Tonight, May 25, Animal Planet will show the movie “Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins.” It’s about Flower, the late leader of the Whiskers meerkat troupe, and will show her life from the time she was a cub until she became the Whiskers’ matriarch. It’s on at 8:00 PM Eastern.
It should be interesting.
I just read a newspaper article about this. Apparently it’s a pre-scripted movie, with various meerkats standing in for Flower during her rise to become “queen.” I can’t say I’m crazy about that idea. On the other hand, since I don’t even have cable TV, I suppose Animal Planet shouldn’t give a crap what I think.
A nature show faking stuff? I’ve never heard of such a thing!
My wife will be all over it.
Hmm, OK. I didn’t know that. However, they use footage of meerkats behaving naturally. They didn’t train them or attempt to coerce them into certain behaviors to follow the script. So I guess I could still enjoy it, knowing that. The researchers had been observing the meerkats for so long, I just assumed they had video of Flower from that long ago. But I guess none existed until they began filming for the TV show.
IIRC the meerkats are pretty tame around humans. Those black marks you see on the meerkats? Researches use ink (permanent marker) so they can identify each one, visually. Of course with a dominant female like Flower, they’ve also attached a radio collar so it’s no problem identifying her.
Season one was really good; season two was still pretty good but I lost my taste for it. The funniest part is when they scent mark their territory. They’re rubbing against trees, bushes, etc. and it’s almost sexual how intent they get.
The first time one meerkat was evicted, it seemed really serious, like she couldn’t survive. But she was welcomed back, whew. The second time I thought she was a goner…but wait, they welcomed her back. I started feeling jerked around, like they were creating drama instead of reporting facts.
I’ll probably watch it; I may not finish it if they’re just rehashing stuff I’ve already seen, though. If you’ve never seen the series, it’s pretty cool and worth watching. The researchers get some amazing footage, even in the burrow.