendes for years, and I think he deserves all the happiness in the world,' one fan wrote on Facebook. 'Let's keep our fingers crossed for this potential new couple!' Another added: 'According to "so called" news reports I keep getting on my feed, this now makes around 10 different people Shawn is supposed to be in "a romance" with.' Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Robert Irwin for comment. The Grammy-nominated singer, who famously dated Camila Cabello, has been open about taking time off from music to prioritise his mental health. While questions about his sexuality have followed him for years, Shawn has never confirmed anything. Back in October, The Señorita hitmaker spoke to the crowd at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Monday to address the 'truth' about his love life. Telling his fans he was trying to be 'really brave', the singer admitted that sexuality was a complex issue. 'There's this thing about my sexuality, and people have been talking about it so long,' Shawn said, saying it was 'kind of silly, because I think sexuality is such a beautifully complex thing, and it's so hard to just put into boxes.' 'The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that, man, I'm just figuring it out like everyone.' He continued: 'It always felt like such an intrusion on something very personal to me. Something that I was figuring out in myself, something that I had yet to discover and still have yet to discover it. 'And it feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that. And I'm trying to be really brave and just allow myself to be a human and feel things. And that's all I really want to say about that for now.' Meanwhile, Robert was in a relationship with Rorie Buckley for almost two years, with the couple announcing their split in February 2024. He also allegedly cooled his relationship with his 'secret' girlfriend - fellow Australia Zoo worker Charlotte Briggs in February this year. The pair were first linked back in July 2024 when they looked cosy arriving in Sydney together ahead of the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star's appearance on The Project. Reports later suggested they started officially dating in November, but sources now tell Daily Mail Australia their plans to 'hard launch' their relationship have 'fizzled'. 'It seems like the tide has turned on that,' confirmed one source from the South African set of the Channel Ten show. 'The itinerary has changed and what has changed for Robert personally is what has many over here suspecting that his post-jungle relationship is over.'
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Russell Crowe reunites with Superman son Henry Cavill for reboot of another beloved action franchise
Russell Crowe is reuniting onscreen with Henry Cavill, more than a decade after they acted with each other in the Superman film Man of Steel. The 2013 superhero movie starred Henry in the lead role and Russell as his biological father Jor-El, who saves his son's life just before losing his own. Now, fans will be able to see them back onscreen in a remake of the 1986 action fantasy picture Highlander, which launched a franchise of the same name. In the original Highlander, Christopher Lambert played Connor MacLeod, a 16th century Scottish warrior who discovers he is immortal unless his head is severed. He gets initiated into the secret world of immortals by the virtuoso swordsman Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, memorably portrayed by Sean Connery. A reboot starring Henry as MacLeod was announced in 2021, and now, after years of development, Russell has been cast as Ramírez, according to Variety. The original Highlander emerged as a roaring success in 1986, leading to the 1991 sequel Highlander II: The Quickening, which flopped disastrously. However the series staggered on for the 1994 release Highlander III: The Sorcerer, a direct follow-up of the first film as if the events of the second never happened. There was also a TV series from 1992 to 1998, followed by the 2000 film Highlander: Endgame, which was a sequel to the show rather than to the previous movies. In 2021 it emerged that the original movie was being remade with Henry in the lead, back when he was still starring as Geralt of Riva on the Netflix medieval fantasy series The Witcher, before his departure and replacement by Liam Hemsworth. The new film will be directed by Chad Stahelski, who helmed all the John Wick movies, and will have a script by Michael Finch, who co- wrote the fourth John Wick picture. Russell first met Henry long before they ever worked together, back when the latter was a teenager at boarding school in the English countryside. The encounter took place when Russell was filming his 2000 drama Proof of Life, starring him and Meg Ryan, at the Stowe School - where Henry was a student along with Russell's onscreen son Merlin Hanbury-Tenison. Russell recalled that 'during a break in the shooting,' he caught sight of a rugby union game and noticed 'one kid on that field who was very fluid and in control.' The teenager 'came over to have a chat, but all his questions were about acting, and there was just this smile in his eyes but there was something dead serious behind that smile,' Russell said on The Graham Norton Show in 2013. 'So instead of not answering the questions or whatever - 'cause you get asked these questions a hundred thousand times - I told him the truth in the brief moment that I had with him, and put it in front of him that it's a challenge that's up to him. Nobody's gonna give it to you,' Russell remembered. 'A couple of days later, I was putting a package together for the kid who'd played my son, because I figured the greatest thing if you're at boarding school must be unexpected mail, and I thought: "I'll put one together for that other bloke," and I'd remembered his name because he'd been very clear when he said it,' he shared. His note to Henry was the saying: 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,' which Russell interpreted as meaning: 'If you want it, you go and get it.'
