Whiskers Mob

General

Members

Chronology

Famous Meerkats

Gallery

Whiskers Mob
Date of Forming	April 1998
Founders	Holly, Piglet, Brambles, VYF011, Argon, Delpheus, and Beetle
Dominant Female(s)	Holly, Risca, Vialli, Flower, Rocket Dog, Ella, Oriole, Enili, Pe'ahi, and Swift
Dominant Male(s)	Argon, Beetle, Izit, Zaphod, Yossarian, Mitch, Drew, Zarathustra, Machu Pichu, Thundercat, Marxxs, Bearslayer, Snowy, Rufio, and Brea
Current Dominant Female	Swift
Current Dominant Male	Brea
Number of Members	9
Pregnant Meerkat(s)	None
Evicted Meerkat(s)	None
Roving Meerkat(s)	None
Absent Meerkat(s)	Marahute
Pup(s)	2

The Whiskers Mob was founded in 1998 by four Young Ones females, two Lazuli rovers, and a wild meerkat who had been released from Van Zylsrus. Holly and Argon took dominance and remained as leaders until 2000. After Holly died, Risca took dominance alongside Beetle. In 2001, eleven Vivian rovers joined the Whiskers. Izit won dominance over Basil, despite Basil being older. However, both Risca and Izit lost dominance and left to form the Gattaca. The next dominant pair was Vialli and Zaphod, but Vialli's reign was short. After Vialli died in 2002, Flower won dominance. Shortly afterward, Yossarian overthrew Zaphod and fathered some of Flower's pups, but a year later Yossarian was overthrown by Zaphod, who became the long-term dominant male. In 2004, filming for Meerkat Manor began; it followed the lives of the family for four years. Flower and Zaphod reigned until 2007 when Flower sadly succumbed to a snake bite. Her daughter Rocket Dog became the next dominant female. Zaphod and many males eventually left the Whiskers. A natal male named Zarathustra took dominance, followed by another natal meerkat named Machu Pichu. Both left the group to rove. After Rocket Dog died in 2008, Ella established dominance and she was soon joined by a single Lazuli rover named Thundercat. The group was very low in numbers at the time for the next few years. Ella disappeared in mid-2011, and in her absence, female dominance switched from Oriole to Enili. The Whiskers' numbers dwindled until in early 2013 males from the Cavemen joined the group. Sadly, in September 2013, Enili was hit by a car and died. For the rest of the year, the group was without a dominant female and Snowy was eventually replaced by Rufio. In January 2014, Pe'ahi took dominance. Many Whiskers meerkats have gone on to form other large groups, such as the Baobab, Aztecs, and Van Helsing, and many members have become dominants in other groups, making the Whiskers meerkats among the most successful mobs to be studied by the Kalahari Meerkat Project.

Dominant Pair

Holly and Argon were the first dominant couple of the Whiskers. After Holly's death in 2000, Argon left the group. Risca and Beetle became the next dominant pair, but Beetle eventually left to go roving. Then eleven Vivian males joined the group. Izit took dominance next to Risca but both of them lost their positions to Vialli and Zaphod. Vialli only had one litter before she died. Flower became the next dominant female. In 2003 Yossarian overthrew Zaphod. He fathered two litters with Flower before Zaphod reclaimed dominance. Flower and Zaphod led the group for four years. Flower sadly died in January 2007 and her daughter Rocket Dog became her successor. Zaphod started to go roving. In his absence, Mitch acted as the dominant male. Drew of the Commandos joined the group and briefly took dominance, but Zaphod returned and chased him out. Zaphod stayed the dominant male until mid-2007 when he left and joined the Aztecs. Zarathustra took dominance beside Rocket Dog, but he too left and joined the Commandos. Machu Pichu took dominance after him. After Rocket Dog died, Ella became the dominant female. Machu Pichu left to join the Lazuli and kicked out Thundercat, who joined the Whiskers, where he took the position of the dominant male. Ella disappeared in mid-2011; while she was away, Oriole became the dominant female. When Ella returned, she was unable to reclaim dominance. Oriole was then overthrown by Enili. Thundercat remained the dominant male until 2012 when he took to roving. Thundercat's son Marxxs took up dominance in his place. Upon Marxxs' disappearance, his younger brother Bearslayer took up dominance. A group of Lazuli rovers joined the Whiskers in late 2013. Bearslayer submitted to Snowy, allowing him to become the new dominant male. In September 2013, Enili was sadly hit by a car. The two remaining females were unable to settle dominance and in November, Snowy was ousted by Rufio. By the end of 2013, the group was still without a dominant female; however, in January 2014, Pe'ahi finally took up the position of dominant female. In October 2014, Brea overthrew Rufio and became the dominant male. In September 2015, Pe'ahi was predated and Swift became the dominant female. 

Current Members

Swift (collared) and Pe'ahi

Whiskers have 10 members as of December 2017.

Swift (VWF176) Dominant Female

Brea (VLM157) Dominant Male

Arbutus (VWM202)

Cleo (VWM205)

Marahute (VWM206)

Hay-Hay (VWM207)

Clyde (VWM208)

Bonnie (VWF209)

Pixie (VWM211)

Bones (VWF212)

Rivals

When the Whiskers first formed in 1998 their main rivals were Young Ones, Lazuli, Elveera, and Vivian. Three years later the Gattaca was founded and became their new rivals. Over the next few years, Vivian moved away from the Whiskers and Commandos became the Whiskers new rivals. Soon Elveera and Lazuli moved away from the Whiskers and the Aztecs, made up of Whiskers meerkats, became the group's new rivals. In 2008 the Young Ones died out, and Kung Fu replaced them as the Whiskers' new rivals. Afterwards, the Commandos moved away and the Sequoia, Toyota, and Überkatz formed near the Whiskers. In 2013, the Ewoks, JaXX, and Chalibonkas became rivals to the Whiskers. Throughout 2014 and into 2015 the Ewoks were the Whiskers' biggest rivals. 

Filming

The Whiskers became famous on the hit Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor. The series ran from 2005 to 2008 over fifty-three episodes and four seasons. The documentary followed the life of the Whiskers, initially led by Flower and Zaphod, over the many trials of meerkat life. The show was a huge success, earning many film awards and multiple DVD releases. Its success led to the making of a movie called Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins, which focused on Flower's rise to power, and a book titled Meerkat Manor: Flower of the Kalahari. The show was considered the most-viewed program on Animal Planet, but was cancelled after its fourth season for unstated reasons. A sideline documentary called Ella: A Meerkat's Tale was released in 2005. It used footage from Meerkat Manor to retell the events from season 1 but from the point of view of Ella(Baddiel) who played as Tosca on the original show.

The Whiskers made a brief appearance in Clan of the Meerkats as the rivals to the Kung Fu, however, none of the mobs were stated by name.

The Whiskers were visited again in early 2011 to be filmed for Planet Earth Live. The main focus of the show was on young Swift and her Uncle Ernesto. Later in 2012, the same footage and cut-footage was used to make the documentary A Meerkat's Tale. The hour-long film followed the Whiskers, led at the time by Enili and Thundercat, and how they raised their young during a harsh drought. The story mostly focused on Swift and how she learned to be a meerkat.