I'm a self taught artist and have been drawing animal characters since the early 1980's. I've been studying animals all my life. Meerkats are one of my favorites and I've had the honor of being called a "Meerkat Whisperer" by one of the world's meerkat experts. I've been studying them for over 18 years at zoos all over the United States and have been getting some brief hands on work with some of the San Diego Zoo's kats for almost 10 of those years at the Morongo Valley Wildlife Center.