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At
5.00am, in the South African Kalahari desert, some ten miles south of
Botswana, not even the sun has risen. No sleepy little head pops out just
yet from any hole in the meerkat burrow. The sand still sticks to its
night-time grey and all life stays below ground. Then quietly a tiny bush
rustles and shivering female meerkat Baddiel, creeps out from her hiding
place. For having illicit pups she has been left out in the cold by her
family- the 33-member meerkat group Whiskers. Baddiel's exile, decided
by her mother Flower, Whiskers' leader, is just one of many dramas in
Meerkat Manor, the real-life soap story that wildlife TV station Animal
Planet has been filming since last October.
Animal Planet's decision to star meerkats was a simple one. They are popular
and accessible. David Attenborough's Meerkats United was named as the
nation's all-time favourite wildlife programme in a survey by BBC's Natural
History Unit, and meerkats are just as easy to film as they are to watch.
The word meerkat is Afrikaans. The animal is a type of mongoose- nothing
to do with a cat- but, at cat size and with a nonchalant manner around
humans, meerkats are made for a TV soap. Not only do they have human-like
waking and sleeping patterns (up at sunset, back in burrow by sunrise)
but even near-human personalities and grouping habits.
"There's only a limited number of species that have the kind of social
structure which lends itself to a soap format" says Meerkat Manor
producer Caroline Hawkins of Oxford Scientific Films (OSF).
By extension, OSF has personified the stars of Meerkat Manor by giving
them screen names and explaining their daily scenarios in human terms
(like exile). "I think with wildlife docs we're slightly leaning
towards making animals more engaging. One way of doing that is to give
them names so you can follow their characterisations. It is quite a big
step away from the classic 'David Attenborough' style blue chip,"
says Hawkins. 'I think viewers will come away with a better understanding
of meerkat behaviour without even realising it.'
However, for all the human parallels humans do not interfere. The programme's
setting is the 25 square km Kuruman River Reserve, the arid site of Cambridge
University's ten-year meerkat co-operative breeding research programme.
I spent three days there, observing the meerkats each morning and afternoon.
The TV lens does a similar thing. Far from prompt any meerkat activity,
it simply reflects what's happening. If you do see the odd scientific
volunteer onscreen it's only to give a sense of proportion to the size
of the meerkats. Bill Nighy provides the narration, but he is not to be
seen.
'We made a decision to have no humans,' says Hawkins. 'This is breaking
new ground in many ways with wild animals. The nearest thing is Monkey
Business on ITV, charting the day-to-day life of chimps- but there are
humans in it, too.'
According to camera assistant Matt Drake, the meerkats have practically
written the scripts themselves. 'We'd identify certain areas of their
behaviour and use those as "headlines" for each episode,' he
says.
There's been a lot of doubling up of roles in the making of market manor.
Drake is both camera assistant and sound recordist. He, like another member
of the crew, has a degree in biological imaging and a third has a degree
in zoology.
The four-person film crew, two cameramen and two assistants, has been
alternating in pairs for five-week blocks. 'We've been on a very tight
budget.' says Hawkins. 'I'd say it's probably about one-sixth of the budget
of a one-hour BBC wildlife documentary.'
The budget covers crew pay, filming equipment, crew pay and basic accommodation
in 'rondavel' thatched huts. Filming is done on a straightforward Sony
camcorder.
When it comes to the cameraman's skill of positioning himself around the
meerkats, Drake says, 'You have to be sensitive to the meerkats' space
because you don't want to disturb or affect their natural behaviour. Where
you put yourself is up to you and as time passes you get to know what
they are able to tolerate with regards to you being there.'
If anyone is put to the test it's not the meerkats. 'The most common situation
is that the Meerkats will mark you with their foul-smelling scent from
a special gland,' says Drake. 'The dominant male has the most prolific
gland, as it is his job to put the Whiskers scent on their territory,
which includes you.'
Of course, meerkats themselves are not the only hazards when filming.
'The fine sand they displace from digging out their burrows gets everywhere,'
says Drake. 'It's light and hangs in the air so you are constantly having
to clean the equipment. The heat of the desert itself is generally not
good for it either so you sometimes had to take that into consideration
if you choose to go off and leave something. We also have problems with
ground squirrels and porcupines, which enjoy chewing through our infrared
camera cables.'
So, what does it take to be a Meerkat Manor cameraman? 'It's a collaborative
process between everyone in the Kalahari and us in the edit suite in London,'
says Hawkins. 'They're wildlife documentary specialists, but they're all
film makers in their own right, too'.
As well as watching out for the fate of Baddiel on Meerkat Manor - will
she or won't she be readmitted into the Whiskers family? - I'll be keeping
an eye on Mozart - another wanton female with pups. Only the alpha male
and female of a meerkat group are meant to mate. An infidelity can be
punishable by death - the alpha female might eat another mother's pups.
So Baddiel has got off lightly, just being exiled for having pups. As
it stands, hers may live, but Baddiel's status has been put on hold until
Whiskers decides what to do.
Male scraps have been no less gripping, as is the body language of meerkats
such as Zaphod and Youssarian - alpha and alpha-redundant males- whose
sovereignty over the group has switched back and forth several times.
Finally, there's Shakespeare, the valiant sufferer, bitten by a puff adder.
There's enough poison in his leg to kill a human but, so far he's defying
the odds.
My favourite of all is shifty villain Youssarian, who's always plotting
something. Big Will and Super Furry Animal are also good entertainment,
partly for their names, sure, but mostly for their attitude. They can
all be as cute as they are calculating, as intent on feeding scorpions
to pups as plotting the next illicit affair. They're an awesome blend
of the comic and the dignified.
A meerkat on sentry duty is priceless - it balances upright like a tripod
on two back feet and a crooked tail, pale grey belly puffed out to catch
the sun's rays and front paws rested gently on top. As for when they're
on the war path, meerkats will have all four feet on the ground as we
see when the Whiskers gang fluff out their fur, kick up their back legs
and chase off rival group Lazulli.
Co-operation amongst meerkats, while fascinating, is also key for group
survival. So, I hope Flower will find some way to forgive Baddiel and
accept her back. And, unless I'm ever lying in the Kalahari at 5am again
I'll be watching to see her head pop out from the burrow one morning on
Meerkat Manor.
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