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65-586: Meerkat Manor is a British television documentary produced by Oxford Scientific Films that premiered in September 2005. Originally broadcast on Animal Planet International for four seasons, until its cancellation in August 2008, the programme had a revival in 2021 with the programme now known as Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty in some countries. Using traditional animal documentary style footage along with narration,

130-644: A 13-episode series took seven to eight months, and was limited to the Kalahari spring and summer seasons, as meerkats are less active during winter. Series three was filmed from November 2006 through April 2007, and Series four began filming in October 2007. Most scenes were filmed on location at the Kuruman River Reserve, where the Kalahari Meerkat Project that the meerkats are a part of is based. However,

195-648: A Silver Statue for Writing at the 2006 Omni Awards. The eighth episode of series three, "Journey's End", which depicts the death of Whiskers matriarch Flower, was awarded the 2008 Wildscreen Festival Panda Award in the Five Award for Popular Broadcast Programme category. Meerkat Manor was a two-time Gold Medal winner in the Nature & Wildlife category at the New York Festivals Award Gala, in 2006 for series one, and again in 2007 for series one and two. The series

260-414: A South African technician responsible for project logistics, 6–8 post-graduate interns from Europe or South Africa , and a number of doctorate and independent researchers carrying out their own research in the area. There are rarely fewer than 10 people working in the project area at any given time. The principal investigators of the project are Prof. Tim Clutton-Brock , Professor of Animal Ecology at

325-602: A closer, more personal view of the meerkats. The animals are humanized by being given individual names and personalities and by narrativizing the plots of their specific social relationships, blurring the line between nature documentary and reality television . Viewers describe being emotionally involved in the animals' lives, sometimes forgetting they are watching a nature documentary. The meerkats' frequently short lives and brutal deaths become surprising and disturbing to some audiences. This format, considered experimental for its time, has been both praised and criticized for expanding

390-590: A core division of Southern Star Entertainment. On 4 December 2003, Oxford Scientific's extensive libraries of over 350,000 still images and over 2,000 of film footage libraries were acquired by Photolibrary. The acquisition was done as a share exchange, with Photolibrary acquiring shares in Oxford Scientific Films Limited, and Southern Star paying A$ 1 million to purchase a 46.46% equity in Photolibrary. Photolibrary retained existing employees of

455-514: A feature film for Discovery Films that acts as a prequel to the Meerkat Manor series. Originally announced as Flower: Queen of the Kalahari , Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins was directed by Chris Barker and Mike Slee and narrated by Whoopi Goldberg . The film documents Flower's early life as she grows from a young meerkat to become one of the most successful leaders of the Whiskers clan. The film

520-448: A lack of new pups. The constantly struggling Starsky succumbed in the penultimate episode, with the death of the last survivor, Mozart, who was killed by a jackal . Former Whiskers female Maybelline broke away from the group at the end of the third series, forming a new group called the Aztecs which became the Whiskers' rivals in the fourth series. While the show portrays real events among

585-475: A meerkat was injured and faced death, Meerkat Manor enjoyed considerable success and was Animal Planet's top series in October 2007, both on the cable channel and through its video-on-demand service. The show's experimental format broke new ground in animal documentary filming techniques and gave viewers a long-term, intimate look into the lives of its meerkat stars, breaking the traditional wall between viewer and subject found with most documentaries. Meerkat Manor

650-459: A new musical score. The Whiskers story was simplified, with the Lazuli being the only rival group to appear in the film. Unlike with the Meerkat Manor series, the film does not actually depict any of the real Whiskers meerkats. Untrained "meerkat actors" play the role of Flower and her family, with the camera crew searching out appropriately-aged meerkats, then following them until the meerkats acted in

715-414: A seven-metre crane and a remote-controlled camera platform. An off-camera wireless microphone was also used to record many meerkat vocalizations, only partially audible to cameras' on-board systems. Most filming was done by a single cameraman and a single sound engineer; researchers have required a minimal human presence to avoid stressing the animals. Eye-level shots were difficult to achieve at times, due to

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780-449: A sound track. Manor is both brutal and melodramatic and thus more devastating than most documentary or scripted drama. A book written by Professor Tim Clutton-Brock entitled Meerkat Manor: The Story of Flower of the Kalahari ( ISBN   0-297-84484-9 ) was released in the UK in a hardback edition on 4 October 2007. The book focuses on Flower's life and the story of the Whiskers, tracing how

845-503: A source of roving males. Another group called the Commandos, led by a one-eyed male named Hannibal, introduced themselves by attacking the Lazuli burrow, killing a pup and badly wounding the babysitting adult. The Commandoes became the new major rivals in the area, killing the pups of evicted Whiskers female Mozart and taking over some of the Whiskers' territory. The Whiskers' new neighbours were

910-451: A variety of names, frequently drawn from volunteers' favourite books, movies, musical groups, family and friends, historical figures and geographical locations. Animal Planet sometimes renamed the meerkats for narration, arguing that researchers' names were too limited, often relating to spices and food condiments. Because of these changes, fans of the series who seek information on the Friends of

975-540: A way that was needed for the film. Flower herself was depicted by approximately eight female meerkats. Oxford Scientific Films Oxford Scientific Films ( OSF ) is a British company that produces natural history and documentary programmes. Founded as an independent company on 8 July 1968, by documentary filmmaker Gerald Thompson , it broke new ground in the world of documentaries, using new filming techniques and capturing footage of never before filmed activities of its various subjects. In 1996, Oxford Scientific Films

1040-636: Is a legally independent, but functionally integrated, sponsoring organization of the project that was founded in Switzerland on 23 November 2007. Through this website, the Kalahari Meerkat Project releases information about the meerkats, including life history updates for all of the individual meerkats and the meerkat groups being studied, updates on the current groups, historical information on lost groups, and basic information about meerkats. The project uploads its own photographs and video footage of

1105-828: The BBC 's long-running series The Natural World and WNET Nature, won seven industry awards. Heroes of the High Frontier , produced as a National Geographic Special, won four awards and was a finalist for the Best of the Show Grand Award Trophy at the New York Festivals. In 2005, the company launched Meerkat Manor , a docu-drama commissioned for Animal Planet . The series has since become Animal Planet's highest rated series, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards , two Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Awards and

1170-516: The Kalahari Desert on either side of the mostly dry Kuruman River . The reserve consists primarily of sparsely vegetated fossil dunes that flatten out near the river, which is usually dry. The project is now part of the university's "Large Animal Research Group" headed by Tim Clutton-Brock , FRS , who has headed the Meerkat project since 1993. The project usually has 10–15 volunteers who form

1235-742: The Kuruman River Reserve in Northern Cape , South Africa , close to the border to Botswana , the project is jointly funded by Cambridge University and the Kalahari Research Trust . The project was founded in the early nineties by researchers (Prof. Tim Clutton-Brock) at Cambridge University . It was originally based on the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park , but in 1993 moved to the Kuruman River Reserve, an area spanning approximately twenty square miles of semi-arid area of

1300-578: The University of Cambridge , and Prof. Marta Manser, Professor of Animal Behavior at the University of Zurich . The KMP study encompasses 16 groups of meerkats, with six living exclusively on the reserve and the rest having ranges that extend into the surrounding farmland. Most members of the groups are familiar enough with the human researchers that they are undisturbed by their presence and are relatively easy to touch and collect samples from. Extremely accurate life history records are kept for each meerkat in

1365-426: The 6.30pm slot usually featuring quiz show Eggheads , with the last episode going out on Wednesday 15 December 2021. The Rise of the Dynasty series was made by Oxford Scientific Films (with the master rights belonging to BBC America ) and featured three mobs of meerkats, with the groups being given the names Whiskers, Hakuna Matata and Ubuntu. Although the show faced criticism from viewers for not intervening when

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1430-580: The American broadcasts. The fourth series, subtitled The Next Generation , saw Stockard Channing replacing Astin as the narrator in the American dubbing. In 2021, Nighy could be heard narrating the new series of Meerkat Manor when it was broadcast in the United States on BBC America and on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, making it the first time that both television markets have used the same voice over on

1495-514: The Commandos group on the show uses some of events from the real Commandos group, but was primarily shown with footage from the Vivian research group – including its dominant couple. Similarly, the show's Zappa group was mostly presented using footage from a group called "The Young Ones" (named after the British television show ); however, the actual story and dominant pair were from the real Zappa Group. Axel,

1560-486: The Kalahari Meerkat Project website sometimes have trouble locating particular animals. The project has created a list of alterations to help viewers connect the animals on the show to their real-life counterparts, and to match episodes to the monthly KMP Life History reports. The list, however, is only available to paying members of their website. Two of the major Whiskers family rivals were composites, created with footage and blended stories from multiple groups. For example,

1625-471: The Kalahari Meerkats, it also removes repetitive elements of the animals' lives. Because many days are filled with behaviour related to grooming and foraging, these routines were often left out of the show in favour of more unusual events. The meerkats are all named by Kalahari Meerkat volunteers; the individual who first sees a new litter emerge from the burrow is awarded naming rights. This has produced

1690-497: The Kalahari Project scientists a chance to uncover aspects of meerkat life never before seen, including life within the burrows. The film crew was also the first to capture meerkat infanticide on film. While many documentaries maintain an emotional distance from their subjects, Meerkat Manor , due to its extended length, soap opera -like narration, romanticization of the animals' lives, and close-up filming techniques, provides

1755-554: The Oxford Scientific Films division, using the OSF name for specialist documentaries, and "Southern Star Factual" for its features and entertainment style documentaries. When Southern Star was sold to Endemol, Oxford Scientific Films was retained by parent company Fairfax Media . In 2011, Boom Pictures Productions obtained a controlling 70% share of the company. In 1967, Gerald Thompson, a film maker and Oxford University lecturer,

1820-412: The United States from 6 June 2008 to 22 August 2008. In August 2009, it was reported that the programme had been cancelled by Animal Planet. In 2021, Meerkat Manor returned to British TV screens with a new series subtitled onscreen as Rise of the Dynasty (as Channel 5 listed the programme just as Meerkat Manor ). The 13-part series was again narrated by Nighy, and was shown by Channel 5 every weekday in

1885-588: The Whiskers before the series' filming began. A television film, Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins , documenting Flower's birth and rise to matriarch of the Whiskers, aired on Animal Planet on 25 May 2008. A theatrical photo realistic-animated feature film based on the series is in development at Warner Bros. Pictures Animation as of April 2024. Meerkat Manor was created by Caroline Hawkins, executive producer and series editor at Oxford Scientific Films, and commissioned for Animal Planet International by executive producer and commissioning editor Mark Wild. Filming for

1950-500: The Zappa and the Starsky. Although smaller than the Whiskers, the Zappa attacked frequently, and when they fled after one attack, the Whiskers – in a rare occurrence – adopted an abandoned Zappa pup. The Starsky group, on the other hand, was no threat to the Whiskers. Formed by a trio of Flower's daughters permanently evicted from the Whiskers, the small group was ravaged by illness, predators, and

2015-426: The abandoned pup from series three, has a research number that indicates he was probably a Young Ones pup, rather than being a Zappa as the show claims. Meerkat Manor has been well received by viewers and critics alike. In October 2007, it was Animal Planet's top series, with an audience of more than four million in the United States alone. In the United States, its first episode was viewed by one million viewers, and

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2080-412: The benefit of the groups in which they live. These groups are typically led by a dominant female and male, who maintain almost exclusive rights to have offspring. The group followed most closely is known as the Whiskers family. This group was chosen because of its matriarch Flower, an unusually successful dominant female who led the group for five years. During series three, Flower died from a snake bite and

2145-431: The boundaries of both the nature documentary genre and the conventions of reality TV. Like the meerkats, Manor is an odd beast. The crew is forbidden to intervene, and the producers don't sugarcoat the animals' less cuddly habits (infidelity, abandonment of young, occasional cannibalism). But the meerkats are named and given human traits ("courageous," "caring," "bully[ing]"), and their antics and tragedies take place over

2210-582: The existing Oxford Scientific Films name being used for its "specialist factual programmes", while the Southern Star Factual brand will be used for "features and factual entertainment shows." Some time later, Oxford Scientific Films became part of the Twofour Group , which was acquired on 24 June 2015 by ITV Studios . Oxford Scientific Films has produced numerous award-winning programmes and films. In 1998, its film "The Forbidden Fruit" produced for

2275-401: The film loops for Ealing. Thompson resigned from the university on 2 September 1969, to work at Oxford Scientific Films full-time. The company focused initially on filming nature at a microscopic level, including insect and aquatic wildlife. Using specialised equipment and camera techniques the developed themselves, the company gained fame for its ability to record never before seen footage of

2340-491: The gene pool by saving a weaker meerkat [or] affecting the outcome of what's natural in the Kalahari." As the research project is monitoring "...the breeding success and survival of individuals and ... the factors that affect reproduction and survival", interfering in the natural processes would render the research results invalid. There is one exception to this rule: researchers will euthanize meerkats that contract tuberculosis in order to prevent outbreaks that would threaten both

2405-469: The group started, providing a timeline of Flower's life, and detailing all of the pups she had over her lifetime, as well as their current locations. The book also gives more background on how the Kalahari Meerkat Project started, the research goals and results, and researchers' personal lives. A paperback edition of the book was announced for release in the United States by Simon & Schuster through their Touchstone imprint on 15 April 2008. The US release

2470-419: The home for the new building. They formed Oxford Scientific Films, taking part of the name from Parks' existing company Oxford Biological Films. Thompson, Parks, Morris, Paling, and Thompson's son David, headed the new company, which began operating on 8 July 1968. Thompson remained at his position at Oxford University while the company building was being completed, while the other four travelled to America to make

2535-466: The library divisions, and continues using the names "Oxford Scientific" and "OSF" in promoting the libraries. Southern Star retained full control of Oxford Scientific Films production unit, and through that unit, continues supplying images and footage to the Photolibrary. In March 2008, parent company Southern Star Group merged its Sydney-based "factual business unit" into the Oxford Scientific Films division. The merged company now uses two brands, with

2600-410: The main meerkat project staff. They are supervised by a Field Coordinator and a Field Manager. Volunteers come from all over the world and the project is regularly hiring volunteers (see http://www.kalahari-meerkats.com/index.php?id=volunteers ). In addition to the core researchers, Earthwatch volunteers aid in collecting research data after being partnered with a staff researcher. There is also usually

2665-528: The meerkat population and nearby cattle. Meerkat Manor was nominated in 2005 for a Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Award in the Animal Behaviour category, and again in 2007 for Best Original Score. At the 2006 Wildscreen Festival , the series was a finalist in three categories: Animal Behaviour, Innovation, and Popular Broadcast. The series won Gold Statues in Natural History and Cinematography and

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2730-543: The meerkats seen in commercials and on the show's website were not the same animals portrayed in Meerkat Manor . Instead, tamer-rescued meerkats from the Fellow Earthlings' Wildlife Center were filmed against a green screen . The show was primarily filmed using Sony DSR-570 cameras, although special equipment was needed for some unique footage. For scenes inside the animals' burrows , mini fibre-optic infra-red cameras were employed; wide-angle shots were filmed with

2795-421: The meerkats' small size and the limited height of even the smallest tripods. For tracking purposes by the researchers, the dominant female of each group is fitted with a radio collar, as are some dominant and roaming males. The meerkats – especially younger animals – are marked with dye to differentiate them. As the meerkats are habituated, they would tend to ignore the camera crew as long as their "personal space"

2860-406: The meerkats, asking why the film crew and researchers do not give anti-venom to snake-bitten meerkats, or euthanize those dying and suffering. US Executive Producer Mick Kaczorowski pointed out that Meerkat Manor was a show about the real lives and deaths of the meerkats. The research group has a policy against film crews interceding in natural events "because they don't want to have an effect on

2925-500: The meerkats, available for viewing for free. In April 2008, the site began selling "Friends" packages to offer a way to support the project. The Friends package includes additional project information not published on the site, as well as detailed information comparing the actual project meerkats to their counterparts in Meerkat Manor . On 8 June 2008, the site was expanded to include a virtual store, powered by Zazzle , through which

2990-496: The natural world. Its cinematographers became experts in micro, macro, snorkel, slow-motion and time-lapse photography . As the company grew, it expanded into other innovative filming and post-production techniques, and moved from creating short loops to creating television programmes and series, commercials, and feature films. In September 1996, Oxford Scientific Films was purchased by film and television rights company Circle Communications for £3.9 million. £3.85 million of

3055-526: The programme. Meerkat Manor premiered in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2005, and the first 13-episode series concluded on 24 October 2005. With the success of the programme in the United Kingdom, Animal Planet started broadcasting it on its national channels in Australia, Canada, and the US. It has since been rebroadcast in more than 160 other countries. The fourth, and final, Animal Planet series aired initially in

3120-485: The purchase price was paid in cash, with the rest paid through a stock exchange. Less than a year later, in May 1997, Australia-based Southern Star Entertainment made a £8.3 million take over bid for Circle Communications, due to its distribution business, strong catalogue, and the company's drama and factual production business. Oxford Scientific Films, which had retained its own identity under Circle Communications, became

3185-436: The second and third series premieres were watched by approximately 800,000 viewers each. The fourth series premiere did not fare as well, with fewer than 500,000 viewers. The viewership of the on-demand video offerings for Meerkat Manor grew 20% in September 2007, when Discovery offered each third series episode, video capsules of series one and two, top ten moments from the show, and a memorial sequence for Flower. Building on

3250-494: The series told the story of the Whiskers, one of more than a dozen families of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert being studied as part of the Kalahari Meerkat Project , a long-term field study into the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of the cooperative nature of meerkats. The original programme was narrated by Bill Nighy , with the narration redubbed by Mike Goldman for the Australian airings and Sean Astin for

3315-466: The study populations, including the recording of births, deaths, pregnancies, lactation and oestrus cycles, changes in social status and group affiliation, and any abnormal behaviors or activities. The project team offers film crews and wildlife photographers the chance to film the habituated groups of meerkats at the reserve. The KMP meerkats have been the subjects of several documentary programs, including: In May 2010, Lapland Studio announced it

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3380-569: The success of Meerkat Manor 's unique format, Animal Planet commissioned two similarly formatted programmes: Orangutan Island , which focuses on a group of orphaned orangutans at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, and Lemur Street , which looks at the lives of two rival gangs of ring-tailed lemurs in Madagascar . Some fans have criticized the show for its non-interference policy with regard to

3445-439: The title of the episode was also changed. De la Soul (named for the rap group of the same name), one of the sisters who started the Starsky group, was renamed Whoopi in the US as a tribute to actress Whoopi Goldberg , an early fan of the series. Animal Planet US has also renamed some of Flower's pups born in series three after two other celebrity fans of the show, Elizabeth Taylor and Denis Leary . Several episodes were renamed:

3510-412: The title of the final episode of the second series was changed from "The Killing Fields" to "The Quiet Fields". During the third series, the third episode's title was changed from "Something's Got to Give" to "Sister Act" (another Goldberg reference ), while the sixth episode's title changed from "The House of Zappa" to "Sibling Rivalry". The show follows several groups of meerkats, who act communally for

3575-419: The two companies to show their work. At the end of the meeting, they told the head of the company about their desire to open their own company and, impressed with the films he'd seen, he offered to finance them for the first three years and give them the funds to build a place to work. When they returned to the United Kingdom, Thompson sold them a quarter acre of his garden, at a steeply discounted price, to be

3640-408: Was a finalist at the 2006 Wildscreen Festival It won multiple awards at the 2006 Omni Awards and 2006 and 2007 New York Festivals Award Gala. The series is also noted for capturing never before seen aspects of the lives of meerkats , being the first to capture meerkat infanticide on film, and for expanding the boundaries of the documentary genre. Kalahari Meerkat Project Situated at

3705-656: Was approached by the Ealing Corporation of Harvard University about expanding their catalogue of educational short films. Universal Education and Visual Arts, a New York City company, was also interested in talking with Thompson. Thompson and five of his associates and former students (Peter Parks, who worked with plankton ; John Paling, a fish specialist who worked with Parks; recent Oxford graduate Sean Morris; zoologist John Cooke; and Eric Skinner, who assisted Thompson with his films) wanted to form an independent film company. Thompson and Parks travelled to America to meet with

3770-433: Was entitled Meerkat Manor: Flower of the Kalahari ( ISBN   1-4165-8767-5 ). In November 2007, Discovery Communications announced that it was partnering with Activision to make a video game based on Meerkat Manor as the first in a new series of nature-based games. The announcement stated the game would be released to multiple platforms in late 2008, but no game was ever released. Oxford Scientific Films produced

3835-670: Was introduced at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival in the Spotlight section, and then aired in the United States on Animal Planet on 25 May 2008 as a lead-in to a thirty-minute Making of Meerkat Manor: the Story Begins special. It was released to Region 1 DVD in North America on 3 June 2008, with the Making of Meerkat Manor special, and another special, The Science of Meerkat Manor , included as extras. The film included re-edited footage and

3900-404: Was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards : two in 2007 and one in 2008. It won awards at the 2006 Omni Awards, and at the 2006 and 2007 New York Festivals TV Broadcasting Awards. The first three series have been released to DVD in both Region 1 and Region 2 . In 2007, a book entitled Meerkat Manor – The Story of Flower of the Kalahari was released in the UK, detailing the life of Flower and

3965-684: Was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007 , one for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming and one for Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming, and again for Outstanding Cinematography in 2008 . In 2009, the series was awarded the Grand Award at the New York Festivals International Television Programming and Promotion Awards in the Family Programmes category. Meerkat Manor 's innovative new methods of filming allowed

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4030-517: Was releasing a video game entitled Lead the Meerkats for the Nintendo Wii and would be donating proceeds from copies sold on the first day to the project. Clutton-Brock and Evi Bauer, president of the Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, expressed excitement over the games release as a way to educate people about meerkats through a fairly realistic game. "Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project"

4095-434: Was respected. The UK and US versions of the show have the same content for most episodes; however, the latter was sometimes edited for length to allow for commercial breaks. Content was also sometimes altered; mating scenes in particular were often removed from the US version. Animal Planet US occasionally changed the names of meerkats and episode titles. Two of Flower's pups were renamed from Ren and Stumpy to Len and Squiggy;

4160-495: Was sold to Circle Communications, where it retained its own identity as a division within the company. The following year, Circle Communications was taken over by Southern Star Entertainment UK. Under the new ownership, Oxford Scientific Films produced multiple award-winning programmes and films, including the Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor . In March 2008, Southern Star merged its Sydney-based factual business division into

4225-408: Was succeeded by her daughter Rocket Dog. Animals in neighbouring groups were highlighted in each series as well. In the first series, a group called the Lazuli were shown frequently in competition with the Whiskers family, and the opening credits referred to them as the "neighbours from hell". Although their dominant male Big Si died between series, the Lazuli appeared in the second series, mostly as

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