And the meerkat says hello every day

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And Meerkat Manor (Engl. Meerkat Manor ) is one of Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel produced and broadcast docu-soap series, the lives of four meerkats -families as quasi soap opera frames. The animal docu-soap ran worldwide with great success over four seasons. In Germany, the series is broadcast by Animal Planet and DMAX , among others .

In the ten-year study, a team from the University of Cambridge closely observed the distinctive social behavior of animals and their development over several generations. The animals are resident in northern South Africa in the Kalahari desert. Three square kilometers of it form the territory of the "Erdmann family", in the English original the clan is called "Whiskers", the series is called "Meerkat Manor" (Erdmann estate). The alpha female Blümchen ("Flower") leads the clan of up to 44 animals. She wears a transmitter; Cameras record the activities of the social predators so researchers can study group dynamics and behavior of the animals and put together the television series.

Excerpt from the description of the series at Animal Planet (premiere): “Big Brother in the Kalahari Desert: The main characters are 30 centimeters high, live in underground caves and feed on worms, insects and lizards. This documentary series observes the everyday life of the Whiskers, a group of meerkats from the Kalahari : eat, sleep, argue, love, have children and die. It's almost like us humans. By the way, the meerkats are funny, lovable, curious and above all very telegenic. "

So far there are 4 seasons of 13 episodes each, with each episode being 20 minutes long.

Trivia

  • In China and Japan, the series is one of the television programs with the highest viewership ever. In Asia, but also in the USA, the names of the animal family members are known to almost every child. The soft toy version of z. B. Mitch, Shakespeare, Blümchen or Daisy sell there just as well as the plush version of the polar bear Knut in Germany .
  • The series is originally called "Meerkat Manor" (Erdmann Estate). In English, "meerkat" means meerkat. This designation has nothing to do with the German word "Meerkatze". Vervet monkey is a German term for a genus of the subfamily of the cheek-pock monkey. In the English-speaking world, the Afrikaans term “Meerkat” has established itself for meerkats . (By the way, monkey is called "guenon" in English.)
  • Two of the main characters - Shakespeare and Tosca - no longer appear in the second season. The production team has no information about the whereabouts of the two family members, although the cameras are on 24 hours a day. In the first episode of season 2, however, the German dubbing reports that Tosca did not survive the harsh winter due to the exile and that Shakespeare fell victim to an attack by the Grabowski family. The main character, Blümchen, dies of a snakebite in the third season.
  • In 2007 the series was nominated for an Emmy in the Cinematography category for a documentary.

Season overview with the titles of the German episodes

Season 1:

  1. Dear family
  2. Hellish neighbors
  3. Some like it hot
  4. revolution
  5. The iron lady
  6. Gentlemen visit undesirable
  7. Separate ways
  8. Who is the boss?
  9. The right of the fittest
  10. All good things come in threes
  11. Columbus and the New World
  12. Thunder over the desert
  13. Life goes on

Season 2:

  1. Waiting for rain
  2. Three amigos
  3. Winner and Loser
  4. Kalahari Country Club
  5. Rain ballad
  6. Lonely Hearts
  7. Return of the prodigal daughter
  8. Fight for water
  9. Blümchen's toughest job
  10. Power issues
  11. Flora in mortal danger
  12. The big hit
  13. A hard winter for Mozart

Season 3:

  1. On dangerous ground
  2. The brave search
  3. Quarrelsome sisters
  4. End of a Casanova
  5. The strong two
  6. Rivals
  7. Heavy burden
  8. At the end of a journey
  9. A new era
  10. Divorce hurts
  11. Three alone
  12. The matriculation examination
  13. A family on the warpath

Season 4:

  1. The next generation
  2. Men emancipation
  3. A new star on the horizon
  4. Finally pregnant
  5. Zorro's gang
  6. Stressful sisters
  7. Two brave babysitters
  8. The first excursion
  9. Baby boom
  10. Robbers in the sky
  11. Wilson the stray
  12. One's suffering
  13. With last strength

Specials or special programs:

  • The queen of the meerkats (approx. 73 min.)
  • Tosca the meerkat (approx. 49 min.)

Web links