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NOTHING’S SIMPLES FOR THESE MEERKATS
Drought, dust storms, deadly snakes – the plucky family in a new Dynasties special have plenty on their plate...
Those hilarious TV commercials for a well-known price comparison website have firmly established meerkats in our minds as both comical and cute. But Sir David Attenborough reckons we can add brave, extraordinary and resourceful to those qualities after narrating new documentary Meerkat: A Dynasties Special.
Filmed in the searing heat of Makgadikgadi, a 6,000-squaremile wedge of the Kalahari
Desert in Botswana in southern Africa, the programme – a standalone follow-up to his 2018 Dynasties series – shows young meerkat queen Maghogho and her family battling almost impossible odds to survive during a drought, coming to terms with a tragic death and fleeing their home for fear of more fatalities.
No wonder David was in awe of the meerkats’ determination to stay alive. ‘When you see the trials and tribulations – and successes, of course – of Maghogho and her family as they struggle to survive in such conditions, you can’t help but be caught up in their lives and feel a real connection with them,’ he says. ‘I’m proud to have been involved in the making of this documentary. As ever, the intensity and insight that the Dynasties team bring to their filmmaking make this an extraordinary watch – gripping, and thought-provoking.’
The five episodes in the original Dynasties series focused on lions, tigers, painted wolves, Emperor penguins and chimpanzees, although none had it as tough as Maghogho, who’s trying to produce offspring and sustain the family line. When we meet her, she and her family are in the middle of a drought – the rains that will revive and sustain life in this part of the Kalahari are two months late. With temperatures reaching 50°C, it becomes increasingly difficult to source food and Maghogho’s sister is too sluggish to avoid a snake bite. In heartbreaking scenes, Maghogho watches on helplessly as she dies.
With the snake still close by, Maghogho decides she has to find a new home for her family and sets her sights on grassland half a mile away across a dry salt pan. But vulnerable to attack from birds of prey in the air and from jackals on the ground, not all the meerkats make it there.
The new surroundings at least offer more food. Scorpions, which the meerkats chew on and then swallow, are in more plentiful supply here. Yet still there’s danger. Maghogho and her family have accidentally entered a rival meerkat territory and a battle ensues before a dust storm overwhelms the grassland, leaving another meerkat dead.
The documentary certainly shows nature in the raw, but there were comical moments during filming too. Camera operators such as Ed Saltau can spend months tracking animals, only catching sight of them for a few minutes at the end of a long search. But on this shoot, the problem was reversed. In the hottest part of the day the meerkats wouldn’t leave the crew alone. ‘They found that hiding under our equipment – or under us – was the perfect way for the pups, in particular, to get a break from the heat,’ says Ed.
‘And we were a perfect vantage point,’ adds field guide Kagiso ‘Villa’ Moatshe. ‘The meerkats would climb onto our heads to get a better view of their surroundings. Bizarre, but we were glad to be of assistance.’ n
James Peachey Meerkat: A Dynasties Special, Monday, 7.30pm, BBC1.