Survival struggles in a meerkat colony
A dominant female meerkat expelling a subordinate from the pack.
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz
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Transcript
The Namib desert in southern Africa - a fight has broken out in the Meerkat colony. A female watches the dispute from a safe distance. She was suckling young just a few days ago and her teats are still full of milk. But there is no sign of her pups. They were killed by the alpha female, to ensure the best chances of survival for her own young. But now the alpha pair launches a further attack on the unsuspecting female. The subordinate animal has little choice but to flee the viscous assault. She retreats into the safety of a deserted burrow. The clan will not allow her back into the group for a while. Eviction from the colony is a tough sentence for an animal who’s survival depends upon living in a group. The female has suffered some severe bite wounds to the back of her tail. But her injuries are the least of her worries – she knows that on her own, she will not survive long.