Post by mickster on Nov 18, 2006 11:17:59 GMT -5
It's two months into winter in the Kalahari desert where the Meerkats live. There are actually three Meerkat gangs that live in close proximity, the Whiskers, the Commandos and the Lazuli. The Commandos are aptly named as they are the waring gang. In the episodes from last night, Flower had previously given birth to another litter of pups, although it wasn't clear how many. Mozart and Daisy were left to babysit as the rest of the gang went out looking for food. Youssarian, brother-in-law of Flower, was not interested in eating, he wanted to find a single lady to spend time with so he wandered over the manor in search of one. He found a lone lady named Pancake who showed all the signs of being alone, i.e., tics and fleas on her non-groomed body. They hooked up for the rest of the day and spent the night together in a "bolthole". The next morning Youssarian left bright and early, abondoning Pancake (ain't that just like a man) and went looking for other ladies he could share his "charms" with. The Whiskers had safely returned to their burrow the night before after a fruitful day of foraging on territory that belonged to the Lazuli gang, a gang that was not vicious but would chase the Whiskers off if they had been discovered. Meanwhile, the Commandos were closing in on Whiskers' territory and marking it with their scent. The Lazuli gang had a dominant female who lost her mate and had none in her clan to take his place because all of the males in her gang were related to her in one way or another. Youssarian (knew) this and planned to mate with her and, hopefully, take over the clan as dominant male. If he was able to do this, he would be head of a rival gang against his brother, Zapod, Flower's mate. As Youssarian prepared to move in on (forgot her name) leader of the Lazuli, he saw two other males who apparently had the same idea. It turned out that the other two males were his brothers Big Willy and (forgot his name, too, I think it's Marvin). The males from the Lazuli gang saw them lurking in the grass and took chase, running the one brother off. Big Willy and Youssarian ran in the other direction, giving up the idea ( for now) of trying to mate with the female leader of the Lazuli. Later they met up with the younger brother and all three spent the night in a "bolthole". The Whisker gang, in the meantime, took Flower's new pups out for their first foraging trip. They are so cute trying to dig for grubs and food. One found a live scorpion but was having a problem getting it in its small mouth until Mozart came over and de-stingerd the scorpion. As darkness approached, the Whiskers headed back home not knowing that a Cape Cobra, who was looking for a safe place to spend the cold night, had invaded their burrow. It's pretty much an even fight between the snake and a Meerkat so if an attack would persue, the winner is a toss of the dice. The next morning ALL the Whiskers emerged from their burrow, safe and sound. The Cape Cobra slithered out the back door, obviously undiscovered by each other.