Meerkat Manor

Meerkat Manor returned for its second season on Friday night. The series begins two months after season one ended. The cliffhanger of the first season was whether Shakespeare survived the battle with the Lazuli. He saved the four pups he had been babysitting, but there was no sign of him. Sean Astin, narrating the series, starts the first episode of the season by saying Shakespeare has not been seen since then and is presumed dead.

Tosca, too, is presumed dead. Flower kicked Tosca out of the Whiskers group after she had pups (which non-dominant females are not supposed to do.) It's hard for a meerkat to live alone and, especially with the difficulties of winter survival, Tosca likely did not make it.

With spring coming, the meerkats are thinking of love. Youssarian doesn't like being pushed around by his brother, Zaphod. Youssarian leaves the Whiskers and heads for the Lazuli group, which is short a dominant male. He meets up with Pancake, an evicted Lazuli female. He hangs out with her for the night, but then he leaves her. What is he thinking? It's not like he has anyplace better to go and she seems like a perfectly nice young girl.

A new group, the Commandos, shows up on the scene. Apparently, their territory abuts that of the Whiskers, just as the territory of the Lazuli does.

Flower has another litter of pups. The winter has been difficult and there has not been enough food for the females to lactate. The pups are hungry and have to wait for Flower to return home each day from her foraging. This makes them aggressive.

A small group of Whiskers meerkats enter Commando territory to eat and find good forage. Plenty of excitement happens, including a hawk flying over.

Well, I'm still rooting for Shakespeare and Tosca, though it doesn't look good. Tosca may well have gone somewhere that the TV crew hasn't found yet. I suppose there's not much chance Shakespeare has been nursing his wounds in the burrow for two months, but I'm just not ready to give up hope.