Zappa

Dominanat Female: Punk
Dominant Male: Houdini

The Zappa group formed in 2001, but did not appear in Meerkat Manor until the third series when the Whiskers became their new neighbours. Billed in the opening credits as "the neighbours from hell", the fourteen-members-strong Zappa have multiple run-ins with the Whiskers throughout the series. Led by dominant pair Lola and Frank, the Zappa have a quick fight with the Whiskers in the first episode of the third series, but are forced to flee from the much larger group. When the Whiskers invaded the Zappa territory in search of Flower's missing pups, they ended up confiscating a Zappa burrow, claiming the part of the land as their territory. The Zappa repeatedly tried to retake the stolen burrow, but all attempts ended in failure. In the middle of the series, while Lola was recovering from an injury, her sister Punk took over as dominant female. The same day, Frank was disposed by Houdini and forced out of the group. Punk proved to be a greater risk taker than Lola, and again led the Zappa in a futile attack against the Whiskers. After Flower's death, the Zappa tried to commandeer a burrow that the Whiskers had just moved in, but the Zappa were again defeated and chased off.

Commandos

Dominant female: Celidh
Dominant male: Panthro

The Commandos Mob was formed in 2004 when a group of Gattaca females teamed up with a Young Ones roving coalition. Aragorn and Zorilla established dominance after several disputes. They remained the dominant pair till 2007 whne Aragorn died. After the death of Aragorn, his son Ketamine established natal dominance beside his mother. Then five Whiskers males emigrated and all natal adult males had left, Zarathustra became dominant male till he was predated. Then Baker took his position but Miles stole it from him. Throuought their history, the Commandos had been a fast growing group unlike their founding group the Gattaca. In January 2009, Zorilla, Miles, Baker Karim and Cody were killed by TB, the group is lead by Whiskers male Panthro and Commandos female Celidh. Disease hit the group killing a few members. The Commandos left the monitored area and could no longer be tracked. A few new groups were formed from Commandos members. The Kung Fu was fromed by Zorilla's sister. The Geckos and Sequioa were formed by Zorilla and Aragorn's daughters. Benzedrine is the last known surviving Commandos meerkat today.

Lazuli

Dominant Female: Young
Dominant Male: Rufus

The Lazuli Mob are one of the most successful groups of meerkats that inhabit an area of the Kalahari Meerkat Project. The Lazuli are the oldest living group. It was formed in 1995 by Avatar females Lazuli, Ziziphus and a wild male Belgarion. The Lazuli were also featured on the documentary of Meerkat Manor. The Lazuli grew very large over the years and many of its members are well known. Lazuli was the first dominant female and the group was named after her. Ziziphus was the second dominant of the Lazuli until her death, then her daughter Cazanna became the long term dominant female. She was joined by a Vivian male named Basil who led dominance for four years. Followed by her daughter Aretha, and then her granddaughter Young. The Lazuli have many ancestors in other groups since some of the members had dispersed to other groups or formed new mobs. The Lazuli are currently one of the most famous groups.

Whiskers

Dominant Female: Holly (2000) , Risca (2001), Vialli (2002), Flower (2006),

                            Rocket Dog (2008), Sofie

Dominant Male: Argon (2000) , Izit (2001), Yousarrian (2002), Zaphod (2006),

                         Thundercat

The Whiskers Mob is a successful group of meerkats that own a two square miles area in the Kuruman River Reserve. The group came into existence in 1998, with four Young Ones females and two Lazuli rovers. Holly and Argon took dominance till 2000. After Holly died, her niece, Risca took dominance. In the next few days, all the Whiskers males went roving and eleven Vivian rovers emigrated into Whiskers in 2001. Izit won dominance over Basil, despite Basil being older. Later, Risca and Izit lost dominance and left to formed the new mob Gattaca. The rest of the Vivian rovers left Whiskers except for Zaphod and Yousarran. Vialli chooses Yousarrian to become her mate. After Vialli died, Flower won dominance in 2002. However, she chooses Zaphod to become her mate. Some time after, Yousarrian overthrew Zaphod and became dominant male. But a year later, Zaphod managed to overthrow his brother. Yousarrian stays in Whiskers. Flower and Zaphod was the dominant pair for 4 years.

Introduction

Meerkat Manor is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films for Animal Planet International that premiered in September 2005 and ran for four series until its cancellation in August 2008. Blending more traditional animal documentary style footage with dramatic narration, 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 the American broadcasts. The fourth series, subtitled The Next Generation, saw Stockard Channing replacing Astin as the narrator in the American dubbing.
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, series aired initially in the United States from 6 June 2008 to 22 August 2008; it aired in the United Kingdom in April 2009. In August 2009, it was reported that the programme had been cancelled.
Although the show faced criticism from viewers for not intervening when a meerkat was injured and faced death, as a whole 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 allowed 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. In 2007, Meerkat Manor was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. It has won three awards at the 2006 Omni Awards, and at the 2006 and 2007 New York Festivals Award Galas. The first three series of the programme have been released to DVD in both region 1and 2. In 2007, a book entitled Meerkat Manor – Flower of the Kalahari was released in the UK, detailing the life of Flower and 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.