Meerkat Manor Blog : Animal Planet

A Conversation With Professor Tim Clutton-Brock: Part II

Check out the second part of our interview, including questions from fans!

You’ve actually studied the social behaviors of several other types of species, including insects, fish, birds and mammals, such as red deer and wild sheep – which one has been your favorite to work with, and why?

I’ve spent my life trying to work with systems where it’s possible to recognize large numbers of individuals and follow them throughout their lives. The reason for that is that if you can trace individuals through their lives, you can answer all sorts of questions about them, which you otherwise can’t get at if you don’t know what age they are, how they’re related to other individuals, whether or not they bred last year, what age they started breeding, and so on. You need too know the details of their individual life histories to be able to answer many important questions about the behavior of animals and their emotions.

Now, that constrains you to working on animals that you can see. It’s very difficult to work on animals who are nocturnal, for example, or who spend their lives underground, or who live in the canopies of tropical forest, or spend most of their lives at seas. The beauty of meerkats is that they live in a very open environment, yet are extremely tame, so instead of watching them from 100 meters away, you can watch them from five meters away. They’re relatively easy to deal with – for example, there would be obvious problems working with lions or hyenas that might turn on you and eat you. Meerkats have unique advantages, and I can’t think of another mammal that has the same kind, so I think meerkats are probably my favorite.

How scientifically accurate is the Meerkat Manor series?

I think it gives a very realistic picture of meerkat life. None of the things (the show) describes don’t happen, and the specific events in almost all cases happened as it described.

But I think what goes on (and) what they film is what they see. They don’t script the thing before and then go to shoot it. They allow the animals’ activities to generate the stories, and then they structure the program to follow the events that they’ve seen. So I think it’s very close to scientific accuracy.

Can you tell us about the kind of attention you've been receiving with the success of Meerkat Manor?

We’ve been receiving a lot of interest through radio programs and people phoning in. There’s also a Web site, so there’s a lot of interest in that; people ask questions – that’s really just a small component of my life. My work focuses on the science; I work with colleagues on fundamental questions about the biology of meerkats. And the publicity and television side is fairly peripheral to that. There’s a lot of interest, but it doesn’t really impact my life very much.

Has it surprised you that fans of Meerkat Manor want to know everything about the life histories, family trees and obscure little details of all the meerkats, even the ones not in the show?

I think I was initially surprised at the success of the show, because when it started I thought people might well become bored after seeing a few of the programs and that it would be difficult for the program makers to hold people’s interest through the first 13-part series. Now, we’ve had four 13–part series and the interest in still ongoing.

I think the interest is very much in following the lives of individuals. Given that, it doesn’t surprise me that people want to know just what individuals are doing and what’s happened to them.

It has been suggested that some sort of meerkat undercrossing be constructed beneath the so-called "road of death," the well-traveled road near the research site. Is that being considered?

No, I don’t think so, because the meerkats can walk through the adjoining the roads at any time. So even if we did put something like that in, I think they’d very seldom use it. I don’t think there would be much point.

Are there any unusual or yet-to-be revealed meerkat habits you can tell us about, perhaps things that haven’t been as apparent in the show but yet are still very much a part of their culture?

I think there are areas we don’t get into very much; there’s a limitation for how much we can film underground for example. We (also) haven’t shown individuals that were substantially affected by TB, but I think the program actually gives a very good impression of how meerkats spend their time and what they do. It follows the lives of real individuals and tells their real stories; it’s really very close to reality.

Tell us a little bit about your book, Meerkat Manor: Flower of the Kalahari.

With the advent of the film, which follows the history of Flower, I thought it would be interesting to put together the details of Flower’s life that the film couldn’t do fully like we could do in the book. I thought by telling the history of Flower, from her birth through her death, through her many breeding attempts and the trials and tribulations of her life, I could help people understand what it’s like being a meerkat. While the book tells the history of Flower, it also tries to give people an introduction to animal societies and why animals behave the way that they do.

Now that meerkats have gone from the small screen to the big screen, what's next? What do they have in their future?

I don’t know – the filming side is outside my control, but I think one of the things the filmmakers are interested in doing is the possibility of telling more about the research side, (perhaps) a series of programs focusing on our interactions with the meerkats and what it’s like to work with them. I also know that a lot of people have been interested in doing the same sort of thing with other species – baboons, lions, elephants or hyenas – (so) we can see what comes of that. I think it would be difficult to produce programs with other species; meerkats are actually rather unusually ideal for something like that.

Does your family play a part in the Meerkat Project?  Do they get involved?

My wife has worked with me throughout. She was originally a zoologist and is now a wildlife artist. We did all the early work together, so her insights played a major role in structuring the research. She now does pictures and produces a number of (meerkat) designs that people are using on T-shirts and such, and did the pictures inside (my) book. My children – I’ve got a daughter of 7 and a son of 25 – have also come and helped out at various times.

What’s your ultimate goal for the Meerkat Project?

I don’t think I have one ultimate goal. In practice, scientists like me work toward goals that normally (reset) about every three years, because that’s the duration of the funding we get – so we identify what’s the next question we’re going to ask, and we work towards that.

I can tell you what the next question hopefully will be: we’re currently working on aspects of communication between pups and helpers, and we’re particularly interested in how pups signal their level of hunger and how this affects the frequency with which the helpers feed them. Also, we’re interested in the factors determining how meerkat populations increase and decline. Those are the next two strands of meerkat life we’ll be looking at it in detail, but I don’t have a long-term goal. I look rather at the meerkat groups as a wonderful facility for asking questions about animal behavior, and we’ll keep asking questions in turn for quite a few years to come, I think.

A Conversation With Professor Tim Clutton-Brock: Part I

When it comes to the evolution of animal societies, Professor Tim Clutton-Brock, director of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, is one of the most seasoned and respected experts in the world. From insects and birds, to fish and mammals, he’s seen it all. Learn more about the findings of his research group at Cambridge, and how the scientific study of meerkat behavior led to bringing these beloved creatures into our homes every week.

For over a decade, you’ve been in charge of the Kalahari Meerkat Project – how did the project first come about?

I started the Kalahari Meerkat Project in 1993. Academics like me work on different things – I work on the evolutions of animal societies, and I’ve been previously working on polygynous (ones), where males compete to obtain access to groups of females. I felt I got about as far as I could go, and wanted to move (on) to look at some other system (such as) cooperative and social breeding systems, where one individual in each group is responsible for most of the breeding, and everyone else raises the young. Systems of this kind generate fundamental problems, because it’s not immediately clear why individuals should spend much or all of their lives helping other individuals breed, rather than breeding themselves.

After working on polygynous systems, I thought I’d move on to working on systems of this kind. The work David McDonald had done on meerkats suggested they might well be ideal (for this study). A number of people had made films on them, which showed they were fantastically visible – they lived in a very open environment where one could see whatever they were doing. I arranged to go to South Africa to the southern Kalahari to look at meerkats, and when I did, they were everything I hoped for and a lot more.

How many individual meerkats have you studied over the course of the project?

Over the course of the project, in total, probably somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500.

Why do meerkats form such close-knit family groups?

I think meerkats, like a number of other species that live in deserts, live in a very difficult environment where they have to rely on each other and other group members to solve problem. In the particular case of the meerkats, they obtain their food in daylight in a very open environment where they are susceptible to predation from a wide range of birds, mammals and snakes. To live in that environment, survive and manage to breed, they need an effective system for spotting predators and for protecting themselves against these predators.  They also need an effective system for guarding pups when they are left behind at the burrow while the rest of the group forages. I think all of those systems mitigate very strongly for cooperative behavior, and for the formation of tight groups where everyone plays a role in assisting with reproduction and making sure that group members survive.

We’ve learned a lot about meerkat behavior through Meerkat Manor, such as how mobs are led by a dominant female, who also serves as the group breeder. We’ve also seen what happens when another female within the same mob tries to take on the same role! Of all the aspects of meerkat behavior that you’ve studied over the years, which elements have been the most surprising?

I think the most surprising aspect of meerkat behavior is the presence in the same group of extreme cooperation and ruthless competition. Extreme cooperation in the sense that individuals go to great lengths to cooperate with each other, to contribute, to guard other individuals’ pups in the burrow, sometimes not eating for 24 hours at a time. Also, in the extent to which group members will attempt to protect each other, sometimes attacking predators much larger than themselves in order to rescue another group member. That’s one side of it.

The other is the ruthless competition between females driving each other out, killing each others’ pups, sometimes with mothers killing pups born to their daughters, and in some cases, ruthless evictions, often occurring between close relatives, either between sisters or between mothers and daughters, where they evict individuals, (leading them) to face a very uncertain future out on their own. So, it’s this very interesting combination of extreme cooperation and ruthless competition that I think is the most unusual element of meerkat society.

Why do you give names to all the meerkats in the study?

At any one time, we normally have between 200-300 individuals and we’re following 15 different groups, not just the Whiskers and those featured in the television program. If you’re going to maintain an easy way of identifying all those individuals, you basically have to give them names. Each individual has a computer code, and we use those codes in the numerical analysis that we do, but you can’t easily remember what happens to BDW-21023 – people (can’t) keep 200-300 of those in their head. In fact, we (would) need to (remember) because we’re commonly interested in who their parents were, or who their grandparents were. It’s easier to use their name, and then everyone knows who they’re talking about and you don’t make so many mistakes. I should say that farmers do very much the same thing (when) managing herds of cows or flocks of sheep – normally they also give them names, too.

Do you think the problem of TB in the meerkat population will be overcome anytime soon?

No, I don’t – TB is widespread in African carnivores in many areas of Africa. I think it relatively seldom leads to the actual extinction of populations, but it persists and wipes out particular groups. There’s nothing we can really do about it, because it’s fairly clear that it’s widespread in the general region of the Kalahari, and probably occurs in many different parts of South Africa. We can’t obviously eradicate that. So even if we some way were able to wave a hand and eradicate it on the reserve where we work, it would immediately seep back in from outside. I think it’s something meerkats live with and we have to live with too.

On our Web site, everyone has had a chance to see you interacting with the meerkats, including having them stand on your shoulders and even on your head. How often does this happen? What's it like to have a meerkat stand on your head?

It depends on the groups. There are certain individuals who get used to climbing on you. I should say they aren’t climbing on you for any sign of affection; it’s merely that you’re a convenient place to go on guard. The individuals that climb on you are usually the ones who do the most guarding.

What’s it feel like? Well, you get used to it. If you’re sitting down doing something, you suddenly feel a scratching on your shirt, and then the animal gradually climbs up onto your shoulder and then onto your head. When they’re on your head, they have quite long claws and they dig them in, so it doesn’t pay to move suddenly!

Be sure to come back to the blog next week for Part II of our interview!

Sweet Caroline

Behind every great idea is a great person, and when it comes to Meerkat Manor, the credit lies with series creator Caroline Hawkins. Check out our chat with this award-winning producer, and find out more about how the show first came to light in the U.K., how it differs from the U.S. version and what she considers her most memorable moments from the Kalahari.

How did you first get involved in the industry as a producer?

It was a classic case of start at the bottom and work your way up. I went to art school and then film school. Sir David Puttnam (Chariots of Fire, The Killing Fields) showcased my graduation film on TV, which helped a little, but I still had to start as a trainee. I took whatever opportunities came along and learned from everyone around me.

Did you always fancy yourself working more on the documentary series side, or were you pull toward other areas as well?

I started off with a burning desire to work in drama. My mother was a senior costume designer at the BBC, and so my childhood experiences were on the set of Doctor Who, All Creatures Great and Small, and Vanity Fair. It’s strange that I ended up in docs, but I actually think there’s probably more creative freedom here than there is in drama. I can make films about subjects that interest and entertain me. I couldn’t ask for more than that.

Where did the idea for the series come from?

I’m often asked this question. My recollection is that in 2004 I was asked to come up with an idea for a long-running series for Animal Planet International. I’d always thought that meerkats were incredibly charismatic since seeing a film by Simon King several years earlier. I also had the feeling that the general public was fond of them too.  Coincidentally, my bosses at Oxford Scientific Films had just seen some meerkats in a TV ad and suggested I look into it further. So that’s really how it all started.

What led you to decide to take a "docu-soap" approach?

I’d just made a film for the BBC’s Natural World in which we followed a wild troop of yellow baboons in Tanzania. Each of the baboons had been given a name by the researchers who were studying them, and we came to know each as an individual character. It was just a natural transition for me then to transfer the strengths of that storytelling approach to Meerkat Manor. It also occurred to me that it would be fun to have several plots running simultaneously in each show – just like a soap.  Then we designed titles to be a bit like Dallas … and the title music to be a bit like Desperate Housewives … and the rest is history.

How do you choose the camera people to work in the Kalahari?  It must be a difficult assignment to be in the dirt face to face with the meerkats all day.  What type of person wants a job like that?

Our cameramen are very special people. I can’t praise them highly enough. Not only are they incredibly dedicated and disciplined (getting up before dawn and spending every day in the heat and dirt), but they also have to have a great eye for an unfolding story and be able to follow it through to its conclusion. They have to cover several different characters and stories simultaneously and then at the end of each day, when they’re hot and exhausted, write it all down in meticulous detail. They’re all incredibly nice guys. They love the meerkats and they are proud of the show.  Most of them have skills gained in other areas of TV as well as natural history.

What are some of the most memorable moments you have from your experiences in the Kalahari with the meerkats?

Every trip out there brings memorable moments. It’s always exciting to sit at the burrow at sunrise and wait for the Whiskers to emerge. Quite often they climb onto my shoulder or snuggle under my arm. Sometimes, if I’m really privileged, they even scent-mark me (not a pleasant aroma)! At the end of the day, we like to sit quietly on the big dune with a couple of beers to watch the sun set over the Kalahari and listen to the barking geckos. It’s magical.

My saddest experience was being out there when Flower died. I’d flown out that day with Mark Wild, the Animal Planet executive producer (in the U.K.) who commissioned the series and with whom I’ve worked closely from the start. He’d never been out to visit the meerkats before and was very much looking forward to meeting the Whiskers. We could hardly believe what we were hearing as Rob (manager of the research team at the Kalahari Meerkat Project) relayed the news to us over a two-way radio. It was like being in a very bad dream.

Explain how you work with the composer to find the right music for a scene. 

Once editing is complete, each episode is sent to Brolly (the composer). The edit producers discuss with him the mood they are trying to create and he offers up ideas. It’s a very collaborative process, but generally Brolly gets it right the first time. Brolly is an integral part of our very small team. He understands the nuances of each character and has opinions about how their characters can be enhanced musically. Think of Carlos, for example. The Kalahari Casanova was often accompanied by a smooth jazz track, which always raised a smile and really defined who he was.

The movie Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins mentioned that Shakespeare's story would be told later. Is there going to be a movie about Shakespeare, or was this just talking about Meerkat Manor?

There are no plans to make a movie about Shakespeare, but you may not have heard the last of him yet (and no, he won’t be making a return to the series!). I can say no more than that at this stage.

Which meerkat do you think you are most like and why?

I think I’ll carefully side-step that one and just say that as head of the team I’m technically the dominant female!

What is the biggest challenge in producing the series?

Well first off, hand on heart – I have to say producing Meerkat Manor is more of a pleasure than a challenge. Keeping the standard high is always a big concern, though. There are other shows out there now trying to emulate what we have done. I like to think that we’re always one step ahead by coming up with clever approaches and surprises that no one else has thought of. 

The other challenge is putting together a great team every year. Making Meerkat Manor is incredibly demanding for the camera teams, edit producers and editors. Therefore I am always looking for new talent to carry the show forward. BUT it’s not just about ability, it’s about personality, about being part of a very special family, because that’s what it’s like here: we’re a close-knit bunch of friends.

How does the American version of Meerkat Manor different from the U.K. version? And do you think there any differences between fans of each version?

There are quite a few differences between the U.S. and the U.K. versions of Meerkat Manor. Most notably, ours has always been narrated by the brilliant Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean, Love Actually, Valkyrie). He gives a total performance as opposed to just a read.  Watching the pictures and listening to the music as he speaks means that his words really capture the emotion – sad or amusing. The original (British) version of the show is also longer. We’re fortunate in that there is only one commercial break, so each episode runs 23 minutes. We tend to stick with the meerkats’ genuine names wherever possible. We only change them if they are hard to pronounce or subversive. 

I can’t think of any differences between the fans of each version, except that the American ones are more vociferous!

Without giving anything away, what is the most exciting thing we will see this season in the Manor?

Hmm, there are so many great twists and turns this season, it’s hard to pinpoint just one, but I suppose it has to be the surprise that comes in episode 13. None of us could believe what unfolded in front of our eyes. Make sure you don’t miss that last episode!

Meerkat Fan-demonium!

The Cruises, Brangelinas and Lohans of the world may stir up paparazzi frenzy, but when it comes to fans, Meerkat Manor viewers are easily some of the most dedicated and passionate around. In fact, Meerkat mania has become so prominent that even late-night ABC News program Nightline is taking notice with a forthcoming special about the phenomenon. Self-proclaimed uber-fan Mary Xanthos, known among the Meerkat Manor online community as “Queenflower,” was interviewed for the segment, so we decided to interview her about her experience and her love for meerkats!

When did you first become a fan of Meerkat Manor, and meerkats in general?

I am a major animal lover and prior to becoming a veterinarian, I was an evolutionary biologist. I am very interested in how animal behavior evolves to benefit an individual’s survival. As you might guess, I love watching animal behavior documentaries. Prior to Meerkat Manor, I had been introduced to meerkat behavior briefly through my studies in graduate school and after I saw a couple of documentaries on meerkats (one from the National Geographic and the other from Wild Kingdom). I was fascinated by how meerkats developed a highly cooperative social structure in order to survive in such an inhospitable environment. But I wanted to learn more.

I remember seeing the advertisements in 2006 for the new upcoming series Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet. I knew I was going to tune in to the first episode. The minute I heard Sean Astin utter the words “Meet Flower” I was hooked. We are now approaching Season 4 and I haven’t missed a single episode. In fact, like many of us meerkat lovers, I’ve seen every episode more times than I’d like to admit.

Mary "Queenflower" Xanthos Shows Her Meerkat Spirit

What do you think are the most endearing qualities about meerkats?

Gosh, there are so many. For one, they are amongst the most adorable animals on the planet. They are 12 inches tall, two pounds in weight, and have the most adorable ears and soft brown eyes surrounded by black fur – much like sunglasses. And the pups ... a little ball of fluff approximately the size of an index finger. How cute is that?!

I love how a meerkat mob has close social bonds. I love how they groom each other and huddle all together in a giant ball of fur in the sleeping burrow to keep each other warm and protected. I find the extended family in the social unit very endearing. I love that there are babysitters who help care for the pups and that other females allolactate to help nourish the pups. As a woman, I find the idea of a matriarchal society quite endearing, but you might have guessed that!

Why do you think there’s such a fascination with meerkat culture?

I think there is a fascination with meerkat culture because nothing like this has ever happened before. I mean, there have been animal documentaries made before but Meerkat Manor is huge. And those of us who love meerkats, I  mean we really love meerkats! I don’t know anyone who is a meerkat fan that is  not an uber meerkat fan. People want to know why we are so crazy about meerkats. I think the success of the show basically lies with the animals themselves. Their cooperative society really lends itself to this soap-opera-esque story line we see on Meerkat Manor. I knew I was going to learn a lot about meerkats when I first started to watch the show but what I didn’t count on was how completely attached I was going to become to each and every one of them. Each meerkat became an individual animal, with a personality and a soul. That’s the thing with meerkat culture. These aren’t just a bunch of animals to us. These are individuals that we care about, empathize with, root for, laugh about, cry about … The list goes on.   To many of us these animals become like family members. We worry when they are in danger, we cheer when things go well for them, and we grieve when one does not survive. This is meerkat culture.

One of the most well-known meerkats, Flower, touched the lives of many. What did you most admire about her?

Well, that’s a loaded question. Flower was my favorite meerkat. She is very dear to my heart and I still grieve her loss. It is so hard to put into words all that she meant to me and so hard to explain how a tiny animal on the other side of the planet that I never met in person could have such an impact on me. I will probably change my answer to this on a daily basis but what I most admire about her is all that she overcame in her life. She started out as the runt of her litter and went through every trial a meerkat could potentially go through only to become the dominant female of the largest mob in the Kalahari for five years. She had to make daily decisions about where to lead her mob, who to evict, which mob to challenge or back down from, which pups to allow to live, when to change burrows … The list goes on and on, yet most of us have trouble balancing our checkbooks. I don’t think there will ever be another meerkat like her. She was born to be the queen of the Kalahari. May she reign forever in our hearts.

Name your top three favorite Meerkat moments from past seasons.

I have to confess, this is an impossible question to answer.   There is no way I can pick three favorite moments from the past three seasons, as there are so many and I’m sure they change on a given day.  However, I will list three major Meerkat moments and I’m sure everyone on the forum can list at least 100 others that are equally great.

No. 1 is when Shakespeare survived the puff adder bite he received to his leg. (Where is Shakespeare?! We love you buddy!)

No. 2 is when Flower rejoined the Whiskers after being separated from them and deposed Tosca to the music from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.  It was then we knew Flower meant business. I will always love Tosca but there can only be one queen of the Whiskers.

No. 3 is when Zaphod and Mitch rescued Flower and the splinter group as the Commandos were flooding the bolt hole they were trapped in.

Do you host Meerkat Manor viewing parties? Any tips for how to put together one for current or new fans who might be interested?

Unfortunately, I do not host Meerkat Manor viewing parties, as I do not have any meerkat fans that live close to me. However, as a tip to putting together a viewing party, I would check the Animal Planet Meerkat Manor forum. There you can network with other like-minded Meerkat Manor fans in your area and get together for your very own night of meerkat fun. It has been through the Animal Planet Meerkat Manor forum that I have made some close friends and met many incredibly lovely people.

Which meerkat do you think you are most like, and why?

I think I am most like Mozart. I’m not the dominant type. I’m much too sensitive, shy and caring. 

Tell us about your involvement with the East Coast Meerkat Society (ECMS) and the types of projects they do.

Back in November 2006, a bunch of us were on the Animal Planet Meerkat Manor forum chatting about how we should get together as little groups to go visit meerkats in zoos, since most of us were not in the position to jump on a plane and go visit them in the Kalahari. Cheryl Gaines gave us the official name and the first meeting was at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. My task at that time was to scope out the zoos in New York City that had meerkats because that is where the next meeting was going to be. 

I remember finding out that the Staten Island Zoo had meerkats.   So I took the ferry from Manhattan in the freezing November cold and made the journey to Staten Island. I didn’t care about the cold as I was so excited to get there and see some meerkats in person. When I got to the Staten Island Zoo, I froze in my tracks. I found three little shivering meerkats in a dark cement enclosure huddled up in a ball under a spotlight with no sand to dig in and no toys to play with. They looked miserable. I went home crying. I could not sleep that night. We had to do something.

Well, in true meerkat fashion, alarm calls were given out and the goal of the East Coast Meerkat Society suddenly became to make the lives of meerkats in captivity better. The Staten Island Zoo was incredibly cooperative and allowed us to raise the money and design the enclosure for the meerkats, who we dubbed “The Three Amigos” after the Meerkat Manor episode. We even took a vote on the forum and gave each of them names: They are Sebastian, Rupert and Jellybean. Between individual donations from meerkat fans on the forum, an eBay auction and from the sales of the ECMS first meerkat desktop calendar, we raised the money in six months for the enclosure.

On Sept. 29, 2007 – which was the day after we had to watch Flower die on Meerkat Manor – we had a nationwide meerkat meet-up at zoos throughout the country. At the Staten Island Zoo, we dedicated the new meerkat enclosure to our beloved Flower, and I tell you, she was certainly there with us in spirit that day. It was so thrilling to see the Three Amigos digging in the sand and burrowing and hiding in tunnels and doing all the wonderful things that meerkats do.  Flower would be proud. Talking about meerkat culture, here is a perfect example of how a small group of regular people who were exposed to meerkats through Meerkat Manor banded together to make a real difference in the lives of three meerkats who really needed our help.

While the East Coast Meerkat Society basically started out with a few major planners – Cheryl and Gene Gaines and myself – we have grown into a large but informal group of meerkat lovers all over the world. We have over 400 members now. Our Web site can be found at www.meerkatsrule.org. There are no dues and the only requirement is a love for meerkats and a desire to help them. Our main goal is to help enrich the lives of meerkats in captivity by helping zoos in any way we can. We are currently in the process of getting involved with the Los Angeles Zoo to help a lone meerkat there whose name is Chico. More information on that and future projects can always be found at our web site.

What do you do when you’re not watching Meerkat Manor?

You mean there’s life apart from Meerkat Manor? Seriously, I am a full-time veterinarian and that keeps me very busy. I also enjoy reading (mostly nonfiction), bird watching and feeding squirrels in Central Park, walking my dog Rudy, and aimlessly wandering in the woods.

What are you looking forward to in the upcoming new season?

I am excited about Season 4, although it will be very difficult to move on without Flower and the other beloved members of the Whiskers that are no longer with us. But I am looking forward to getting to know a new group of meerkats, many of which are Flower’s progeny, and seeing what happens in their daily lives and how they struggle to make it in the vast and unforgiving land of the Kalahari. I will be rooting for all of them.

Meerkat fans, take note - the DVD of Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins includes the full, unedited version of the film with over 10 minutes of extra footage and other special features such as The Making of Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins and The Science of Meerkat Manor, plus a SNEAK PEEK at the new season! Get your copy today!

Get Ready for More Desert Drama!

This isn’t exactly breaking news to those who know me, but truth be told, I’m all about the drama. I caught the bug early on – maybe around age 4 or 5? – and I’m officially going to give credit to my mother, who favored (and let me watch) ABC soaps. I can pretty much cite any story line that has aired since 1978, and this includes those from the now defunct Ryan’s Hope and Loving, nearly every marriage Erica Kane endured on All My Children, Cord and Tina on One Life to Live, the original Luke and Laura union on General Hospital, and plenty more.

I’m also a self-proclaimed reality-show junkie, and if you take those two fun facts and mix them together, you get my version of “You put peanut butter in my chocolate / you put chocolate in my peanut butter” – yes, Meerkat Manor is truly my little Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup come to life! How could I not be a fan from the get-go? It’s got everything one could dream of: power struggles, backstabbing, scandalous affairs and more – all against a delicious, real-life backdrop.

Here’s the best part: it’s all with meerkats, which just have to be some of the coolest animals on the planet. I can’t decide who I relate to the most – the control freak in me is oh so very Flower, but then again, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any of the mischievous Mozart in my blood. Regardless, I’ll tell you what – when they stand on their hind legs poking their heads up, all like, “What’s that? What? What’s happening? What’s going on over there? You wanna start something? You got something to say?” – I mean, forget about it. I’m done. Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours, meerkats. I’m yours.

If you’re like me, you’ve been jonesing for a fresh Meerkat fix since last season wrapped, and as luck would have it, we are about to get it tenfold. With the premiere of the first-ever Meerkat Manor movie on Animal Planet this weekend, along with a new season just around the corner, the forecast is clear: Mostly meerkat skies with a 100 percent chance of juicy drama. No time like the present to get the early dish from executive producer Mick Kaczorowski – enjoy!

Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins takes us back to the early days of Flower, who quickly became one of the most recognizable and loved meerkats from the series. Why do you think so many fans were drawn to Flower?

Flower won the hearts of the audience, because she demonstrated something we all look for in a great leader or mother.  She was a great provider and protector. She was strong and decisive. She was a great teacher and she showed great affection for the members of her family.  She also showed tough love when she needed to, as any mother or leader needs to sometimes.  I think it was all these characteristic that made Flower an incredible pop icon.  In the movie, you will see the journey she (took) to get to be the dominant female of the Whiskers and how she learned all these qualities growing up.

Would you say this is a dramatic film, a comedy, a thriller – or perhaps all of the above? What makes it so?

I would say the movie is a combination of all three.  Flower's life story is an incredible journey, and I think you will have an opportunity to experience all the drama, tension and laughter of her life in this one film.

What are the some of the differences between presenting the meerkat story in a film format versus a weekly television series, both visually and from a narrative perspective?

Everything about the movie is bigger.  We had the opportunity to make Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins with all the tools that you get to use making a feature film.  We used helicopters, jibs and a full orchestra for the score, and it’s edited and written in a different way then the television series.  This is something you can see when you watch The Making of Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins following the film. Because the film covers the birth of Flower to her rise to leader of the Whiskers, we weren't filming the actual Whiskers like we do in the television series.  The entire movie uses "meerkats actors" playing the part of Flower and her family, except none of the meerkats are trained.  We had to find meerkats that were the same ages as the (animals) in the story and follow them until we captured a scene that depicted an event that took place in Flower's life. I'm not sure (of the number) exactly, but about eight different meerkats play Flower through the film.

Can you tell us a little bit about the specials premiering after the movie?

The Science of Meerkat Manor and The Making of Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins celebrate the hard work that goes on behind the scenes of making a movie.  We reveal some of the scientific work that goes on every day on the reserve, and you get to meet the scientist and volunteers that work with the meerkats on a daily basis. You also get to meet the filmmakers and the team who work to bring the story of Flower to the screen. Each film is told in the first person by the people working on location in the Kalahari during the making of the movie.

Speaking of the series, Meerkat Manor: The Next Generation is just around the corner, with the premiere on Friday, June 6, at 9 p.m. – can you give us any sneak peeks into the drama that takes place in the Kalahari this season?

I think it’s exciting because you will be meeting so many new characters and seeing stories and events that we have never shown before.  It's almost like starting all over from the beginning; with the next generation being so young and inexperienced, we see a lot of new behavior and events that only happen when meerkats are struggling in the Kalahari as youthful leaders.

The new season also brings about a new narrator – stage and screen legend Stockard Channing. What was it like working with Stockard?

Stockard Channing is a great actress, and she has been great to work with. I think as a woman telling the next generation's story, she brings something different to Manor.  She's funny and a bit sassy, and I think you will see and hear things this year in a very different way. I would say that there is a lot more humor this season, and Stockard definitely knows how to deliver a funny line.  I find myself laughing out-loud when we work together, after she delivers her lines.

What are some of the most memorable moments you have from your experiences in the Kalahari seeing the meerkats up close and firsthand?

Seeing the meerkats in person, you can't believe how incredibly small they are. Because of the way we film them (on the ground from their angle), they fill the screen.  The TV series makes them into giants, and in their world they are. You have to walk very carefully so that you don't step on them.  You then realize that they are a very easy meal for many predators in the Kalahari and how hard a life they live to stay alive every day.

Tell us a little bit about how the meerkats are named.

The meerkats are first named by the scientist and researchers in the Kalahari.  They observe hundreds of meerkats, so they go through a lot of names. They name the animals so that they can easily remember them during observation. Sometimes we change the names for the television series so they are easier to remember. It would be very hard to remember a family of meerkats with the same first letter name, or if they were all named after spices or characters from a Shakespearean play.  We need to have recognizable names for television.  Although the meerkats are always the same, we sometimes even change names from the U.K. version of Meerkat Manor (which is narrated by actor Bill Nighy), because I want the meerkats in our version of the series to have a relationship with an American audience. 

You will meet many meerkats this year with popular names from the world of sports, music, TV and movies. We’ve done this in the past, such as with Flower's last daughter, Liz, who was named after Elizabeth Taylor, as she is a big fan of Meerkat Manor and a supporter of Fellow Earthlings, a meerkat sanctuary (just) outside Palm Springs, Calif., where you can sponsor a meerkat. Also, we named a meerkat after Denis Leary, because he mentioned Meerkat Manor and Shakespeare in his show Rescue Me.

Which meerkat do you think you are most like and why?

Besides Flower and Mozart, I will always be fond of courageous Shakespeare.  This season I have a lot of new favorite meerkats, but I won't say anymore until you get a chance to see the series and watch the stories unfold!

Are you excited for the movie? What do you hope to see this season? Leave a comment and share your thoughts - and don't miss the premiere of Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins Sunday May 25 at 8pm E/P!