Kalahari Meerkats (Documentary)

Kalahari Meerkats (also called Kalahari Meerkats 3D for the 3D release) is a wildlife documentary series by WildEarth, which first aired in late 2012. The documentary follows a group of meerkats called the Gosa as they try to survive in their hostile home. Initially the series was recorded and viewed live via the WildEarth website prior to be compiled into a documentary series. Kalahari Meerkats consists of six episodes, each running for approximately 30 minutes. Filming began in February 2012 and took place in the Tswalu Reserve in the Kalahari Desert.

Summary[]

Episode 1 []

We meet the Gosa, led by pregnant Cleopatra and Gandalf. Cleo gives birth to her pups, but they are abandoned afterwards, suggesting that they were still-born. This causes discomfort in the Gosa and makes the gang split up. One half is led by Cleo, while the other half is led by her pregnant younger sister Delilah. An evicted Gosa meerkat, Solo, joins Delilah's mob. The Gosa's most valued burrow is stolen by a rival group called Jaco's Dune. The two separated Gosa halves unite to confront the enemy.

Episode 2 []

In spite being at full strength again, the Gosa do not win back their stolen burrow. Delilah gives birth to her first litter of pups. However, Cleo makes the gang moves burrows. Delilah and a male called Brutus babysit the new pups, but are eventually forced to abandon them. Out of distress, Delilah makes the Gosa split up again. Her three allies, all males, follow her. Brutus attempts to mate with Delilah but is rejected. Meanwhile, the other half encounter a cape cobra and Cleo is bitten.

Episode 3[]

Delilah and her mob rejoin the Gosa, but she makes no attempt to overthrow the weakened leader. Cleo recovers from her snake bite. Brutus tries to mate with Solo, but Gandalf doesn't allow it, so Brutus goes roving and mates with a lone female. After spending a night with her, Brutus leaves and roves at a rival group called Rockstars, but is chased off. He rejoins the Gosa. Two young males, Starsky and Hutch, get separated from the main group. Gandalf goes searching for them but gets lost. He encounters a splintered half of the Jaco's Dune and meets a young juvenile who was left behind. Instead of attacking the young meerkat, Gandalf was submissive to it. Starsky and Hutch rejoined the Gosa, but Gandalf did not make it back.

Episode 4 []

With Gandalf gone, Brutus tries to win over Cleo’s affections. Gandalf is found alone at one of the Gosa group’s other burrows, he manages to find an unrelated evicted female for company. The Gosa gang encounters and mobs a mole snake. They later come across a giraffe carcass. Cleo moves the group to a new burrow near the rival Rockstars group. At their new home Napoleon gets his tail caught on a thorn bush but manages to unhook himself. Brutus evicts Dingaan, but is punished by Cleo for his insubordination. Dingaan returns to the group. Gandalf finds the Gosa again, but another unrelated male, Malaki, appears at the same time. Cleo chooses the new male over Gandalf, leaving the ex-dominant male alone once more.

Episode 5 []

As the new dominant male of the Gosa gang, Malaki evicts Brutus for insubordination. A bird of prey scares the group and separates an unsuspecting Hutch from them, however he is safely guided back home by Malaki. Cleo falls pregnant to her new mate but notices her sister, Delilah, is making attempts to win over Malaki's affections. Gandalf joins the neighouring Rockstars gang and works his way up the hierarchy, all while the group raids the foraging grounds of the Gosa gang. Matimba becomes ill, presumably due to being stung repeatedly in the face by a scorpion, but manages to recover. All the meerkat groups become untrackable after a fire sweeps through the Kalahari, leaving everyone's fates unknown.

Episode 6[]

The Gosa gang are found alive and well after the fire, however Cleo is not among them. Pregnant Delilah takes dominance in her absence. A roving male from the Rockstars visits a Gosa burrow but is chased off by the resident male. At the Rockstars, Gandalf overthrows the alpha and becomes the dominant male. Cleo reappears after a miscarriage and rejoins the group, but only after being attacked by Delilah, leaving the position of dominant female in question. Delilah gives birth the next day. The Gosa and Rockstars cross paths, but Malaki leads his group into retreat before a fight breaks out. Rains finally arrive, bringing the drought to an end, and Cleo reclaims power. The ex-Rockstars dominant male leaves his group to pursue life as a rover. Delilah’s four pups emerge, bringing new hope for the future of the Gosa family.

DVD Release[]

All six episodes have been released on blu-ray and DVD in German. Die Erdmännchen Gang includes the first three episodes and Neues von den Erdmännchen features episodes four to six. Both contain German and English audio. A complete collection German DVD with all six episodes was released in 2014 under the title Die große Erdmännchen-Komplett-Edition, it also includes Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins. An english DVD for Kalahari Meerkats has not been produced.

Gallery[]

Links[]

Gosa Mob

Cleopatra Gosa