Sunday, August 19, 2007
My Favorite TV Show is Back - "Meercat Manor"
[WA: ALL 6 VIDEOS IN THIS POST ARE FROM YOU TUBE. I DID NOT MAKE THEM. Most are 1 minute or less. Two are more.]
At last the summer hiatus is over and these fascinating little creatures are back on the air. It is a documentary/reality show/drama/soap opera of the animal world, filmed and narrated by researchers who have studied this group and their neighbors for 10 years. (See post below).
These tiny animals are related to Mongooses. Standing erect they measure 12" tall, the length of a school ruler. A very large male can be 14" tall. On all fours they are 6" high; babies are 3" long. They are very social animals within their gang (or mob) but territorial and anti-social towards other groups. Competition is fierce for food resources in their area of the Kalahari Desert.
Although meercats are quadrupedal, they can stand on their hind legs for long periods of time.
All meercats are extremely vigilant in watching for predators; due to their small size they are prey for many larger animals and birds. When foraging, one or more volunteers to be sentry and will climb to the highest point to be found in order to see further. They have a number of language calls and when the alarm call is sounded, all of the gang scurries for cover. Meercats habituated to the human presence of the researchers sometimes climb to a human's head for sentry duty.
Their gangs are perfect examples of "it takes a village". All members cooperate in rearing the pups. Unlike most mammals, adult females who have not borne young or who have no young can lactate and feed the pups when mom is away. Pups are never left alone and when the gang goes out foraging for food, one or more members remain behind (and remain hungry) to babysit the babies. Babysitters will fight to the death to defend the pups from predators or members of rival gangs who will kill the babies. Destroying the young of an "enemy" prevents that gang from increasing and reduces the fight for food resources.
***
Video tribute to Shakespeare, a brave meercat babysitting when a rival gang attacked.
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Because it takes the entire gang's cooperative efforts to insure survival of the pups, the gang's dominant female usually will not tolerate another female bearing young to divide the gang's loyalties and efforts . To assure her own pups' survival, the dominant female will usually kill any other pups born in the burrow. Often the dominant female will exile any other female of the gang that gets pregnant. A lone meercat has little chance of survival away from the protection of her gang family. If she manages to survive until she gives birth, without the cooperation of a gang her pups will not live. This seems harsh to humans but it is nature's way of assuring survival of the species. Sometimes an exiled female will pair up with a roving male and establish a new gang. (Males temporarily leave their home gang to go roving in search of romance but most of the time return home when mating is completed.)
These tiny creatures are strongly bonded to each other and display a great deal of intelligence. They are one of few mammals who actively teach skills to the young; pups are not born with innate survival skills.
>>>>
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(MY FAVORITE! WA)
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*****
Tribute to Flower (4 minutes)
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COMMENTS:
At last the summer hiatus is over and these fascinating little creatures are back on the air. It is a documentary/reality show/drama/soap opera of the animal world, filmed and narrated by researchers who have studied this group and their neighbors for 10 years. (See post below).
These tiny animals are related to Mongooses. Standing erect they measure 12" tall, the length of a school ruler. A very large male can be 14" tall. On all fours they are 6" high; babies are 3" long. They are very social animals within their gang (or mob) but territorial and anti-social towards other groups. Competition is fierce for food resources in their area of the Kalahari Desert.Although meercats are quadrupedal, they can stand on their hind legs for long periods of time.
All meercats are extremely vigilant in watching for predators; due to their small size they are prey for many larger animals and birds. When foraging, one or more volunteers to be sentry and will climb to the highest point to be found in order to see further. They have a number of language calls and when the alarm call is sounded, all of the gang scurries for cover. Meercats habituated to the human presence of the researchers sometimes climb to a human's head for sentry duty.
Their gangs are perfect examples of "it takes a village". All members cooperate in rearing the pups. Unlike most mammals, adult females who have not borne young or who have no young can lactate and feed the pups when mom is away. Pups are never left alone and when the gang goes out foraging for food, one or more members remain behind (and remain hungry) to babysit the babies. Babysitters will fight to the death to defend the pups from predators or members of rival gangs who will kill the babies. Destroying the young of an "enemy" prevents that gang from increasing and reduces the fight for food resources.
***
Video tribute to Shakespeare, a brave meercat babysitting when a rival gang attacked.
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Video Description
Shakspeare the meerkat is a hero and deserves to be remembered. This is a little video I made with little Shakspeare and his fight for life!
Personal Message
Tribute to Shakespeare
***Because it takes the entire gang's cooperative efforts to insure survival of the pups, the gang's dominant female usually will not tolerate another female bearing young to divide the gang's loyalties and efforts . To assure her own pups' survival, the dominant female will usually kill any other pups born in the burrow. Often the dominant female will exile any other female of the gang that gets pregnant. A lone meercat has little chance of survival away from the protection of her gang family. If she manages to survive until she gives birth, without the cooperation of a gang her pups will not live. This seems harsh to humans but it is nature's way of assuring survival of the species. Sometimes an exiled female will pair up with a roving male and establish a new gang. (Males temporarily leave their home gang to go roving in search of romance but most of the time return home when mating is completed.)
These tiny creatures are strongly bonded to each other and display a great deal of intelligence. They are one of few mammals who actively teach skills to the young; pups are not born with innate survival skills.
>>>>
share a video with you
Video Description
A clip from Animal Planet's series, "Meerkat Manor".
Personal Message
Opening for TV Show, "Meercat Manor"
>>>>
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Video Description
Meerkats and Babies (Turn off annoying music).
>>>>
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Video Description
sleepy meercats
(MY FAVORITE! WA)
>>>>>
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Meerkat Manor airs at 8pm E/P on Animal Planet
Personal Message
Meercat Manor - promo 2nd season!
*****
Tribute to Flower (4 minutes)
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Video Description
A tribute to Flower and what her mate, Zaphod, might be singing to her.
This is a bit of a spoiler but maybe it better you know...
If you are wondering, Flower, Dominant female of the Whiskers mob, was bitten by a snake while they were filming season 3 and unlike her son shakespeare, did not recover. She was 7 years old when she passed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2000-2007~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~R.I.P. Flower~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~Queen of the Kalahari~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~We love and miss you T.T~~~~~~~~~~~
Pics & Clips from Meerkat Manor and Music from Alan Jackson, Remember when.
***********
COMMENTS:
nvisiblewmn said...
I've seen it a couple of times. It really was fascinating. The Jedi wouldn't watch it with me. It didn't hold their interest for some reason. They'd watch for a few minutes, and then wander off....Sad about Flower.We don't have cable any more, so I never see it.
9/22/2007 6:59 AM
Labels: Meercat Manor - my favorite TV Show
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I've seen it a couple of times. It really was fascinating. The Jedi wouldn't watch it with me. It didn't hold their interest for some reason. They'd watch for a few minutes, and then wander off....
Sad about Flower.
We don't have cable any more, so I never see it.
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Sad about Flower.
We don't have cable any more, so I never see it.
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