Ellen DeGeneres Delights Fans With Playful ‘Relatable’ Safari Photo

Ellen DeGeneres returned to stand-up with the Netflix special For Your Approval in 2024. Six years earlier, Relatable marked her first stand-up special in 15 years.

This week, she made an amusing reference to the earlier show while sharing a photograph of some adorable African animals.

Rwanda and Botswana

A week ago, Ellen told fans that she was in Rwanda visiting the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. A few days later, the comedian shared another post showing herself, Portia de Rossi, and several friends travelling in a bus.

“On our way to Botswana with our friends,” she wrote, tagging @hellojustine, @mlorentz23, @safarious, and @tinaschlieske.

The Latest Safari Photo

On August 15, the former host of The Ellen DeGeneres Show returned to Instagram with a photograph that appeared to have been taken in Botswana.

In the picture, Ellen and Portia sat on the savannah near a burrow while a group of adorable meerkats gathered beside them.

The joke appeared in Ellen’s caption. She told her millions of followers, “Portia and the stars of my comedy special ‘Relatable.'”

The Joke

Ellen filmed Relatable at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. The comedy special touched on her marriage to Portia de Rossi, getting older, annoying technology, and her life after becoming rich and famous.

Of course, the meerkats did not appear in the show. Ellen jokingly presented the little animals as its stars, and the sweet photograph attracted plenty of reactions from her fans.

Fans React

It soon became apparent that the meerkats had melted hearts.
“This might be the cutest photo ever 😭♥,” one follower wrote.

Another fan told her, “Ellen gimme my heart back!!!❤”

“This is just way too cute!!” read another response.

One commenter would have loved to trade places with the couple. “Meerkat are my fav animals,” the fan wrote. “This would be heaven for me to be that close to them! 😍😍”

What Are Meerkats?

Meerkats are delightful little animals, but they are not actually cats. According to BBC Earth, they belong to the mongoose family.

In the wild, they live in dry parts of southern Africa, including Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.

A group of meerkats is known as a mob. In Ellen’s photograph, several members of the mob displayed their familiar habit of standing upright and surveying their surroundings.

Meerkats usually forage together, while one or more members of the group watch for possible danger. They mainly eat insects and other small creatures, including scorpions. They will also tackle small snakes and have some natural resistance to scorpion venom.

Perhaps Ellen relates to their ability to withstand a nasty sting.

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