A family of meerkats
living among the dunes of Africa's Kalahari Desert
Over the past 10 years,
this group has been studied in such exquisite detail
that we now have an amazing insight into meerkats' way of life
We know that for meerkats, family is everything
Mothers and sisters,
sons and uncles, allies and enemies
Their families are much like ours
So when it comes to juggling the bonds and rivalries of family life
perhaps we can imagine what it's like to be part of the meerkats' world
Meet Ella,
a young female, 2 years old
This is the world she lives in
and this is her extended family
This may all seem idyllic
but for Ella, there is trouble in paradise
Ella is an increasing threat to her own mother
a simple fact that could lead her to being banished from the group forever
Our story starts one cold spring morning
As the family emerge,
they go through their usual routine
But Ella's life has changed dramatically
She's given birth to three pups:
Django, Max and Charlie
The result of a fleeting liaison three months ago
Ella is the eldest daughter of the family's despotic ruler Flower
and next in line to her mother's throne
But for now,
breeding rights and the radio collar belong to Flower alone
With food and water always scarce,
the entire family cooperates to rear her young
Ella's pups are an unwelcome addition
For Django, Max and Charlie,
the first 36 hours were critical
at this stage,
they were at risk of being killed and eaten by their grandmother
They are lucky to have survived this far
Some time in the next few weeks,
Flower may banish Ella into exile
Grooming her mother may help to placate her
and right now, it is all Ella can do
This morning, just like any other
Flower leads most of the group out to forage for food
Her own youngest pups stay behind, cared for by babysitters
including Ella
At least by helping suckle Flower's pups
Ella can stay close to her own 3 boys who are still hidden underground
They are still totally dependent on her
Ella's pups are incredibly vulnerable
and danger can come in many forms
Yossarian, the family¡¯s recently deposed dominant male
He can be unpredictable
and what he does next is very much true to form
Suddenly, Yossarian disappears underground
and reappears with Ella's youngest pup Charlie, clasped in his jaws
Dumping the tiny youngster on the scorching earth,
he heads below again and fetches Max
Ella seems powerless to act
For some reason, he's initiated a den move
Without Flower's authority,
he has even managed to enlist the help of the young babysitters
Blind and helpless,
Ella's pups will not survive long in the baking sun
Charlie tries to crawl back to the den
but Yossarian grabs him once again
Ella can't rescue him from Yossarian's grip
as panic spreads, the babysitters scatter
even Flower's precious pups risk of being trampled under foot
Ella finds Charlie,
but Yossarian and the babysitters have made off with Django and Max
Ella returns to Charlie
but she can't let Yossarian get too far away
He and his companions arrive at their new hideout
but they don't seem sure what to do next
and now Flower and the rest of the group are back
and Yossarian is in big trouble
Yossarian drops Max and flees
Ella rushes to check on her boys
They seem to have survived unscathed
but where is little Charlie
Night is falling
and the temperature is dropping fast
While Flower is reunited with her own pups,
Ella's youngest is still missing
Charlie is out there somewhere in the cold, alone
much too weak to make his own way back
For Ella, it's a mother's nightmare
Charlie is missing,
but how can she leave Django and Max
Next morning it's clear Yossarian has been ostracized
and forced to spend a long, cold night alone
and tragically, he's not the only one
Charlie's little body is still lying where he was abandoned
Left out in the desert night,
he didn't stand a chance
As the day warms up,
the group gathers at a derelict cattle ranch
which offers some useful amenities
a personal water supply is a luxury in their desert world
Flower decides where the group forages each day,
depending on where the best food is to be found
Although Ella may want to stick close to Django and Max
sometimes hunger forces her out to forage with the group
and she has no choice but to leave them in the babysitters' care
Flower's privileged pups are growing fast
becoming more boisterous by the day
They are a real handful for the babysitters
Play fights are becoming more aggressive and tantrum's more commonplace
Django and Max are tiny by comparison
After the Yossarian incident,
can Ella really entrust them to anyone else's care?
As Flower's pups grow,
their babysitters deliver live snacks to start the weaning process
a juicy legless lizard is so tempting that everyone wants a piece
This meal time free for all, is no place for little Django
but his curiosity is bigger than he is
and he can't resist a closer look
When one of Flower's pups loses his prize,
he takes it out on the one pup smaller than himself
Ignored by the babysitters,
Django is left shocked and all alone
When the group finally returns home,
Ella rushes to Django's side
She's already lost Charlie,
now Django could easily have died too
She seems to be the only one who cares about her tiny illicit pups
If they are going to survive,
she'll have to keep them with her all the time
but how?
Next morning, Ella makes a brave decision
This time when she heads off with the group to forage,
she takes Django and Max along
At only 2 weeks old,
they are really much too small to leave the den
but it's Ella's best hope of keeping them alive
Flower's pampered pups run rings around Django and Max
They are big enough to relish exploring the outside world
But for Ella's boys, it is a terrifying experience
While Max is tough enough to keep up with the group
Django always seems to need a helping hand
She'll need a huge amount of luck, as well as dedication
if she's going to keep her pups alive
Flower is an ever present threat for Ella
Even her own pups feel the brunt of her aggressive nature
How much longer will she tolerate her rival daughter in the group?
Ella knows she might be evicted at any time
With predators all around,
Ella and her boys will have to be especially vigilant
The greatest risk is from the skies,
a snake eagle will quickly home in on the softest targets below
In this case - Django and Max
The best hope is to melt into the crowd
Somehow Django just about keeps up
but now there is danger up ahead as well
The group is straight off their home turf
They've crossed an invisible boundary
constantly in dispute with their rival group
And their trespassing hasn't gone unnoticed
Suddenly they are running in fear
It's a nightmare scenario for Django, Max and Ella
If the pups get separated from their mother,
they'll be torn apart
Flower's group mount a counter charge
but in all the confusion,
Django and Max have got cut off from their mom
After some posturing,
the outnumbered enemy turn tail and run
but where are Ella's boys?
Amazingly she's found them safe and sound
It's the end of an exhausting and traumatic day for Django, Max and Ella
Ella took a huge risk in taking them foraging,
but it paid off
Given their lowly rank and tiny size
everyday, Django and Max survive is a miracle
and a triumph for their devoted mother
But this long day is not over yet,
there is another surprise in store
The rival group has left a calling card
Carlos, a young male
but he hasn't stayed to pick another fight
This time his intentions are romantic
and he's got his eye on Ella's younger sister Daisy
With her family distracted by the stranger,
Daisy creeps away for an illicit rendezvous
Ella watches her younger sister's antics
Daisy sneaks back to the group
but she can't hide the smell of Carlos's distinctive scent
First Ella, and now Daisy have managed to find a secret mate
Could Flower's eye and grip on the group be slipping?
A month has passed, and Ella's pups are thriving against all the odds
but they still got a lot to learn about the ins and outs of meerkat life
Max is a steady character, and keen to please,
but Django has a short attention span
and better things to do than pay attention to his mom
And right now, Ella's pups are in more danger every day
Flower is pregnant again
and as the birth of her new litter approaches
she becomes increasingly intolerant of her older daughter's presence in the group
Her hormone levels are pushing her towards a tipping point
she could snap at any time
Instinct drives her to eradicate any possible danger to her own unborn pups
particularly old female, such as Ella who may try to kill her young
A showdown with her daughter is now unavoidable
Ella receives the full force of her mother's wrath
This time, Ella has no choice but to run for her life
Django and Max try to follow but their mother is gone
For the first time in her life, Ella is all alone
As evening falls, the family huddles as usual
Ella has never been more than a touch away
Now she seems worlds apart
and she faces a cold night sleeping alone
During the next month,
Flower gives birth to 3 more healthy pups
while Ella lives in solitary limbo
Drawn towards the safety of the group,
but also repelled by the threatening presence of her mother
Django and Max manage to live off their wits,
they have learnt just enough from their mother to get them through
but another bizarre twist of fate is on its way
One morning, Ella wakes to find that something's changed
She can still see her mother,
but it seems her entourage has shrunk
Instead of around 40 meerkats,
she has only a few adults and 2 of her new pups by her side
Where in the world is the rest of the group
Django and Max are now too old for Flower to kill them,
but what has happened to them?
Yossarian, Daisy and the others seem to have vanished into thin air
For some reason, the group has split in two,
leaving Flower in charge of only a handful of animals
Are Django and Max still alive?
Ella sets off to seek the rest of her family
The answer is not too far away
Django and Max are absolutely fine,
right in the heart of the rest of the family
Ella tracks the large group,
her instinct's pulling her towards the warmth and safety she has missed
It seems just too good to be true
Now that her mother's gone
might Ella get a second chance to join her family?
While Ella was away,
Django and Max have grown
and seemed to be doing fine
They have the usual brotherly squabbles
and now Django is no longer the baby of the family
He gets his own back by bullying Flower's new pup
As Ella watches though,
it becomes clear that no one is in charge
no one is showing any inclination to take over the burden of leadership
But if there is trouble to be found
Django and Max are never far away
and Ella isn't close enough to rescue them
After a few days,
it really seems that dice have rolled in Ella's favor
Her tyrannical mother's gone,
there is a vacancy for a new leader
Ella seizes her chance and rejoins her family
After so many weeks alone,
she's finally reunited with Django and Max
And as she is now leader
and likely to be in the group for the long term
Ella has received her very own radio collar
What an extraordinary day for Ella
At sunrise, she awoke cold and alone
and now, as dusk falls,
she's back in the bosom of her family as their leader
Freed at last from Flower's dictatorship
the next few weeks are magical for the group
and Ella is in meerkat heaven
But what of Flower
As Ella's star is rising,
Flower seems to be fading fast
a combination of small group size and two hungry pups
is putting Flower's group under intense pressure,
forcing them to forage in all weather conditions
As Flower becomes more desperate,
will she try to reclaim what she's lost?
Then another twist of fate
Flower's group has returned
Ella's mother watches and waits
Is Ella about to lose everything once again?
Flower throws down the gauntlet
she's not going to back down
There's just too much at stake
If Ella's group supports her now,
they'll easily defeat her mother's challenge
But will they back their old leader or their new?
everything in just their loyalty
Ella desperately tries to spread her scent,
signaling to Flower that she is now dominant
Flower and her group war dance forward across no man's land
For Ella, this is the moment of truth
Face to face with her ruthless mother once again
For both of them, the stakes are now sky high
The sight of Flower sends ripples of panic through Ella
And one by one, her family leave her side
It's clear that Flower still has the strongest hold
and Ella doesn't have the stomach for a fight
Once again, Ella's mother has turned her life upside down
Flower's spell is so strong,
not even Django and Max can resist
Deserted by her family, even her sons
it seems that Ella's last chance has been snatched away
and she's alone again
The family now find themselves under a fresh assault:
a sudden storm
Only just reunited, the group are running in blind panic
Disorientated, they charge from one bolthole to the next,
desperate to reach a den site with sufficient shelter to sit out the storm
In their confusion though,
they've crossed into hostile territory
With nights now upon them,
they bed down behind enemy lines
Now Flower's family is in real danger
Ella has tracked them as they fled
still shocked and confused of being deserted
Damp and bedraggled,
and without her family's body warmth,
she faces yet another cold and uncomfortable night
Next morning after the rain,
the desert feels like the garden of Eden
But the reality is that the group is in forbidden territory
It would be best to head home straight away
but everyone seems more concerned with getting their place in the sun
to warm off the night's chill
Ella remains close by,
a silent shadow on the fringes of the group
Once their little bodies have warmed up
the group slowly begins to head back home
With earth still stuck to their damp fur,
Django and Max look as if they've been dipped in coco powder
But the family has slept in someone else's beds
and they've been spotted by their arch rival's border patrol
Last time, their rivals ran,
but they won't take this lying down
From her position on the perimeter,
Ella can see that danger developing
Caught between two factions, with no friends on either side,
she is in a dangerous position
Flower finally spots the danger,
her group closes ranks and both sides prepare for the battle of their lives
After a vicious fight,
Flower's group is victorious, but at a price
There are many walking wounded
Ella herself bears the scars of battle
Django is limping but he seems okay
but so far, there is no sign of Max
As the battle weary family regroup,
Max too turns up alive and well
but someone else is missing in action
Ella can't see Flower
She usually leads from the front
perhaps her age's finally caught up with her
Was this one fight too far?
Has Ella got her second chance to take her place?
It's not to be
Flower has survived
She seems invincible
This time, for her rejected daughter
there is no going back
Her last hope of reprieve is gone
Ella makes her choice
Turning her back on her family for a final time,
Ella heads into the wilderness
Stripped of her family's protection,
she is now entering a dangerous and solitary twilight world
But Ella's not alone
She's been watched
She's caught the attention of Carlos, the roving male
He may not offer Ella an instant solution to her problems
but he could be a part of her future
For Ella, a whole new life may be about to start
She is free from her mother's influence at last
Her old life has come to a close
She may never see Django and Max again
but she succeeded in keeping them alive
and now they are old enough to survive without her
Leaving her family was a high price to pay
but there sure to be more evicted females
If any of her sisters join her,
they'll have the foundations of a new group
And maybe this will be Ella's future
a family all of her own
Subtitles by Andrew and Hattie www.mvgroup.org