Sydney's Taronga Zoo welcomes meerkat pups

Sydney's Taronga Zoo has a couple of new sentries reporting for duty after it welcomed the birth of two meerkat pups.

The yet-to-be named pups born to first-time parents Nairobi and Maputo in early January have started practising the classic meerkat pose of standing up on their hind legs.

"They may be young, but they're already showing signs of their own little personalities. Our male is the bigger of the two and he's more adventurous and inquisitive, while the female is quieter and prefers to stay close to mum," zookeeper Courtney Mahony said on Thursday.

The siblings weighed only a few grams at birth but have grown to 120g in less than a month.

They're the first pups to be born at Taronga Zoo in almost seven years and will be on display for short periods each day until they get accustomed to the outside world.

"They were initially a little wary of this big new world outside, but with a bit of encouragement from mum and dad they started to explore," Ms Mahony said.