Show: Dark Days in Monkey City
Network: Animal Planet
Episode Title: Born of the Storm
Original Air Date: Tuesday, February 24th, 10:00 PM EST/PST

If you thought Meerkat Manor was great then welcome to Monkey City. Its all about animal politics and social structure. The premier episode of Dark Days in Monkey City aired on Tuesday, February 24th on Animal Planet.

The Temple Troop has dominated Monkey City for years, but times are changing. The crown rests uneasily on the head of the aging King Lear, sending ripples of uncertainty throughout the tribe.

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Animal Planet has created a collectors edition of halloween costumes created by leading costume maker, BuySeasons.

Animal Planet Collector’s Edition Costumes are modeled after wild animals made famous on series such as Meerkat Manor and Lemur Kingdom. 

The costumes depict several kid favorites, including a Meerkat and a Monkey; and animals identified by experts as endangered, a Ring-Tailed Lemur, a White Tiger and a Sea Otter.

To show its support for animal interests, BuySeasons will donate a portion of the purchase price of each costume to principal partners of Animal Planet’s R.O.A.R. initiative, a nonprofit advocacy partnership with leading organizations that encourages people to Reach Out. Act. and Respond. to help make the world a better place for animals.

The costumes are available exclusively at BuyCostumes.com in sizes ranging from 0-6 mos. up to 4T.

Image Source: buycostumes.com

Animal Planet’s hit show, Meerkat Manor will release its season 3 DVD today! Checkout The Best of Season 3 DVD.

If you recalled, Season 3 began in Augus 2007 and the first episode, “On Dangerous Ground,” finds the Whiskers (the Meerkat clan we’re following) trying to survive on hostile ground after being evicted from their manor by the Commandos, a vicious Meerkat gang. Flower, matriarch of the Whiskers, is no pushover, but she has to take action to save her family, including newborn pups. So she rounds up the family, and they embark on a perilous journey to find greener pastures with plenty of tasty scorpions and beetles. But all hell breaks loose when Flower’s pups go missing along the way.

In Episode 2, “The Mission,” Flower mounts a rescue mission to find her pups, lost in the heart of Zappa territory. They’re the Meerkat neighbors from hell, and they’ll do whatever it takes to survive. It falls to Mitch, one of Flower’s sons, to find the rest of the family and lead them back to the frightened pups. He’ll do it, because he’s the kind of Meerkat who thrives when the going gets tough.

See what special episodes are featured on the DVD which can be purchased from amazon.com

Watch the commercial for the premier episode below.

Image Source: Amazon.com

Season 4, episode 5 of Meerkat Manor originally aired on July 4th and it was titled “Mark of Zorro“. In this episode, Exiled Sophie struggles to find food and is plagued with ticks. Axel, her adopted brother, finds her, grooms her and keeping her company until nightfall.

Zorro and the other four roving Whiskers males approach the foraging Commandoes but are kept at bay. In the morning, Zorro and his group come at the Commandoes from all sides.

The youngest of the rovers, Duke, finds Nikita’s sister Rosie and mates with her. After an eagle owl causes both groups to flee to the Commandoes burrow in a panic, Zorro and his brothers take over the group. Zorro and the other rovers scent mark Nikita, with Nikita submitting to their actions, something the announcer notes is an event never seen before in the manor. Zorro is now the dominant male of the Commandoes group, infusing the group with new blood. 

Watch the video clip below as The Whiskers stand off with the Commandoes.

In this 4th episode of Meerkat Manor which aired on June 27th, called “The Family Way“, we see The Whiskers relaxing and playing together, after weeks of strained relationships, as Rocket Dog shows signs of being pregnant.

Rover Seacrest joins with the Aztecs, who move to a new burrow as their old one became infested with fleas that may or may not have been brought in by Zaphod. While out foraging for catapillars, Sophie takes a bad fall from a tree and injuries her paw. Led by Rocket Dog, the other Whiskers leave her behind to continue foraging.

A roving male comes near the group, and the pregnant Rocket Dog quickly asserts herself as dominant female, scent marking all the females. Sophie is able to walk off her injury and rejoin the family. After submitting to Rocket Dog and being allowed to stay, Sophie meets up with the roving male. The watching Whiskers attacks, chasing off the male. Rocket Dog, joined by Hawkeye, viciously attack Sophie and evict her from the group.

The Whiskers, still in search of a home, find the Aztec burrow. The outnumbered Aztecs quickly flee, leaving the Whiskers to claim the newly renovated burrow as their new home. 

Watch as faithful Sophie takes a fall when climbing a tree in search of food. Will the Whiskers come to her aid or leave her behind?

In this episode of Meerkat Manor which aired on June 20th The Whiskers enter the Commandoes territory, but are again badly beaten by their rivals and forced to retreat.

Seacrest, one of the Whiskers males, gets separated during the retreat and becomes a rover. He manages to make his way back to the Commandoes burrow and mates with Nikita. Seacrest sleeps above ground near the Commandoes burrow and mates with her again in the morning before Nikita viciously runs him off. Some roving males approach the Whiskers burrow, but the Whiskers males quickly chase them off. 

Watch the video below of Nikita and Seacrest’s meeting. If you recall the first time they met she tried to kill him. I guess time has changed her mind.

Animal Planet’s hit show, Meerkat Manor began it’s 4th season on Friday, June 6th at 9PM ET/PT. This season will focus on the drama that ensues now that the Whiskers family is no longer united. Check below for the upcoming episode listings for the month of August.

August Premier #1: To The Manor Born
Premier Date: Friday August 1st 8:30-9PM ET/PT
Pregnant Maybelline and her Aztecs are forced to fight their way out of trouble when old rivals the Lazuli reappear ion the Manor. Nikita’s new brood is causing trouble at the Commando bunker and she is now attracting some attention from the Whiskers boys’.

August Premier #2: The Birds 
Premier date: Friday, August 15th 8:30-9PM ET/PT
Rocket Dog’s pups, Nuggett and Beaker get their first lesson in dessert survival on the Manor. A war breaks out over rations over at the Commando camp and Zorro decides to teach his brother Miles a lesson.

August Premier #3: The Rover’s Return
Premier date: Friday, August 22nd 8:30-9PM ET/PT
Wilson goes off on a mission to meet some ladies as he’s beginning to feel unwelcome in his own group.

August Premier #4: Home Alone
Premier date: Friday, August 29th 8:30-9PM ET/PT
Rocket Dog’s second  litter of pups arrive and the Whiskers are the weakest they have ever been. Sophie is an outcast and also pregnant but trying to find a way back home.

Image Credit: Animal Planet

This episode of Meerkat Manor, titled “All Manor of Love” aired on June 13, 2008 and we see the possibility of Maybelline and Rocket Dog getting back together. But now that she is a dominant female she can have her pick of the litter and there is now no chance of this happening.

We have dad chasing off the potential suitors and since alot of the brothers are also family in the Aztec group there is alot of moving out of camp to find a mate. The seven member Aztecs settle into their new burrow. Wilson, from the Commandos, visits the Aztec burrow and mates with Maybelline. He begins scent marking the territory and other Aztec members to signify he is now the group’s dominate male.

Zaphod and his group of roving males arrive at the Aztec burrow as well. Zaphod and his group join the Aztecs without any struggle, but it is a futile take over as Maybelline is another of Zaphod’s daughters. Zaphod’s arrival sends Wilson running, leaving Maybelline without a partner again. Wilson makes his way to the Whiskers group, where he meets with and mates with Sophie, a subordinate female. Zaphod settles with the Aztecs, but the other males who came with him leave, recognizing that they cannot mate with their sisters. Wilson returns to the Whiskers with Sophie, and is quickly chased off by the Whiskers males. Rocket Dog attacks Sophie for mating with a rover. 

Watch the video below as it shows Wilson taking on 2 women in one day!

This first episode of the Meerkat Manor season was titled “To Have and to Have Not“.

Rocket Dog is a little frustrated by Zephod, who is the oldest Meerkat in the Kalahari. He’s roving back and forth and doesn’t really seem to have a purpose. There was little action during this first episode.

Watch this clip below as Wilson attempts to make his move on two sisters in one afternoon.

Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins, narrated by Whoopie Goldberg can be reviewed over and again via the DVD release. The film originally aired on Animal Planet over the memorial holiday in May 2008.

Below, watch an exclusive behind the scenes video from the DVD which hit shelves on June 3rd, 2008. The one-disk set has a run-time of 75 minutes.