‘Dynasties II’ Recap: ‘Meerkat’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 205 of ‘Dynasties’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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When one thinks of the Meerkat, one is instantly reminded of the popular BBC America series, Meerkat Manor and the wonderful follow-up, Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty. For those shows truly thrust the meerkat into the spotlight and in doing so… taught audiences a great deal about these cute little critters. In that, a dynasty means the world to them and that they are quite good at helping one another to thrive, since they work as a unit to ensure that the little ones born make it to see another day. In fact, both of those shows have done such a phenomenal job of exploring how their family life works, that it came as quite the surprise that these little cuties were going to be featured in this week’s episode of Dynasties II.
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Because if we’ve already seen years’ worth of footage regarding the meerkat and their way of life and how they raise their young, what on earth could a brand-new documentary about them teach us? Well as it turns out… plenty. Because what we often forget is that a great deal of what any being is good at in this world, requires practice and failure and everything in between and that also applies to the meerkat. For the ones we see on those two shows are polished families with experienced matriarchs that have worked hard to be effective at raising generations of their family line. So, the next episode of this series decided it best that we see the true beginning of a meerkat dynasty and how difficult and painful it can be to build one, when the family is made up of the wrong members and is highly inexperienced.

A feat that ‘Meerkat’ accomplished, by introducing us to a matriarch named Maghogho and she was of course… in the midst of working to build her own dynasty and early on, it appeared as though she was on her way to making that happen. For she had seven pups in her brood, including two that were born by way of other family members. Plus, she had an alpha male/patriarch to the fam and a safe space to raise them. But alas, one bad day… changed a great deal for this family. For a death by snakebite panicked Maghogho and she opted to move her family as quickly as possible to safer grounds and well, that brought about complete and utter disaster for a family that was ill prepared to face the real challenges awaiting a new dynasty.

For the adults simply forgot, that the children come first whenever there is trouble and by letting that slip their mind, six of the pups were lost on the initial run away from their home, leaving the family devastated but hopeful that perhaps they could thrive. But even then, hope quickly faded. For a mistake from the alpha, saw him cast out, and another panicked moment, saw the last pup die. Leaving all of us to wonder if Maghogho would ever succeed at raising a dynasty. But the changes made to the family hierarchy and the pain of those horrible moments… did indeed teach them valuable lessons about what it means to be a family and that allowed for everyone to make the next generation a priority and finally bring forth hope that a dynasty was going to come to fruition.

But while that is indeed a happy and joyous ending to this tale, make no mistake about it… we and Maghogho had to go through utter hell to get there. Because this was a devastating ride through and through, one that really informed us of how difficult it is for new parents to understand how to raise a family in the wild and how much brutal trial and error goes into becoming a quality family through and through. However, this series deserves praise for being honest with us and showing us what those tough times look like, so that we have a complete picture of how things go in the wild and how much work goes into creating a dynasty, and that makes this a poignant and powerful tale. One that truly speaks to nature’s tenacity in the face of adversity since these little critters pulled off the seemingly impossible. Until next time.  

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