List of Meerkat Manor meerkats

This is a list of notable meerkats featured in the British documentary television series Meerkat Manor. The meerkats are grouped by family, with only the notable meerkats in a group listed. The groups are listed by their order of appearance in the show. Individual meerkats which only appear in one or two episodes, that are unnamed, or that otherwise play no major role in the show are not listed.

Major groups

Whiskers

First Appearance:	Season 1, Episode 1	Number in Group:	33
Dominant Female:	Rocket Dog	Dominant Male:	Machu Pichu also called Dudley
Description:	One of the largest groups in the Kalahari, with nearly 50 members at one point, and the "stars" of the series. At the start of the show, the group was led by Flower and Zaphod, but after Flower's death in season three, her daughter Rocket Dog became dominant female. The Whiskers once ranged over a three square mile territory, but lost some of their territory to rival groups.
Notable Members:	Rocket Dog, one of Flower's daughters and the dominant female of the Whiskers group. She had previously assumed leadership of a sub-group when the Whiskers split during a drought and food shortage. She miscarried her first litter of pups from the strain. When the groups were reunited, Rocket Dog returned to being a subordinate under Flower. After Flower's death, Rocket Dog permanently assumed the role of dominant female. Zaphod, Flower's partner and the dominant male of the Whiskers. After Flower's death, he initially continued to act as dominant male and chased off any males that approached the group. However, as he could not mate with his own daughter, he left the group and became a roving male. He returned after a few weeks and has resumed the role of dominant male, though he can not act as Rocket Dog's mate. Recently he has migrated to the Aztecs and has become the Dominant Male. Youssarian, Zaphod's eight year old brother and former dominant male of the Whiskers, who bears a scar across his left eye. He is described in the season 1 credits as having "social problems" and is infamous for forcing burrow moves while babysitting the pups. He has successfully mated with some females from the Lazuli and is also the father of Pancake's pups. In season 3, he left to become a roving male. He has not been seen for months. Maybelline, Rocket Dog's sister and rival for leadership of the Whiskers clan. With Rocket Dog's leadership, Maybelline left the Whiskers with her pups and several adults to form a new group, the Aztecs. Her real name is Monkulus and is the littermate of Pozzo and Zarathustra Daisy, daughter of Flower with a nervous disposition who was prone to barking with no apparent reason when she was the dominant female of one of the splinter groups. In a very rare event in meerkat society, Daisy was once evicted by the Whiskers by Mozart, another subordinate female. After Flower reasserted her dominance over the group, Daisy was allowed to return. She became pregnant with her second litter, but as Rocket Dog had no pups of her own at the time, Daisy avoided eviction and successfully gave birth. Axel, a pup who was abandoned on the battlefield after an unsuccessful Zappa attack on the Whiskers. In an unusual twist, the Whiskers adopted him after he was found by Mitch. The show states that Axel is a Zappa pup, however his research number indicates that he may be a pup from the Young Ones, who are often used to film Zappa footage. Mitch appeared as a pup in the first episode of the series. He was once abandoned during an attempted burrow move by Kinkajou, but was found by Shakespeare. As an adult, he frequently attempts to aid pups, including an attempt to save Ren and Stumpy (renamed Len and Squiggy in the US broadcast) when they were abandoned by the group, and finding Axel, an abandoned pup from a rival gang. Flower, former leader and dominant female of the Whiskers. She was born in 2000 and was the mother of 70 pups. While trying to protect a litter of pups from a poisonous Cape Cobra, she was bitten and died. Her unusually successful leadership is the primary reason the Whiskers group was selected to be featured in the show. Shakespeare, the courageous son of Flower. He once survived a double bite, to his face and leg, from a puff adder. He disappeared at the end of season one and is believed to be dead. Thomas Flower noted that "meerkats are often killed defending pups, Shakespeare was a babysitter the day before and Lazuli were in the area. However it is equally possible that he was killed by a predator, dispersed to another group, or was killed by another group whilst trying to join them, we just weren't there on that particular day." More recent articles discussing Flower's death also refer to Shakespeare's death, but also confirm his body has never been found. Tosca, one of Flower's daughters who was temporarily evicted from the Whiskers after having pups. She took charge of the larger of the two groups formed when the Whiskers temporarily split. The researchers believed the split would be permanent, so equipped Tosca with a radio collar. However, the two groups came back together and Flower permanently evicted Tosca. She has not been seen since 2005 and is believed to have died during a harsh winter.

Other Members of the Whiskers

Note: due to three different birthdates given on Amira, Burdock, Squig, Chiriqui, Rhogan Josh, Rufus, and Murray it is unsure who is littermate to who.

Hawkeye, A female and littermate of Cruise, Logan and Mitch. On Meerkat Manor, she is called Rocky.

Cruise, A female and litter mate to Hawkeye, Logan and Mitch.

Tina Sparkle, A female and littermate to Spud. On Meerkat Manor she is called Sophie. Daughter of Mozart

Petra, A female and littermate to Machu Pichu and Ningaloo.

Finn, A female and littermate to Flo. On Meerkat Manor she is called Parsley.

Ella, A female and littermate to Billy, Miles and Baker. On Meerkat Manor she is called Mango.

Cheetara, A female and littermate to Willy Kat. On Meerkat Manor is called Shelley.

Willy Kat, A female and littermate to Cheetara. On Meerkat Manor is called Milley.

Miss Lilly the Pink, A female and littermate to Ju Drop, Wollow and Karim.

Ju Drop, A female and littermate to Miss Lilly the Pink, Wollow and Karim.

Izzy, A female and littermate to Suggs and Busta.

Amira, A female

Pozzo, A male and littermate to Monkulus and Zarathustra.

Flava Flav, A male and littermate to De La Soul. Son of Tosca from a previous litter.

Mitch, A male and littermate to Cruise, Hawkeye, and Logan.

Spud, A male and littermate to Tina Sparkle and son of Mozart.

Maladoy, A male and littermate of Jogu. On Meerkat Manor he is called McMurphy. Son of Tosca.

Jogu, A male and littermate of Maladoy. He and his brother are Tosca’s sons.

Ningaloo, A male and littermate of Petra and Machu Pichu. On Meerkat Manor is called Clive.

Wollow, A male and littermate to Miss Lilly the Pink, Ju Drop, and Karim.

Busta, A male and littermate to Izzy and Suggs.

Rhogan Josh, A male and littermate of Rufus and Murray.

Rufus, A male.

Murray, A male.

Axel, A male, he is actually from the Young Ones group. Has been adopted by the Whiskers.

Recently several members have gone to other groups, one to the Hoax group, five others to the Commandos and several to the Aztecs. Unfortunatly Butch Cassidy or as he is known as Apollo has died as well as Chiriqui who had been in the Aztecs.

Lazuli

First Appearance:	Season 1, Episode 2	Number in Group:	23
Dominant Female:	Aretha	Dominant Male:	J. Alfred Prufrock
Description:	The Lazuli are a family of meerkats who were the neighbors and main rivals of the Whiskers until Season 3. The Lazuli live in an area where the more forested region along the dry Kuruman riverbed gives way to the dunes. They were led by Cazanna and Big Si, but Big Si contracted tuberculosis and was put down. Recently Cazanna has also died and now her daughter Aretha is leading the group along with J. ALfred Prufrock after JD left. While the researchers and camera crew normally do not interfere with the lives, or deaths, of the meerkats, they will euthanize those that have tuberculosis to prevent an outbreak, which would have been devastating to the both the meerkat populations and the local livestock. The Lazuli were featured in a 2001 National Geographic special called "Walking with Meerkats: Meerkat Madness" that was produced by Big Wave TV
Notable Members:	Big Si was the dominant male of the Lazuli and the biggest meerkat in the area. He contracted tuberculosis and died before the beginning of season 2 Cazanna, former dominant female of the Lazuli. She was unable to bear pups after Big Si's death as her son JD took over as dominant male. JD, Cazanna's son. He took over as dominant male of the gang after Big Si's death.

Commandoes

First Appearance:	Season 2, Episode 3	Number in Group:	24
Dominant Female:	Nikita	Dominant Male:	Hannibal
Description:	The Commandoes are vicious enemies of the Whiskers and are the main antagonists of Season 2, eventually managing to take over a part of Whiskers territory. During season 3, several of group were lost to tuberculosis, but they continued to trouble the Whiskers gang. The "Commandoes" group is filmed using both the Vivian research group and the actual research group the Commandos. The dominant couple of the Commandoes on the show is actually the Vivian dominant couple, while most mob scenes are filmed using the actual Commandos group.
Notable Members:	Hannibal, the dominant male of the Commandoes. Hannibal is missing one eye. Nikita, the dominant female of the Commandoes. Along with the rest of the Commandoes, she killed Lazuli pup Bubble in a raid on the Lazuli territory. She also killed Mozart's pups. Wilson, a roving male who attempted has attempt to mate with Zappa females and to mate with Rocket Dog from the Whiskers. He also met Mozart and was a potential new dominant male for the dying Starsky group, but she died the day after their meeting.

Zappa

First Appearance:	Season 3, Episode 1	Number in Group:	9
Dominant Female:	Punk	Dominant Male:	Houdini
Description:	The Zappa appear in season three. They cause trouble for the Whiskers, after the Whiskers steal some of the Zappa's territory. They are led by Punk and Houdini after a successful double take over of leadership from Lola and Frank. Much of the footage of the "Zappa" group shown in the series is actually footage of a research group called "The Young Ones". Axel, the abandoned pup from Season 3, has a research number that indicates he is probably a Young Ones pup rather than being a Zappa as he is called on the show. However, footage of the dominant pair and the story of the events of the Zappa are of the real Zappa group.
Notable Members:	Punk, Lola's sister. Punk, already rebellious under Lola's leadership, used Lola's weakened state to become the dominant female. She is pregnant with her first pups. Houdini, Frank's younger brother, is a former Casanova and roamer. He once went roving and successfully mated with Flower, the dominant female of the Whiskers, before being chased off by Zaphod. He settled down after ousting Frank from the role of dominant male of the Zappa Frank, the former dominant male. He is later deposed by Houdini and forced out of the group. Lola, was the previous Zappa dominant female. While Lola was weakened from a puff adder bite, Punk successfully took over leadership of the group

Starsky

First Appearance:	Season 3, Episode 2	Status:	Lost
Description:	The Starsky were formed by evicted Whisker females and roving males. It was once led by Kinkajou and Carlos, but Carlos died from an infected face wound that prevented him from eating. After his death, and with no litters surviving more than a few days, the group died out from poor foraging conditions, disease, and predation. Mozart, the last survivor of the group, was lost to a predator in April 2007 and the group is now considered lost.
Notable Members:	Mozart, founded the group with roving male Carlos after being evicted from the Whiskers by matriarch Flower. She lost her dominant status to her half-sister Kinkajou. After the loss of the rest of the Starsky group, Mozart met Wilson from the Commandoes, who seemed poised to replace Carlos as dominant male. However, Mozart was killed outside of her burrow by a predator the next day. Carlos, The former dominant male of the Starsky. He used to be a roving male of the Lazuli, but left and started the group with Kinkajou and Mozart. He suffered a scar across his face from a battle with Hannibal, which soon became infected, resulting in his death. Kinkajou, Mozart's half-sister. She took over the role of dominant female, after she mated with Carlos, led the group foraging, and killed Mozart's pups. She died of starvation early in 2007.

Minor groups

• Gattaca - a minor group of about 10 members that appeared in a few episodes of series 1. The males died from disease and the dominant female was killed by predators, leaving the last two members alone and the group lost.
• Aztecs - a new group formed by Maybelline at the end of series 3 after she broke away from the Whiskers; until series 4 starts, the status of the group in the show is unknown

See also

• List of Meerkat Manor episodes