Giraffe, meerkat & Co.

Television series
Original title	Giraffe, meerkat & Co.
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Year (s)	2006-2018
Production company	Hessian radio
length	50 minutes long versions: 89 minutes short versions: 29 minutes
Episodes	329 in 8 seasons Long versions: 59 in 3 seasons Short versions: 80 in 2 seasons
genre	Zoo documentary soap
music	Enjott Schneider , Marco Hertenstein
First broadcast	October 23, 2006 on Das Erste long version: May 17, 2015 on HR Abstract: January 26, 2015 on Das Erste
occupation
Speaker: Olaf Pessler

Giraffe, Meerkat & Co. is a zoo docu-soap from Hessischer Rundfunk (HR). The viewer looks behind the scenes of the Frankfurt Zoo and the Kronberg Opel Zoo . Veterinarians and animal keepers are accompanied in their daily work and the viewers get an insight into the everyday life of the animal world and the professional world of the employees of the zoo.

The series was produced by Hessischer Rundfunk. The first season of the series comprises 44 episodes and reached an average of 2.37 million viewers when it was first broadcast on ARD from October 23 to December 22, 2006. The second season, which contains 40 episodes, first aired from May 5 to July 3, 2008. The 40 episodes of the third season were broadcast for the first time from May 25 to July 20, 2009 in the first. The broadcast of the 40 episode fourth season began on February 25, 2011 and ended on May 6, 2011. Season five, which also contains 40 episodes, ran for the first time from May 14 to July 11, 2012. The premiere of the 45 episodes sixth season took place from February 3 to April 17, 2014. The seventh season was shown for the first time from October 19 to December 15, 2015 in the first and consists of 40 episodes. The first broadcast of the eighth and final season on the first took place from March 13 to May 16, 2018 with a further 40 episodes.

Episodes of the series were cut into two different formats. Das Erste created a 29-minute version of the series, which consists of 80 episodes in two seasons and premiered from 2015 to 2016. The Hessischer Rundfunk cut episodes of the 6th, 7th and 8th season into an 89-minute XXL format, the three seasons of which contain 59 episodes and were first seen on television from 2015 to 2018.

Olaf Pessler is the speaker from the start - the music is by Enjott Schneider & Marco Hertenstein .

The series is part of a series of zoo documentaries that the ARD television stations have been producing with great success since 2003. The first and ongoing documentary series is Elefant, Tiger & Co. from the Leipzig Zoological Garden .

Seasons

Season	First broadcast from	until	consequences
1.	October 23, 2006	December 22, 2006	44
2.	May 5, 2008	July 3, 2008	40
3.	May 25, 2009	July 20, 2009	40
4th	February 25, 2011	May 6, 2011	40
5.	May 14, 2012	July 11, 2012	40
6th	3rd February 2014	17th April 2014	45
7th	19th October 2015	December 15, 2015	40
8th.	March 13, 2018	May 16, 2018	40

Long version format of the series (XXL version of the Hessischer Rundfunk ): Cuttings of episodes from the 6th, 7th and 8th season

Season	First broadcast from	until	consequences
1.	17th May 2015	September 27, 2015	19th
2.	February 14, 2016	17th July 2016	20th
3.	18th March 2018	August 12, 2018	20th

Abstract format of the series ( Das Erste ):

Season	First broadcast from	until	consequences
1.	January 26, 2015	March 31, 2015	40
2.	April 8, 2016	June 10, 2016	40

Episode overview

Season	Year of production	Sequence number	Episode name
1	2006	1	The coati babies need a mom
1	2006	2	Always trouble with the tractor
1	2006	3	Suspicious marabou
1	2006	4th	Baby for Ruby?
1	2006	5	Where are the barbed guans?
1	2006	6th	Dangerous temptation ...
1	2006	7th	Predator feeding in the cat jungle
1	2006	8th	Moving for the crocodile
1	2006	9	Catch me!
1	2006	10	Grasping spike man Arthur has a problem
1	2006	11	Family connection for Tom and Jerry?
1	2006	12	Melons? Pretty scary ...
1	2006	13	Change for Malea and Iban
1	2006	14th	New animals for the savannah
1	2006	15th	Two giraffes on a long journey
1	2006	16	Close the door!
1	2006	17th	A case for Simona
1	2006	18th	Apple ice cream for the sloth bears
1	2006	19th	Stowaway
1	2006	20th	Aruba is causing trouble
1	2006	21st	The realm of darkness
1	2006	22nd	Meerkat on the run
1	2006	23	Animal stars
1	2006	24	On the hunt for bad guys
1	2006	25th	Looking foward to?
1	2006	26th	Swallowed glasses?
1	2006	27	When giraffes cuddle
1	2006	28	Muffled savannah dwellers
1	2006	29	Scenes from a young marriage
1	2006	30th	Alpacas run wild
1	2006	31	How do hippos prevent?
1	2006	32	Elvis on a great journey
1	2006	33	Animal pushy
1	2006	34	Mysterious exotic
1	2006	35	Will Cupid meet?
1	2006	36	Where's the entertainment
1	2006	37	Bongo remains the happiness of love
1	2006	38	Elk Ole in love intoxication
1	2006	39	Pelicans get a new home
1	2006	40	Rendezvous with the bongo bull
1	2006	41	Do orangutans watch TV?
1	2006	42	Wellness for camels
1	2006	43	Snacks for dwarf chimpanzees
1	2006	44	The most beautiful stories from the series
2	2008	45	Spring awakening
2	2008	46	biodiversity
2	2008	47	Doctor games
2	2008	48	Often something new
2	2008	49	Confusion everywhere
2	2008	50	Every beginning is difficult
2	2008	51	The way to a man's heart goes through his stomach
2	2008	52	The strenght is to be found in serenity
2	2008	53	Just move ...
2	2008	54	You can never please everyone
2	2008	55	A prickly affair ??
2	2008	56	Full of life
2	2008	57	From big and small animals
2	2008	58	Clean up and tackle!
2	2008	59	Chips, Eggs and Raisins
2	2008	60	With skin and hair
2	2008	61	Craft has golden ground
2	2008	62	A difficult birth
2	2008	63	A black day
2	2008	64	The drama continues
2	2008	65	Viennese blood
2	2008	66	Hollywood-style hunting scenes
2	2008	67	Monkey heat
2	2008	68	The horror has a name
2	2008	69	Always trouble with the offspring
2	2008	70	Crocodile Dundee in Kronberg
2	2008	71	When the moose are in mourning
2	2008	72	Seals on dry land
2	2008	73	Children in power
2	2008	74	Detox
2	2008	75	About rhinos and hornbills
2	2008	76	Late motherhood
2	2008	77	The intelligence test
2	2008	78	Off to the training camp
2	2008	79	Dangerous space command
2	2008	80	Murder + manslaughter
2	2008	81	Real and false buck leaps
2	2008	82	True love
2	2008	83	Witching hour with the monkeys
2	2008	84	The last one turns the light off
3	2009	85	Game hour
3	2009	86	Preparations for moving
3	2009	87	The sick doe
3	2009	88	The new roommate
3	2009	89	Elephant school
3	2009	90	No desire to move: Unusual care guests in the Exotarium
3	2009	91	Offspring among the trample
3	2009	92	Fighting in the ground squirrel enclosure
3	2009	93	Climbing exercises
3	2009	94	Trouble in the meerkat enclosure
3	2009	95	Worrying about baby sloth Oscar
3	2009	96	The new boss
3	2009	97	The new home
3	2009	98	Licking wounds
3	2009	99	Rendezvous by the pool
3	2009	100	Precious offspring
3	2009	101	Summer retreat
3	2009	102	Three is one too many
3	2009	103	Zoos next top model
3	2009	104	Play of colors
3	2009	105	The dream pig
3	2009	106	Careful, camera!
3	2009	107	Moose babies in a double pack
3	2009	108	The lame eagle
3	2009	109	Changing diapers in the bonobo baby
3	2009	110	The head in the noose
3	2009	111	Family reunion with the spider monkeys
3	2009	112	Squirrel babies
3	2009	113	The kidnapped baby seals
3	2009	114	The wrong mother
3	2009	115	Billy with the bonobos
3	2009	116	Turtle in danger
3	2009	117	Test of courage for the trainee
3	2009	118	This monkey heat
3	2009	119	The talking scales
3	2009	120	The big eat
3	2009	121	Expert knowledge of a special kind
3	2009	122	Hunting scenes from Duckburg
3	2009	123	Fragrant monkeys, brave fish
3	2009	124	Farewell tour

Remarks

1. ↑ Press kit of ARD: Zoogeschichten im Erste. 333 episodes & more ... , 2007, p. 5.
2. ↑ hr shows 40 new episodes of “Giraffe, Meerkat & Co.” in the first , March 11, 2018, accessed on November 21, 2018.
3. ↑ ^{a b} episode list at Fernsehserien.de

Web links

• Giraffe, Erdmännchen & Co. in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• https://www.daserste.de/information/zoogeschichten/giraffe/index.html