Keep warm collectively! monkeys huddled together to keep warm after a rain shower

When your cold and wet sometimes a hug from a friend is just what you need to warm up.

These furry meerkats certainly thought so as they huddled together to keep out the cold.

The cute critters bundled on top of each other in their safari enclosure after they were caught in a rain shower.

With their beady eyes starring intently at the camera it looked like the 12 friends had conserving heat down to a fine art.

Photographer Fajar Andriyanto, 44, captured the heartwarming scene at Taman Safari Zoo, in Java, Indonesia.

He said: ‘Meerkats are one of my favourite animals so I headed straight to their enclosure and was stunned to find so many clustered together.

‘At first they didn’t see me so I waved my hand, which was great because they all stared into the camera.

Normally, they are found in the desert, so I imagine they are not used to the rain.’

Mr Andriyanto from Jakarta, Indonesia, added: ‘I often take picture of meerkats, but I’ve never taken a photograph like this one and I was incredibly surprised by their behaviour.’

Meanwhile, in Japan a group of macaque monkeys at the Awajishima Monkey Center in Sumoto, Hyogo, had the same idea and got up close to protect themselves from the cold weather.

The group looked adorable with their pink faces starring up at the lens as they snuggled up.

Severe weather has hit the Asian nation with even more heavy snow forecast today.