MEERKAT MANOR Review

Animal Planet's new 13-part Meerkat meets Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Meerkat Manorintroduces viewers to the Whiskers, a family of meerkats that struggles to survive in Africa's Kalahari Desert. Meerkat Manor airs every Friday evening with a new episode at 8:30 pm et/pt

The Whiskers' matriarch "Flower," is a grand, tough little gal. She leads her family to forage for food, decides if they need to move their burrow, and leads the fight to protect their territory. Because she is the leader she reserves the right to mate and can make the choise of evicting any other females that give birth.

Narrated by Sean Astin of The Lord of the Rings and 24, Meerkat Manor was filmed with the assistance of Cambridge University, which is conducting a 10-year study on meerkats. With cameras recording their every move, Meerkat Manor introduces viewers to the Whiskers, a family of meerkats, revealing their personalities over the course of the series.

 Meerkat Manor is now in its third year on the air. These little animals tug at your heart. As you watch them you realize how hardy and feisty they are. The meerkat only stands 12 inches tall. Their gestation period is 11 months and when the babies are born they are only about two inches long, are hairless, and blind. At about four weeks old they emerge from their burrow. Usually two younger meerkats are left at the burrow to care for them while the adults are led by the leader to forage for their food. When they are old enough they are taken with the group and taught how to forage for food, watch for danger.

What is a MERRKAT?

A meerkat is a small, masked mammal that thrives in one of the hottest and driest places on earth, southern Africa's Kalahari Desert. A member of the mongoose family, this cute, intelligent and highly social animal is tough enough to kill a cobra.

It has an acute sense of smell and is able to pinpoint a bug buried deep in the sand, tell if something has been there or is close by , such as, a snake, or a rival meerkat.

Their small crescent-shaped ears set very low on their head is key to their finely tuned sense of hearing and can mean the difference between life and death . When potential predators is spotted a sentry will bark an alarm call. A very distinct bark used to alarm others of danger. All meerkats within hearing range dart into their holes and burrow to escape the danger. Meerkats can distinguish between different calls for snakes, birds of prey and other predators.

A meerkats diet consists mainly of scorpions, beetle larvae, caterpillars. Pupae of months, butterflies, fly larvae, termites, crickets, spiders, centipedes and millipedes. They will also eat lizards, birds and amphibians.

Meerkats have a dark marking around their eyes that acts like built in sunglasses, deflecting the rays of the sun. The meerkats has large eyes and keen vision, they are farsighted, unable to see well up close therefore relying heavily on their keen sense of smell to find prey.

They have a thin tapered tail about seven to 10 inches in length . The tail is yellowish in color and has a distinctive black tip. Others in the mongoose family have bushy tails, but the meerkats has a slender tail, hence it is sometime called the slender-tailed mongoose. They use their tail for balance when it stands at attention on its hind legs. It also holds its tail high and straight when excited.

Meerkats fur varies in color. The coat can be a gray, tan or brown with a silver tint, and tends to be lighter in arid regions. They have a reddish undercoat. The fur around their face is light except for the black patches around their eyes. They have dark bands in their back. Their belly s sparsely covered with hair. The hair will fluff out when threatened.

Meerkats have 16 toes, four on each foot with non-retractable claws. The claws on their front feet are longer and curved more than those on their hind feet. Their long claws are designed for excavating their burrows, digging into sand, grass and over tuning rocks as they look for food. Their burrows can run as deep as 10 feet and they can shovel several hundred times their body weight in dirt every day.

Just a little of what you can expect 

With all the love, squabbling, self-sacrifice and rivalry found in any family,  From family quarrels to love affairs to backstabbing , revealing their personalities over the course of the series.  Flower isn't afraid of conflict and will stop at nothing to get her way.

Zaphod, the patriarch Flowers mate, defends the Whiskers at all costs - especially against the rival gang of meerkats, the Lazuli. Zaphod seizes control of the family by overthrowing his brother and taking Flower as his own mate.

 A true hero, a meerkat called "Shakespeare," suffers a poisonous snakebite and rescues his brother from certain death. Carlos, a male from the rival Lazuli mob, finds himself in deep trouble when he woos three of the Whiskers' leading ladies.

To learn more about the Meerkats visit their Web Site:  http://www.animalplanetasia.com/meerkat_manor