Meerkat Manor was a Discovery Channel Animal Planet series shown successfully worldwide. It is a series in the style of a soap opera about a clan of meerkats named "The Whiskers" that is the subject of a ten-year study by Cambridge University. The show is narrated by Bill Nighy in the UK, Mike Goldman in Australia, and Sean Astin in the USA.
Flower is the leader and dominant female of the Whiskers group, and reserves the right to mate for herself. The drama can be intense, as life and death are starkly portrayed in each episode. Meerkats within the clan are incredibly dedicated to each other's safety, to the point of risking their lives for the others' survival. Family dedication even extends to the other females lactating so that Flower's pups will be fed by multiple sources. The show reveals that Meerkats don't do well on their own because their very survival depends on lookouts being constantly vigilant while the others dig deep into the ground for their meals of worms, lizards, and the occasional fat millipede.
Desert storms wreak havoc, and birds of prey are a constant threat to the pups and occasionally to the adult meerkats themselves. However, in case some violent confrontation does occur, the film crew avoids showing close-ups of the gruesome details. This makes it probably OK for family viewing, although in the case of young children you should probably make that call on a child-by-child basis. "Meerkat Manor" does have a lot of value in teaching you much about the daily life and habits of these interesting creatures to the point that you'll probably find yourself caring a little too much about what happens to each of them individually as well as a group. I highly recommend it.
