Digger's Family
Meerkats - A Kalahari Saga (also titled A Meerkat Family Saga) is a 1997 Discovery Channel documentary on the struggles of a small meerkat family in the Kalahari Desert. This 48 minute saga follows Digger (also known as Little Boy), the young meerkat who loves to dig, and his little family including Ginger, Grace, Mother, Father and 4 pups. When the rains fail to fall, the group are left fighting for their lives, not only against the constantly dwindling food supply, but many large predators, stronger rival groups (including one led by scarred-eye leader Scarface) and merciless elements. It's "Survival of the Fittest" in this barren desert. This documentary was filmed during a major drought in the nineties, of which more then one third of the entire adult meerkat population died. It is narrated by Linda Hunt.
DVD Release
A DVD of the documentary was released 10 years later (2007) by Discovery Channel and Green Umbrella Entertainment, titled Wild Discovery Meerkats. The DVD cover is really slim. There are no special features. It is also narrated by an unidentified male, rather than Linda Hunt.
Characters
The meerkats featured in this documentary are:
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Digger or Little Boy
Digger / Little Boy - A meerkat who just loves to dig, he's the main character of the story.
Ginger - Digger's more adventurous older sister. Her curiosity gets her into serious trouble.
Grace -Digger's litter sister, she struggles to find decent meals.
Mother - Digger's mum, she mates with Father and has one litter.
Father - Digger's dad, he's not mentioned very often in the documentary.
The Pups - Parented by Mother and Father, these 4 pups were unamed.
Scarface - A dominant male of a rival group, his right eye is badly scarred.
Ginger, bitten by a Jackal
Scarface's Daughter - She is unamed, she becomes Digger's mate.
Scarface's Mate - Mentioned once and was unamed.
Meerkats Unmasked?
In an documentary called Meerkats Unmasked, there was a dominant male meerkat called Digger. He had a mate, Momma, and a family. Aside from the age accuracy, (This Digger was 3 years old) there's no proof that it is the same meerkat from
Mother Comforting Ginger
A Kalahari Saga, most likey it was a different meerkat since Digger is a common name for a meerkat.
Credits
Director: Peter Spry-Leverton
Producers: Peter Spry-Leverton and Sylvia Szapary-Van
Executive Producer: Andre Singer
Executive Producer, The Learning Channel: Nancy Lavin
Produced for the Learning Channel by Cafe Productions Ltd.
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