The September LH chart is up, finally - I apologise for the delay!
It shows several births, but also lost litters/abortion. A very interesting dominance change. And two dominant females were predated...
On the positive side, Axel is not LSEEN; he is roving with two younger Lazuli males, but they haven't been seen at any monitored groups. Also Whiskers males rove in groups. The older subordinate Moomins females are now LSEEN, it's not know where they went; it is probably that they teamed up with wild males.
Other than that, please join our Meerkat Picture Contest - it is open to anyone with great meerkat photos or drawings! Prizes are really something special... Find more info on the LH chart site.
Thank you Evi, Aztecs have 17+ members same dominant pair unknown number of pups, Monkuulus gave birth, Marmite, Piglet,Alonzo Mourning, and Dali roved once to the Baobab Burdock and Squig were evicted once. 11 encounters with Burdock 3 with Squig. One group encounter with Baobab.
Baobab 25/26+ members unkown number of pups. same dominant pair Hawkeye gave birth Cruise and Porcelain are pregneat.Njovu was last seen, 2 encounters with Michalangelo, one with Alonzo Mourning, Piglet, Marmite, and Dali. One group encounter with Aztecs.Kaya Mawa is absent at the end of the month. Drie Doring 16/18 members no pups same dominant pair. Mist aborted. Buddah and Falco roved once. 4 encounters with Bramley 3 encounters with Black Jack, one encounter with spiderpig and zoltan. one unknown encounter. Thor and The Dread Pirate Roberts were absent at the end of the month. Frisky 17+ same dominant pair unknown number of pups. Bootle gave birth. Bramley roved 4 times Black Jack roved 3 times Spider Pig and Zoltan roved once. One encounter with Falco and Buddah, 7 encounters with Crotchet, 8 with Quaver. 5 unknown encounters.
Geckos 16/17 same dominant pair no pups. Jemima and Annie Annie Annie were last seen, Suzie Two Tone MacFloozie was absent at the end of the month. Jaxx 12/13+ memebers same dominant female unknown number of pups. Diana gave birth Papillon was evicted twice 5 encounters with Papillon 2 unknown encounters. Papillon was absent at the end of the month.
Kung Fu 25 memebers same dominant pair 5 seen pups. Kleintjie gave birth Bauer was last seen. McDreamy was evicted once, 12 encounters with McDreamy 1 encounter with Juno.
Lazuli 19/23 members same domiant pair unknown number of pups 3 were seen. Calvinia and Young gave birth. One encounter with Juno 2 with Alonzo Mourning. One group encounter with Whiskers, Axel, Prieska, LutzPutz, and Old Greg were absent at the end of the month. Moomins 18/19 members 4 pups. Misable, Sexi Plexi, Regopstaan, and Frida were last seen. Michalangelo roved twice. Michalangelo was absenta the end of the month.
Nequoia 12/15 members same dominat pair no pups. VNEM003, VNEM008, and VEM010 roved once. One group encounter with Van Helsing. VNEM003, VNEM008, and VNEM010 were absent at the end of the month.
Rascals Sancerre is dominant female same dominant male. Islay aborted and was predated one encounter with Marico, VWM128, Eliot, 2 encounters with Woolf. 2 diffrent unknown encounters once. VRRM121 was absent at the end of the month.
Sequoia 6+ members same dominant pair. Benzedrine gave birth.
Toyta 8/9 members+ same dominant pair Miss Lilly The Pink gave birth. Paymister roved once, one encounter with Juno, 6 with Stop It.3 group encounters with Whiskers. Stop It was absent at the end of the month.
Van Helsing 17/18+ members same dominat pair. Flo lost her litter(?) and she gave birth. Juani was evicted twice.One encounter with VNEM003, VNEM008, and VNEM010. 6 encounters with Ploner, 3 encounters with Juani, 2 encounters with Billy, one encounter with Troy and Tortilla. One group encounter with Nequoia, Plonker was absent at the end of the month.
Whiskers 14/18 members 3 pups same dominant pair Ella gave birth. Juno roved twice VWM128, and Marico roved once. One encounter with Paymister and one with Oriole, 3 group encounters with Toyota, one with Lazuli. Nugget, Marico, VWM128, and Savuka were absent at the end of the month.
Juno wasnt listed as Absent at the end of the month but hes roving was he allowed back in? I worry about Nugget he didnt apear to be roving this month. But he was absent Sancerre Blondies daughter became dominant at 11 months old! Good news for Sequoia, Jaxx, Baobab and others! The pups will replace the lives lost in the winter. Islays reign was short lived but she has a lasting legacy with her son Tigi.
I've been roving arawy from the board recently due to a very intense month, bu this LH merits a lot of discussion.
Aztecs: Same dominant pair. Monkulus gave birth to an unknown number of pups. Burdock and Squig were allowed to return to the group. Alonzo three times, Piglet, Marmite and Dali roved once.
Baobab: Same dominant pair. Hawkeye gave birth to an unknown number of pups. Cruise and Porcelain are pregnant. Njovu is last seen: Kaya Mawa is absent and not evicted. The group encountered Michalangelo and the Aztecs rovers.
Drie: Same dominant pair. Mist aborted. There were numerous encounters with Frisky males: Thor and juvenile The Dread Pirate Roberts are absent at the end of the month. Buddah and Falco each roved once.
Frisky: Same dominant pair. Bootle gave birth to an unknown number of pups, four have been seen. A lot of the males were roving: Bramley, Black Jack, Spiderpig and Zoltan.
Geckos: AnnieAnnieAnnie and Jemima are lseen. Suzi is still listed as DF, but absent from the group. There is no mention of what happened to her pregnancy, and apparently by the numbers the other unk individuals with Annie are still gone as well. It must have been a group split.
Jaxx: Same dominant, still no dominant male. diana gave birth to an unknown number of pups. Papillon is still evicted and absent despite the birth.
Kung Fu: Same dominant pair. Kleintjie gave birth to at least five pups. Baur was lseen. Eliot and Woolf roved, McDreamy was evicted. All are present at the end of the month. Juno paid the group a visit.
Lazuli: Same dominants. Young and Calvania both give birth, so far three pups have been seen. Axel appears to be in a coalition with Lutzputz and Preiska. Juvenile Old Greg is absent but not roving. The group encountered Alonzo and Juno as rovers, and all of Whiskers once.
Moomins: same dominant pair. All the older sub females are lseen. Michalangelo roved twice and was absent at the end of the month.
Nequoia: Same dominants. It looks like individuals are dye marked at least, as 003, 008 and 010 were roving. DM 002, 003 and 010 were absent at the end of the month. They had one encounter with Van Helsing.
Rascals: Islay is dead. She was predated. Sub-adult Sancerre (Blondie's oldest daughter) has assumed dominance. One of the wild males is absent but not roving. The group encountered Eliot and Woolf as well as Marico and Sabota, as well as unknown rovers.
Sequoia: Same dominants. Benzedrine gave birth to an unknown number of pups.
Toyota: Same dominants. Miss Lilly gave birth to an unknown number of pups. Stop It is still evicted and absent. Paymister roved. Juno visited the group. They had several encounters with Whiskers.
Van Helsing: Flo gave birth, but her litter was later lost. She lost her dominance to Billy, but is not listed as evicted or absent. I wonder if she is stil lwith the group or is this a mistake? The group encountered the NE rovers and Plonker is absent. Juani was evicted once.
Whiskers: Same dominants. Ella gave birth to three pups. Oriole was evicted bu has returned. Juno, Marico and Sabota were roving. Paymister visited the group. Nugget, Marico, Sabota and Savuka were absent at the end of the month. Savuka was not listed as roving.
I'm very worried about Geckos and Rascals now. Geckos may have a new dominant in VGCF?007, but it is unclear if this is a female. If not, Halali (a yearling as of September) is the oldest female in the group. Either or both could have been in the group split. The older males were present when they were born and are unlikely to hang around for very long. I think the group might fall apart with the older males roving off and leaving the youngsters alone.
Rascals just have terrible luck. Sancerre is very young, although there is a chance that the older males (at least the DM 122) will stick around. He joined when she was a young pup, so she may not consider him a relative. Even if they do mate, it is still an open question if he will want to stay with a small group.
Whiskers: Same dominant pair...Ella gave birth to three pups
Axel is not Lseen...
I am content...
No apologies makonkie...to me this LH seems extremely detailed as if those responsible are finally being attentive to this part of their job or there is someone new reporting. Maybe this is just my perception.
Who thinks the Frisky males are closing in at Drie Doring? I think it will only be a matter of time now until the Drie males are off roving and the Frisky males will visit Drie at the same time and the rest will be history.
The situation at Gecko's is worrying, the females are young but also the wild males may see them as 'close relations' now and not be interested and leave. It opens a window of opportunity for other rovers though, Nugget and co still have no home it seems. Also with what has happened at Gecko's - is Bendrazine now joining the Ranks of Zaphod, Axel, Klentjie as the 'last commando' ?
Axel being back is nice, I like Axel, I just hope he is not sick from hanging out with the sick Elveera females, if he is then Lazuli could find themselves in the situation they where a few years ago, hopefully hes OK.
Still no DM at JaXX! wheres RJ when they need him? The pups Diana has had are most probably his.. he should get home, he has responsibilities now!
Rascals are in a similar position as Gecko's it seems there could be more DM vacancies to be applied for soon.
Kung FU and Baobab are really starting to climb to supergroup status! Imagine an IGI with those two!
Flo had 7 surviving children Billy had 4 survivng both have flowers blood in them. Billy is now dominant she seems to have larger litters than Flo and which is what The Van Helsing really need to get away from Baobab. Monkulus is still producing grandchildren of Flower and Yousarion. Logan and Orinoco must have pups of their own as well. Flowers legacy deffintily wont end anytime soon. Rufus, and Rhogan Josh are also the grandchildren of Flower. Hawkeyes and Cruises children are grandchildren as well.
They are a lot of Flower's children, and especially grandchildren around.
Did anybody notice that they are two (at the most) surviving females in the Geckos now, and MANY very young males? The only older males are the three wild males who might abandon the group now that the older females are not present anymore.
The Frisky males can join the Drie Doring. They are neighboring groups after all.
Just because Suzi, the Geckos DF was absent from the group (she was pregnant in August), and Jemima, and AnnieAnnieAnnie were last seen while evicted, it doesn't mean that they are all dead. The girls were evicted about two years ago by Zorilla, and they survived. They were younger though. So, hopefully Benzedrine is not the last Commandos.
It's great to see Axel roving with other Lazuli males. I hope he didn't stay long enough with Elveera females to contact TB.
The Rascals are in trouble again, and this time the DF is a young female (Sancerre), and the rest of the members are very young except for the two wild males.
They are still some typos in the Whiskers LH. There is a VWM128, and a VWF128! The males are roving to the Lazuli (Juno), the Kung Fu (Juno), Rascals (Marico, and VWM128?), the Toyota (Juno). Nugget is absent from the group. but dosn't appear to be roving. Where is he?
A lot of females gave birth. Kleintjie, her at least five usual.
I wonder if Nugget might be one of the unknown rovers at Frisky? The Whiskers boys have wandered in that direction before, and I have a feeling that Nugget may favor some wild group(s) around Abba territory, perhaps even the Abba themselves. It isn't too far a walk from there to Frisky, especially if he is hanging around with some wild rovers. He has vanished for weeks at a time before, probably down in that area, so I am trying not to worry about him yet. I hope he makes an appearance soon.
Abba is a popular roving spot, for a group that is not followed there have been dozens of occassions where habituated Meerkats have joined, roved to, spent time with splinters and evictees etc. The territory Abba live in must have some easy visual from habituated groups territory to have these goings on documented. Nugget could have visited quite easily I guess.. it would be a bit of a gamble going it alone as the group is that big if he were caught he could get into a lot of trouble! Rovers often team up though so he may have some help.
Here's a thought, if most the Drie males wander off Roving and the Frisky boys move in, Gazebo could find himself in a vunerable position, he's the 2nd oldest (habituated) male in the project now and if the young but large Whiskers rovers turn up at Frisky whilst the Frisky males are away he could be in a trouble also.
I think there will be alot of DM-less groups soon, I hope the rovers work out where it's best to look!
The Rascals could be a group for the Whiskers coalition. If the wild males leave no one would really put a fight and it would be a really good change in direction for everyone at rascals. The Rascals are almost in a similar condiition they were several years ago. They once had 7 members all under 18 months Yeca took dominance at a very young age.
I wish Abba could be habituated. They've been in the area a long time and must have an interesting history with all their interactions with the habituated groups.
Abba would be like an 'ultimate' friends package I reckon, it's been observed for several years and has grown very big. Several habituated kats have joined and roved there.. it's been suggested that the Toyota males are from Abba so when the DNA tests are done we might just recognise their father.
Nugget at least that we know of has not fathered any pups, he may be fathering pups at wild groups I guess. The latest Whiskers extension is at JaXX - Diana's litter I'd be more certain than not is Rhogan Josh's.
I dont think Nugget has roved to wild groups yet... the lh reports have him listed as only visiting habituated groups.. who knows though. I wonder why they keep having VWM128 though. Could it be they messed up and Sabota was a boy?
The researchers would have no way of knowing if nugget roved to wild groups. He has been absent for extended periods before (he didn't appear at any groups on the June LH, depite being absent for awhile) and I think he was roving at wild groups. Marico and Sabota were at Rascals, who are also surrounded by wild groups. Nugget may have been around. I hope he was not predated or killed by another group. He is huge, but he is still less than two years old. He would ordinarily still be with Whiskers.
All these Whiskers males should be roving with some older, experienced adult. Unfortunately, there is only one, the DM Thundercat who doesn't rove. We see that Alonzo is roving with the young Aztecs males.
Often the older teach the young, it's usually older brothers that form coalations of which the young become part of, or an older male like Alonzo will rove with youngsters. If Thundercat had joined Whiskers with some Lazuli males they would have ousted any Adult males.. the youngsters are usually spared and would have probably roved with the subordinate Lazulis. Its like years ago when the resident subordinate Vivian males roved with the young Whiskers. As Thundercat joined alone into an adult male-free group im afraid Nugget and co have been thrown in the deep end.
Perhaps it's this type of situation why a young rover is often seen "in the company of" another older rover from a different group.
Such a shame...Nugget appears to be ok for the moment, but it doesn't look as if Thundercat is going to allow him to re-enter the group. And if he's roving it would make it very difficult indeed to track him down.
I don't think that Thundercat is going to allow Nugget back to the group. He is the oldest, and really big. I see that the Whiskers males don't rove together either.
On a pluse side Juno has been acepted back into the group it seems. The members who were present were Ella, Thundercat, Oriole, Gump, Rozza, Mcgee, Enili, Marxxs, Mimaji, Pitio, Juno, VWP140, VWP141, VWP142.
So, is the Nequoia a family of all previously unknown meerkats? What's going on with Suzie Two Tone McFloozy? I am concerned that the DF of the Geckos is missing. Also, Jemima and AnnieAnnieAnnie are missing. Coincidence? I've said this before, this is going to be a breakout year for the Baobab. Cruise is pregnant again. It will be interesting to see if DF Hawkeye will allow Cruise to stay and her pups to live. Even more interesting, what will Hawkeye do about Porcellain? I'm glad that Monkulus and Ella gave birth but the Aztecs and Whiskers still need to increase their numbers.
We see five "natal" members in the Nequoia in the last LH report: three roving males, the DM that was absent from the group at the end of the month, and the DF. The group has 15 members. The DM is not a known habituated male obviously.
It is a strange situation in the Geckos. The three oldest females are absent/evicted-last seen. The remaining members are very young females, and a lot of very young males, and three older "wild" males.
Other than that, please join our Meerkat Picture Contest - it is open to anyone with great meerkat photos or drawings! Prizes are really something special... Find more info on the LH chart site.
I've entered the contest 2 photographs and one Drawing, I can't wait to see everyone's art! ^^ Who else entered??
I wonder if VNEM002 is a 'natal' Dominant male - would explain his occasional absence - roving?
Rhogan Josh was born to rove: He lives in a wild group as a subordinate. When he is not visiting habituated groups it's a safe bet he is checking out the wild population. I wish he would join JaXX permanently, hes an interesting individual and it would be nice to have him back in the observed population.
I think it is time for a new public names list. It's been 6 months since the last one and there have been significant changes. I'm really anxious to see the Nequoia names. Are any of them familiar meerkats? Or is Nequoia an entirely new group of meerkats? Are Grumpy's last litter of pups still alive? I wonder how DF Hawkeye will deal with the pregnancies of sf Cruise and sf Porcelain. Especially since Hawkeye just gave birth. She has tollerated Cruise's pups up til now.
I think Baobab will split if it continues to grow. It's composition is intresting. You have Hawkeye as DF and her littermate also former short term DF Cruise, Al Capone is Dominant male and his probably-brother Al Catraz hanging around and also probably-father / former long term DM Al Pachino in the group.
Potentialy, you have a DM and DF back-up plan, whilst Hawkeye and Capone would prefer not to use that set-up, their competition could split from Baobab.. with a few loyal helpers they could potentially be a successfull group.
KungFU is probably the best set-up. The group is Huge, Ningaloo has no unrelated males in the group and Klentjie has no interfering sisters to put up with. They have secure spots for the foreseable future.
New name lists are usually posted in March and December, and the last one came out in April so the next may also be delayed a month. I am hoping for December or January lists. If a lot of females give birth again in December (which they probably will, given the rush of births in September) Evi may decide to wait until all the numbers are in. I think this is why the last list came out a little late last time, there were a lot of March pups and Evi wanted to include them.
just wondering, how many of the Wiskers that are in the group now are related to flower? also who is the DM again?, is he related or unrelated to the DF
All of Whiskers but Thundercat are related to Flower, but Ella (Sophie) is her only one of Flower's children still in the group. Most of Whiskers now are Ella's pups. It has been almost three years since Flower died, and this would be expected by this point.
ok thanks for that, whenever i start thinking about flower i end up sitting/lying there for about 10-15 minutes just thinking. It sux she had to die, but i guess thats life..
