List of Meerkat Manor meerkats

Dominant female: Sophie Whiskers Dominant male: Squeak Lazuli The Whiskers are a successful group of meerkats that own a two-square-mile area in the Kuruman River Reserve. The group came into existence in 1998, with four Young Ones females and two Lazuli rovers – reinforced with a wild meerkat who had been released nearby (instead of the potjie) from Van Zylsrus. Holly and Argon took dominance till 2000. After Holly died Risca took dominance with Beetle. She evicted some females who formed the Asphodel and Hobgoblin groups. Eleven Vivian rovers emigrated into Whiskers in 2001. Izit won dominance over Basil, despite Basil being older. Basil left to join to Lazuli. Risca and Izit lost dominance and left to form the Gattaca. Vialli and Zaphod became the next dominant pair. After Vialli died, Flower won dominance in 2002. Yossarian overthrew Zaphod taking male dominance but Zaphod overthrew him sometime after. Flower and Zaphod reign then on. The group split Yossarian and Super Furry Animal taking dominance in the splinter till Baddiel overthrew her sister. The Whiskers reunited and Flower and Zaphod took back dominance. Flower evicted Kinkaju and Mozart with two other females who formed the Starsky. Flower succumbed to a snake bite in January 2007. Her daughter Rocket Dog rose to power after her. The Whiskers split in two and formed the Aztecs. After Rocket Dog died in 2008 and Ella established dominance. Five Whiskers males emigrated into the Lazuli kicking out Thundercat who soon joined the Whiskers. The group recently recovered after a low in numbers. Many Whiskers formed or joined other groups. Some males have joined the Whiskers rivals the Lazuli and Commandos. While many groups were formed by Whiskers members such as the two largest group in the KMP today, the Baobab and Kung Fu. With every move recorded on camera by Cambridge University, the Whiskers became famous as the stars of the hit television series, Meerkat Manor (2005). When the Whiskers first formed in 1998, their main rivals were Young Ones, Lazuli, Elveera and Vivian. These were their main rivals for three years, then Gattaca formed north of the Whiskers territory and became their rivals. Over the next few years, Vivian moved away from the Whiskers and Commandos became the Whiskers new rivals. Soon Elveera and Lazuli moved away from the Whiskers and Aztecs form their territory next to the Whiskers. In 2007 Whiskers main rivals were Young Ones, Aztecs and Commandos. Then Young Ones died out, and Kung Fu formed next to Whiskers, Commandos moved away and the Sequoia formed. Today Whiskers main rivals are Toyota, Lazuli, Kung Fu and Sequoia. Flower Born 15 March 2000, Flower became the fearless and formidable leader of the Whiskers in 2002. During the course of the series, Flower gave birth to numerous litters of pups, and is believed to have delivered 70 pups over the course of her lifetime. The US Animal Planet web site added a memorial section to their Meerkat Manor site, offering visitors a copy of Flower's obituary, a video tribute, information about the film, and access to a discussion board and a live chat with the US producer of the series. Animal Planet aired a film biography of Flower's early life on 25 May 2008 entitled Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins. The film, using footage of untamed meerkats and the research notes of Cambridge University, retells the story of how Flower became the dominant female of the Whiskers after the deaths of her mother and sister. Yossarian Zaphod's younger brother, Yossarian, is named after the main character in Catch-22 and has a scar across his left eye. In the third episode of the series, the narrator states that Yossarian was once Flower's mate and the dominant male of the Whiskers, but Zaphod dethroned him before the series started. The first attempt resulted in a lot of confusion amongst the babysitters, resulting in the eight newborn pups Yossarian dragged out of the burrow being partially trampled and almost left to die in the desert sun. Yossarian's attempt to help Daisy by carrying her newborn pups to the Whiskers burrow separated him from the family. He also rescued one of Flower's pups in the second series after the young pup had wandered too far from the safety of the burrow. Nevertheless, he was able to successfully mate with evicted Lazuli female Pancake. He has not appeared since. Shakespeare Shakespeare, named after the famous playwright, was one of Flower's sons. He recovered, however, and continued to be a strong contributor to the Whiskers group. Near the end of series one, he was the lone babysitter protecting Flower's most recent pups when the Lazuli group found the burrow, and Shakespeare put himself between the pups and Big Si, the Lazuli's dominant male at the time. When the Whiskers returned and dispatched the Lazuli, the pups were alive but Shakespeare could not be found. At the start of series two, Shakespeare was still missing and believed dead. More recent articles discussing Flower's death refer to Shakespeare's death and reiterate that his body has never been found. Tosca Tosca was one of Flower's oldest daughters, described as "rebellious" in the first series opening sequence. When the Whiskers were temporarily split into two groups in the next episode, Tosca found the splinter group and took over leadership from her sister Daisy. Believing the split would be permanent, Tosca was then fitted with a radio collar by the project researchers. Tosca's attempts to rejoin the Whiskers after the separation from her mother were fiercely rebuffed. Tosca mated with roving male Carlos in the last episode of the first series, but he left her alone and made no motions to work on starting a new group with her. However, Ren was killed by a bird-of-prey, and Mitch was eventually forced to abandon Stumpy and rejoin the family. Late in the series, Mitch found Axel, a pup abandoned during a failed raid attempt by the Zappa, and took him back to the Whiskers where – in an unexpected event within meerkat society – he was adopted into the family. When the Whiskers group temporarily split into two groups during a drought and food shortage in the third series, Rocket Dog assumed the leadership of the splinter group. When the splinter group was reunited with the Whiskers, Rocket Dog returned to being a subordinate female under her mother without any fuss. A note was also posted to the Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat website; it was subsequently removed along with all other post season updates, at the request of Animal Planet, but was restored after the fourth series finished airing. Axel Born in the third series, male pup Axel was abandoned by Lola, from the Zappa during one of their unsuccessful attacks on the Whiskers burrow. Mitch found the pup and rather than kill the pup as one would normally expect, he took the pup to his mom Flower. And Flower adopted him into the Whiskers shortly before her death. He is named after the fictional character Axel Foley of the Beverly Hills Cop film series. Sophie Sophie was one of Mozart 's pups seen on Meerkat Manor. She had two brothers and one sister named Sparkle. Only one of her brothers was given a name and he was called Spud. They were born some time after Tosca, Mozart's sister, gave birth to three pups. Their uncle Yossarian decided to move their pups who were only a few days old. He brought each up above ground and started to move them to a new burrow. The babysitters followed him and carried each pup. The Whiskers returned and Yossarian dropped the pup he was carrying, who was Sophie's sister. Her sister got left behind and died later that night. The other pups were moved to the new burrow. One day, while being babysat by Yossarian, Mitch, Sophie's other uncle, viciously attacked her without warning. Yossarian failed to stop the assault and simply waited until Mitch was proud of the beating. Afterwards, little Sophie was in a state of shock, but Tosca gave Sophie a comforting cuddle. Sophie didn't re-appear in the series until much later, when she was older. She was seen babysitting a litter, but was finding them a bit of a handful. That was the last time Sophie was mentioned in Season 1. In this season and up until season 3, she was played by Tina Sparkle since the real Sophie was the one Youssarian unintentionally killed. Sophie didn't appear in season 2 for the first couple of episodes, the spotlight was mostly on her mother, Mozart, and two older subordinates, Daisy and Kinkaju, as they were the prime evictees of the season. When Sophie was finally mentioned, she was found babysitting Flower's pups with her brother, Spud. The pair were having a very uneventful day, unlike the rest of the family who were caught in a fight for their lives with the Commando family. Sophie and Spud spent their time grooming each other, but were alarmed when a mystery meerkat appeared. They rushed below ground to defend the pups, unaware that the "stranger" was in fact their evicted mother, Mozart. Eventually realizing who it was, Sophie and Spud allowed Mozart to stay at the burrow and even feed Flower's pups. Sophie wasn't mentioned again for the rest of the season. In season 3, Sophie was mostly only mentioned in the starting episodes of the third season. She was a frequent babysitter, often left with Flower' pups, Buster, Izzy and Suggs, along with Mitch and Jogu. When the Whiskers moved territories, Izzy fell behind and was expected to be killed by an eagle owl, but Sophie rescued the pup. Later, Sophie once again came to Izzy's aid and offered some food. When the babysitters (Sophie, Mitch and Jogu) and the pups were separated from the Whiskers, Mitch, being the oldest, left to find the main group to try and reunite them with the pups. Soon after a Zappa female named Maryline visited the burrow looking for her family. Following his hormones, Jogu went off after the evicted female, leaving Sophie to watch Flower's pups by herself. When the rival gang, the Zappa, attacked, Sophie took the pups below ground. But before the Zappa reached the burrow, the Whiskers arrived and chased them off. After these events, Sophie was seldom mentioned again throughout the season. At one point in the third season, she was played by Finn because Tina Sparkle was evicted. Sophie was seen much more in The Next Generation. She was the prime babysitter and target for roving males, particularly Wilson from the Commandos. In an early episode, Sophie climbed a tree in search of caterpillars, but slipped and fell, injuring one of her front paws. The Whiskers moved on, potentially abandoning Sophie, but the injured female managed to limp after them and quickly recovered. Shortly afterwards, Sophie was evicted, for mating with Wilson, by Rocket Dog, who was also pregnant by Wilson. Rocket Dog gave birth to two pups and allowed Sophie to rejoin the group once she aborted her litter. Sophie babysat the two pups, Nugget and Beaker, along with Simon. The babysitters decided to take the pups foraging, but they ran into the Aztecs and headed for bolt hole. Inside, Simon found a puff adder, but the Whiskers' babysitters couldn't escape due to the Aztecs, they were viciously blocking the entrance. Eventually, the rain forced the Aztecs to retreat, but with it being so late, the babysitters couldn't return to the main burrow. The next day, Sophie reunited the pups with the Whiskers, but Simon had died from a snake bite. Later on in the series, Sophie was evicted by pregnant subordinate female, Wiley Kat. But before long, Wiley Kat was also kicked out by Rocket Dog. In spite of what Wiley Kat had done to her, Sophie stayed with her, and the pair were quickly joined by Wilson and Philippe. During their time together the small family encountered a Genet and Sophie mated with Wilson. But the rovers eventually left. After that, Wiley Kat and her unborn litter simply disappeared, but pregnant Sophie managed to rejoin the Whiskers. She gave birth to three pups named Flashman, Pickle and Chips, and spent her time babysitting Juno. When Rocket Dog was bitten by a Cape cobra, Sophie led the Whiskers to a new burrow, where Rocket Dog eventually met up with them and slowly recovered from her bite. In this season, Sophie was played by Flower's daughter Ella because her other counterparts, Tina Sparkle and Finn were evicted. After Rocket Dog's Death, she became the dominant female of the Whiskers and still retains that position today. ==Lazuli==

Dominant female: Christiana Lazuli Dominant male: Unknown The Lazuli Mob are one of the most successful groups of meerkats that inhabit an area of the Kalahari Meerkat Project. The Lazuli are also among the oldest groups, and they are currently the oldest living group. It was formed in 1995 by Avatar females Lazuli, Ziziphus and a wild male Belgarion. The Lazuli were also featured on the documentary of Meerkat Manor. The Lazuli grew very large over the years and many of its members are well known. Lazuli was the first dominant female and the group was named after her. Ziziphus was the second dominant of the Lazuli until her death, then her daughter Cazanna became the long term dominant female. She was joined by a Vivian male named Basil who led dominance for four years. Followed by her daughter Aretha, and then her granddaughter Young. The Lazuli have many ancestors in other groups since some of the members had dispersed to other groups or formed new mobs. The Lazuli are currently one of the most famous groups. Cazanna At the time the Lazuli first appeared in Meerkat Manor, Cazanna was the dominant female of the group. After the death of her partner Big Si between the first and second series, her son JD took over as dominant male. Without a dominant male she could mate with, Yossarian and various other roving males from the Whiskers made valiant attempts to mate with her, but none were successful, due to the diligent protection of her son and the other Lazuli males. After filming for series three concluded, Cazanna died from disease and her daughter assumed the leadership of the group. Big Si First introduced as "the biggest, meanest meerkat in the territory", Big Si was the dominant male of the Lazuli who regularly led the various war parties against the Whiskers. While the researchers and camera crew normally do not interfere with the lives, or deaths, of the meerkats, they had to euthanise Big Si in order to prevent an outbreak that would have been devastating to both the meerkat populations and the local livestock. Rufus Rufus was born into the Whiskers Mob on 1 February 2007 in a mix litter of eight pups. His litter-mates were Burdock, Rhogan Josh, Amira, Squig, Chiriqui, Etosha and Murray. His mother is unknown, but she must have been either Hawkeye, Petra, Flo, Finn or Ella. His father remains unknown as well. His mother and the other females mated during a group split but the splinter group rejoined a month before he was born. On 25 January 2007 dominant female, and Rufus' grandmother, Flower died from a snake bite. He and his litter-mates survived their first few weeks and started to foraged with the adults. The five males soon joined into the Lazuli Mob. Machu Pichu took male dominance but was ousted by Wollow. Machu Pichu joined Beebop and formed the PK mob along with Rhogan Josh. But Rufus' litter-mate didn't stay in the group and took to roving. Rhogan Josh is now in the Chuckle Bros group. It is a group of roving male who are not attached to any breeding clan. Then Axel left the Lazuli with some males and joined Stop it. Only Wollow and Rufus remained in the Lazuli. Rufus took to roving with some of his new Lazuli pals. He lived in the Lazuli for two years and often roved. In February 2010 when Rufus returned from roving he got in a fight with dominant male Wollow. He managed to overthrow Wollow. Life changed for Rufus who took over as dominant male beside dominant female Young. Rufus evicted Wollow from the group in June 2010 but he allowed the former beaten dominant male to return to the group. Young became pregnant and Rufus is most likely the father. Rufus was sadly predated in September . He was the only one out of his litter to become a dominant meerkat. Young Young was born on 12 March 2005 with her litter-mate sister, HP in the Lazuli. Her mother was Alina and her father was an unknown rover. Alina was the daughter of Cazanna and Basil the former dominant pair of the Lazuli making Young their granddaughter. On 24 April 2006 Young and HP give birth to a mixed litter of pups. The pups were Caroline, Bernard, Teaser, Shaka Zulu, Flax, Landie and Lallie. Cazanna died in early 2007 and Aretha took over dominance. In May 2007 Flax died. In September 2007 Lallie and Teaser died. In November 2007 Landie died. Aretha evicted Mungojerry, Bonzo, Zooey and her sister HP. They were last seen in January 2008 when Tybalt disappeared. On 4 January 2008, Young gave birth to Calvinia, Christiana, Prieska and Lutzputz. When Aretha died in May 2008, Young became dominant female of the Lazuli. In June 2008 five Whiskers males joined the group. The males were Machu Pichu, Wollow, Rhogan Josh, Rufus and Axel. At first Machu Pichu took dominance beside Young and may have fathered her next litter. While he was recovering from a snake bite, he was overthrown by Wollow. In August 2008 J. Alfred Prufrock, Bernard, Shaka Zulu, Bash and Bosh were kicked out of the group and joined wild females to form the Hoppla group. On 25 August 2008 Young and Caroline give birth to Rum, Muck, Eigg and Hen. Machu Picchu and Rhogan Josh left to form the PK. In November 2008 Young give birth to Toppen, Kuhglocken, Snowy, Soul Hudson and Franz. In December 2008 Young give birth to Sammy Jo, Finnlex, Bernie, Chuck Norris, Old Greg, and Rufio. In September 2009, Young and Calvinia give birth. Both Hen and Young gave birth to a mixed litters. In 2010 Wollow was overthrown by Rufus who took male dominance. Young is pregnant in June 2010 but aborted her litter in the same month. Sadly, Young was found dead in March 2013. Her daughter Christiana now leads the group. ==Commandoes==

Dominant female: Nikita Commandoes Dominant male: Unknown The Commandoes Mob was formed in 2004 when a group of Gattaca females teamed up with a Young Ones roving coalition. Aragorn and Zorilla established dominance after several disputes. They remained the dominant pair till 2007 when Aragorn died. After the death of Aragorn, his son Ketamine established natal dominance beside his mother. Then five Whiskers males emigrated and all natal adult males had left, Zarathustra became dominant male till he was predated. Then Baker took his position but Miles stole it from him. Throughout their history, the Commandos had been a fast-growing group, unlike their founding group the Gattaca. In January 2009, Zorilla, Miles, Baker Karim and Cody were killed by TB, the group is led by Whiskers male Panthro and Commandos female Celidh. Disease hit the group killing a few members. The Commandos left the monitored area and could no longer be tracked. A few new groups were formed from Commandos members. The Kung Fu was formed by Zorilla's sister. The Geckos and Sequioa were formed by Zorilla and Aragorn's daughters. Benzedrine is the last known surviving Commandos meerkat today. In seasons 2 and 3, the Commandoes were played by the Vivian. In Season 4, the real Commandoes played themselves. In the US, the Commandoes were spelled "Commandos" which is also the spelling used for the real mob. Nikita The dominant female of the Commandoes, Nikita is as tough as her partner, and can be just as vicious. In the fourth, she accepts Whiskers rover Zorro as the group’s dominant male, and allows his four brothers to join the group. Hannibal Hannibal, a one-eyed meerkat from the Commandos, was first seen in season 2 of Meerkat Manor. He was the one meerkat that most groups fear. The groups he went to war with were: The Whiskers, The Lazuli, The Starsky, and The Zappa. Hannibal was the reason that Carlos, his son, has the scar on his face today. His mate was Nikita, the meanest, nastiest mother in the meerkat world. They had created a loyal and ferocious gang of meerkats. Hannibal died in his sleep over a terrible winter. Hannibal had many fans and is dearly missed, although not quite as much as Flower. Wilson Wilson (a.k.a. Romeo Wilson), a son of Hannibal and Nikita, is a roving male who attempts to mate with females from various other Meerkat Manor groups throughout the third and fourth series. He visited the Zappa burrows without success, and later tried to mate with new Whiskers dominant female Rocket Dog before Zaphod chased him off. In the fifth episode of the series, they encounter the Commandoes. Nikita and her nearly all-female group initially rebuff the group, but after an eagle owl causes a group panic, Zorro and his brothers are able to use the distraction to initiate a takeover bid. Nikita accepts Zorro's scent marking her and he becomes the Commandoes' new dominant male. Later in the series, when one of Zorro's brothers, Miles, continues attempting to get close to Nikita, Zorro viciously attacks him and exiles him. This is the first known male exile in the manor. To acknowledge Zorro's leadership, he is fitted with a radio collar. Three episodes later, Zorro's collar is found in a tree, and he is believed to be dead, presumed killed by a bird of prey. ==Zappa==

Dominant female: Punk Zappa When the Whiskers invaded the Zappa territory in search of Flower's missing pups, they ended up confiscating a Zappa burrow, claiming the part of the land as their territory. Punk proved to be a greater risk taker than Lola, and again led the Zappa in a futile attack against the Whiskers. While there is a group named the "Zappa" within the Kalahari Meerkat Project, the Zappa shown in Meerkat Manor are primarily filmed using footage from a second research group called the Young Ones. However, scenes of the dominant couple are from the real Zappa group, as are the stories told about the group as a whole. ==Starsky==

The Starsky was a small group of seven meerkats that formed between the filming of the second and third series. The group first appeared in the second episode of the third series. Mozart and Kinkajou, two of three evicted Whiskers sisters in the group, competed for the position of dominant female, while Carlos, the former roving male from the Lazuli, was secure in his position as dominant male. Mozart A daughter of Flower, Mozart was originally a member of the Whiskers group. She received her name in honor of the famous composer. Referred to as "the caring" one in the first series credits, Mozart was always ready to lend a helping hand for the family. Mozart was temporarily exiled from the Whiskers group several times for having pups. Her first eviction came part way through the first series and lasted only one episode. Near the end of the second series, Mozart again became pregnant, and then made the unusual move of evicting her sister Daisy from the Whiskers. Flower led the Whiskers to a new home and left Mozart alone at the burrows with her newborn pups, effectively evicting her. The Commandoes killed Mozart's pups in the next episode while Mozart was on the search for food. When Mozart returned in the third series, she competed with her sister Kinkajou, also evicted from the Whiskers, for leadership of a new group, the Starsky, which she had founded with roving male Carlos. Kinkajou eventually took over as dominant female, asserting her dominance by killing Mozart's newborn pups. Carlos' death left the Starsky females without a mate or a potential for new pups, and the remaining members of the group died. Mozart at last lost her sisters in the eleventh episode. Shortly after, Mozart met a roving Commandoes male, Wilson, who seemed primed to help her revive the group, but Mozart was killed outside of her burrow by a jackal the next day. Carlos Carlos, whose research name was JD, made regular appearances in the series starting with the second episode. As Kinkajou was evicted between the second and third series, it remains unanswered how she was reunited with her sisters Mozart and De la Soul. De La Soul De La Soul was Mozart and Kinkajou's younger sister. She was a former Whiskers member but was evicted from the group. The date or reason for this is unknown. She did not challenge Kinkajou and Mozart for the role of dominant female of the Starsky. De La Soul, Mozart and Kinkajou were the only three members of the Starsky towards the end of series 3, as the others had died from disease and predation. After a confrontation with the Commandoes, the three sisters were split up, and De La Soul was chased by the Commandoes. Kinkajou and Mozart made it to a burrow but De La Soul did not join them. She was never reunited with Mozart and Kinkajou and has not been seen since. She is thought to have been killed by the Commandoes. She was known as Whoopi in the American version. ==Aztecs==

Dominant female: Maybelline Whiskers In the fourth series, the group is shown to now be a regular rival of the Whiskers. In the second episode, Zaphod and a band of roving males join the Aztecs, with Zaphod becoming the group's new dominant male. Right now, the Aztecs are left without a dominant male, since Zaphod has died. According to the Meerkat Manor: The Series Begins film, Zaphod was a roving Lazuli male before he joined the Whiskers. He was really born in the Vivian, not the Lazuil. He and his younger brother, Yossarian, visited the Whiskers at the same time in search of females. Flower's sister Viale, then the dominant female, chose Yossarian as her mate and he became the group's dominant male. Zaphod and Flower also mated, but Viale killed the resulting pups. After Viale's death, Flower assumed the role of dominant female and showed preference to Zaphod for her mate. Yossarian then left the group for an unknown length of time. After Flower's death in the third series, Zaphod continued to perform the duties as the group's dominant male and would chase off any roving males trying to reach new dominant female Rocket Dog. As meerkats will not mate with first generation relatives, he eventually left the group and became a roving male. He returned after two episodes and still acted as the group's dominant male as of the end of series three. He was 12 years old. ==Minor groups==

Gattaca The Gattaca, named after the 1997 science fiction movie, was a minor group of approximately ten members that appeared briefly in the first series. The small group first appeared in episode seven when the Whiskers accidentally crossed over into their territory. The meeting ended without incident as the Whiskers willingly returned to their own land. Risca, a former dominant female of the Whiskers, led the Gattaca. Acting as minor rivals of the Whiskers, the Gattaca received little story attention until they quietly disappeared from the show before the end of the series. In reality, the group died out from disease and predation. ==References==