Meerkat Manor

[duchess of malfi]

Has anyone else been watching this show on Animal Planet?

A group of scientists has been studying certain families of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert for some ten years.

This show is on ongoing soap opera/documentary about one of the clans, the Whiskers, led by a dominant female named Flower.

Meerkats are interesting little creatures to watch! They are tiny little things (and are extremely cute), have many natural enemies - and the clans can be very nasty to each other at times.

[sgt.null]

i have seen an episode. we have them at the zoo, i love them! we just lost our dominant male. we were treating him for cancer, but his quality of life went down quickly so they did the right thing and euthenized him.

[duchess of malfi]

I love the way they all stand up like little soldiers at attention. And man oh man - can they ever run!

It is too bad about the male being sick, but at least he is no longer in pain. Are there any other unrelated males who can take his place?

According to the show, only the dominant female of each clan is allowed to breed and have babies. She only breeds with the dominant male. And she does not breed with a closely related male.

In one of the clans that borders the Whiskers, the dominant male has died. One of the sons has beome sort of the dominant, as in he bosses around the other males and protects the family and their territory - but he cannot mate with his mother. One of the Whiskers males is trying to move in and mate with the female and become a true alpha.

[Avatar]

Haha, yeah, cute little animals. (Not that I've seen the show, but they're all over the place in SA.)

They're sometimes carriers of rabies though, which means that a lot of farmers etc. don't particularly like them.

--A

[sgt.null]

duchess: i shall ask next time i'm at the zoo who has taken the dominant male spot.

[Trapper]

I've been meaning to watch this show here in Oz, but I only caught my first episode last week. (It was the episode where an outcast female came back and ingratiated herself to the alpha-female who had just had a new litter).

Cute, but I'm hoping for the return of "Big Cat Diary" myself.

[sindatur]

I love the show, we watch on Friday nights, while I record SciFi Friday for early Saturday morning viewing. Boy I tell ya, that Flower is not a mother to cross.

Spoiler

I was so heartbroken to find out that in the 2 months between seasons not only has Shakespeare not been seen, but also Tosca has not been seen, and is presumed to have frozen to death. The end of Season 1 gives you the impression that Tosca and Carlos would hook up and start a gang of their own. Tosca and Shakespeare were my favorites, so I sat bleary eyed through the first two episodes of this season.

I'd hate to see Youssarean become an enemy of the Whiskers, as he is one of their biggest and best Warriors, but, it would be kinda cool for him become the Dominant Male of the "L" tribe (dang why I can't remember their name?)