Granted, I mostly followed the meerkats through MM, but aren't we seeing a change in meerkat culture here. It seems like there are a lot of pregnant non dominant females. From the show, it appeared pregnant non dominant females were either run out of the group or litters destroyed. Also, it seems that a lot of groups have dominant males who aren't fathering pups with the dominant females (ie Zaphod in the Aztecs and Dudley/Manchu Pinchu in the Whiskers). Has Rocket Dog even had a litter? I thought she has miscarried at least twice. Does anyone else see this or is the editing of MM making this sound more unusual that it really is?

Mitch 68, you bring up a good point. I think the changes that have been happening in the past year or so have a lot to do with the deaths of several dominants thoughout many of the mobs throughout the area. My understanding is that after dominants die, groups tend to split and/or become unstable, and subordinate pregnancies are more likely to happen under those circumstances.

Rocket Dog has has a successful litter of 2 pups. The current dominant male of the Whiskers (Machu Pichu) is Rocket Dog's brother, and so they can't mate with each other.

While I do think that MM exagerated the whole "subordinates getting pregnant is highly unusual" thing -- especially in Season 1 -- I also think the changes we've seen lately have more to do with the new social orders in the mobs than anything else.

Just like us! Changes in the social culture - new mores and values - change and adjustments.

Also, with the smaller groups forming, there is a simple reality. If you have 12 meerkats in your group and you want to get large and powerful in a hurry, the subordinate females must breed.

If I am remembering correctly Rocket Dog has yet to successfully have offspring, so for the Whiskers to continue to grow a subordinate like Ella/Mango has pups and RD tolerates them.

Hey Mitch68,

Yes, I agree we are seeing quite a bit of a change in meerkat culture here.

Rocket Dog has aborted (what seems like at least) many of her litters. It's never good when the DF does not show good breeding abilities. They are the ones who the mob's future primarily depends on. She has, however, given birth to two health, living pups: Nugget and Beaker.

I think that the main problem is that that there are still a handful of natal males in Whiskers who are preventing roving males from immigrating. It's going to take more than one rover, probably a group, to get a new DM in the Whiskers who RD isn't related too and can mate with.

Ok, glad to see I am not crazy. I always wondered how the Whiskers got to be so big if only Flower was having litters. There must have been at least a little of subordinate females having pups for the numbers to grow like they did.

I think it will be interesting to see how MM approaches this in season 4. They will have to spend more time on groups other than the Whiskers (Aztecs), but it should also be interesting to show how the groups are evolving with the changes in dominance.

No you are not crazy. As for the sub females they are taking advantage of the situation to fulfil their need for motherhood; so much for altruism (just kidding).

I know the circumstances are very unusual. Nothing like it has been seen in the Kalahari during the Manor's lifetime.

Just think we will witness this *Brave New World* in Season 4.

It is true that RD cannot mate with MP, but it isn't in the case of Monkulus and Zaphod. I think that Piglet, Tofu, and their siblings belong to Zaphod.

i think it is very unlikely (but not impossible at all) that zaphod mated with his niece, monkulus. in the 12+ years of the kmp study there has only been one instance (i believe) of a DF mating with a nephew. and somehow you have to wonder how monkulus would know zaphod is "uncle" and not "dad". zaphod and yossarian should smell the same right, they were litter mates. i've also read on the kmp site somewhere (or maybe TCB's book) that researchers have noticed in cases of addoption like axel's, when addopted male meerkats went roving, they sometimes encountered their "real" sisters and other close relatives and that the males advances were always refuted by those closely related females.

IMO it's most likely that Monkulus' pups were fathered by a rover. Homestar Runner and Phillipe (YO) were notoriously persistent, with HR even temporarily winning DM of the Aztecs in Sep 2007. The LH reports also show that there were plenty of other rovers in the area at that time. Monkulus and other females would have had their pick.

From everything I have read including scientific articles, female meerkats are quite picky about refusing to mate with close relatives, even when they have been separated for years. I only know of one exception, which is famous because it is so unusual.

Zaphod took dominance of the Whiskers from Yossarian in Apr 2004, two months after Monkulus was born. He is undoubtedly her main father figure. Also, it is common for mobs to have a non-mating closely related dominant pair for months or years until an unrelated rover immigrates and wins DM with mating privileges.

Many factors make it highly unlikely that Monkulus and Zaphod are mates. The KMP researchers would eventually witness such a mating and we would hear about it. Until then, I'm rooting for the [healthy] rovers! Best Wishes, burrow mates

I agree with the two previous posts. Monkulus' pups were probably fathered by HR. They were (still are) a lot of habituated rovers (from the Young Ones, the Lazuli, even the Hoax), and wild rovers in the vicinity, if one checks the Monthly Life History Reports. Most of the evicted Whiskers, Aztecs, and Commandos females formed groups with wild males. Wild males joined other groups as well. The researchers witness matings, and they would tell about something unusual as Zaphod, and Monkulus mating. It is quite common to have related dominants that don't mate. The Lazuli don't have a non-natal dominant pair for more than two years. Aretha mates with rovers, and J. Alfred Prufrock roves (a little; I guess he "mate guards" his sister. I see the same pattern with other brother/sister pairs, the brother roves very little). It is the same situation with the rest of the natal dominant pairs in the KMP.

The unusual aunt/nephew pair was Eleusine, and Dante, the former dominants of Elveera.