Cassia(VDM051) was born on August 16, 1999 in the Drie Doring Mob. His mother was Mabili, the dominant female of the group, and his father was an unknown male, possibly the current dominant male. His litter-mates are mostly unknown, however it is known he had a brother named Burgan(VDM049). The brothers survived their first year and became adults. As an adult, Cassia was expected to take on adult meerkat responibilities like caring for the pups and taking his turn at sentry duty. None of the females in the mob could mate with Cassia, being his sisters and cousins, so he had to look elsewhere for an unrelated female to mate with him. Cassia and Burgan both stayed in the Drie Doring for two years before they finally left after coming across two evicted females from the Lazuli in December 200