2017 June LH Table

The June Life History files have been uploaded.

The most important events:

  • One group goes, one group comes:
    June saw the demise of Rascals as a group, unfortunately. Both remaining females succumbed to TB, bringing the Rascals group history to a sad end. The group was founded in 1998, making them the 3rd oldest study group right now (Whiskers are just 6 months older). 6 Rascals males are still around and are being tracked, hoping they will found a new group with other females.
  • Also in June, the new group (Van Helsing 4) entered the KMP stage with a chance encounter, with VH males Howard (VVHM082) and Angel Shuffle (VVHM075), two wild females and two juries;
    The dry season and Winter have come to the KMP field site, with night temperatures dropping to chilly -8°C (17°F) and barely any rainfall. This means that only few females are pregnant: one, to be exact. Evicted BB female Leia lost her litter, however – so there hasn’t been a single pregnant female at the end of June!
  • Whiskers are doing fine.

Click here to download the LH Table.

Friends will find “The Meerkatter” June/July issue here (login needed).

2017 May LH Table

The May 2017 Life History files are uploaded.

Some of the most important events:

  • A new group was found in a chance encounter, near the Storm Troopers territory: Yetis. They consisted of two VH females (evicted in July 2016), two JX males (emigrated in December 2016), another unhabituated adult male and four juveniles. Frankie (VVHF090) and the wild male were dominant. Frankie and one of the ex JX males succumbed to TB, however, and a wild female immigrated recently.
  • Baobab fatally wounded Pandora female Heid while she attempted to join the group.
  • Five pups at Lazuli!
  • The Pandora group disintegrated; the remaining three individuals could no longer be tracked when Heidi was lost. They showed signs of TB.
  • Rascals’ dominant female Laika was lost after giving birth. Mocha Maya (VRRF193) is now dominant.
  • TB-or-not-TB’s dominant male, Whiskers-born K-Quob (VWM189) succumbed to TB. Two wild males immigrated after this.
  • At Van Helsing, Egg aborted one fetus, but successfully gave birth a week later. The group is babysitting an unknown number of pups.
  • Whiskers have not a lot of Life History events to recount – but they are doing well, profiting of good foraging grounds. The five Whiskers pups born on 22nd February have finally been named: Cleo (VWM205), Marahute (VWM206), Hay-Hay (VWM207), Clyde (VWM208) and the only female Bonnie (VWF209).
  • Habituation at Storm Troopers, TB-or-not-TB, Ubuntu and Yetis is progressing well.
  • At the end of May, the project experienced the first frosty night of the cold dry season.

Click here to download the LH Table.

Friends will find “The Meerkatter” April/May issue here (login needed).

2017 April LH table

The April 2017 Life History files are uploaded.

Some of the most important events:

  • The short-lived Annals of History group disintegrated, probably because the two males left the female.
  • At Lazuli, four females gave birth, but only the last litter, Cafrine’s, survived.
  • Pandora’s dominant female Elsa succumbed to TB; the entire group shows TB signs.
  • Habituation at Storm Troopers and Ubuntu is progressing well.
  • An intense storm brought a lot of rain, very welcome now at the end of the rainy season.

Click here to download the LH Table.

Friends will find “The Meerkatter” April/May issue here (login needed).

2017 March LH Table

The March 2017 Life History files are uploaded.

Some of the most important events:

  • Five pups of Swift’s litter have emerged at Whiskers around mid March. All of them are doing well.
  • The biggest surprise are Storm Troopers (SO), a new group found in a chance encounter in March, with good old Tigi (VRRM113, dominant male at Ewoks until early 2016), two ex-Ewoks males Wolfie and Voldemort (Tigi’s grandson), two wild females and an unknown number of pups.
  • The Nematoads disintegrated; both remaining females died in March; surviving dominant male Rum Tum Tugger is not collared.
  • Rainfalls slowed down considerably, and the first smell of winter is in the air – with 4°C/39°F on 26th March!

Click here to download the LH Table.

Friends will find “The Meerkatter” February/March issue here (login needed).