karbuth: Why do they do a war dance to other groups?
Mick Kaczorowski: It's intimidation. Like all battle, it's much better to try and scare off your opponent by making it seem like you're a bigger group, that you're angrier. So, from a distance the meerkats bobbing up and down doing the war dance, they're trying to intimidate their rivals without having to actually go to battle.
Shotie: How many offspring did Flower successfully have in her tenure as a dominant female?
Mick Kaczorowski: I'm not sure, I'm going to say close to 70.
goldenroad: Is there a danger of the tunnels collapsing due to the equipment, camera crews, etc.?
Mick Kaczorowski: Well, we know where the burrows are, so we stay away. We're never so close to the entrance with heavy cameras. And we're always guided by the researchers about how close to go to the burrows.
Animal Planet: Mick, thank you so much for being here tonight to answer our questions about Meerkat Manor! Is there anything you'd like to add, before we have to end the chat?
Mick Kaczorowski: Everyone here at Animal Planet are devastated by the loss of Flower. There probably will never be a meerkat closer to our hearts than Flower. But I want to thank all of you for being such dedicated fans, and I think that you'll see that although we've lost Flower life goes on in
Meerkat Manor — and life goes on in the Kalahari. I look forward to seeing your comments after you watch future episodes of
Meerkat Manor. Next year, when the movie comes out, you'll be able to see Flower's story on the big screen.
Animal Planet: Thank you for joining Animal Planet's Meerkat Manor live chat. If you'd like to continue talking about Flower, please visit the
Flower discussion forum now. In case you missed any of our live chat, look for the full transcript on the
Flower Memorial page early next week. Also, make sure to tune in to Meerkat Manor every Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT to see what happens next.
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