Original subtitles

An unforgiving, sun-baked, desert in southern africa

Is aough place to raise a family. T

[t chunderlaps]

T there are some...

...Who are perfectly sduite t. To I

[music]

At the turn of the millennium a legend was born here.

Scientists namedlo her fwer.

As mchatriar, she grew her family...

.Leading them through good times...

And bad...

Rk [meeats squawk]

...To bemeco tthe mos successful leader of her kind,

Loved the ovworld er.

Like all living things, h whener time was done,

The desert's rose returned to the earth.

But every great leader leaves a legacy...

And now the time has come to pick up the story...

Wi gth herreat-granddaughters...

As they strive to lead their own families

Through the daily struggles of life in the kalahari.

[music]

[meerkat] barks

[thunder claps]

[rain patters]

[music]

The rising sun takes the chill cooff a ld kalahari night.

[birds chirp]

Mornings are full of p..Romise.

And the whiskers are gearing up to start a new day.

Rk [meeats squeak]

Th has been the whiskers' home for more than twenty years.

Swift is now head of the family,

And like all dominant females here,

Wears a coradio llar as her crown.

To lead is to serve,

And this steadfast leader has served her family well

Th for e past five years.

Life hasn't always been easy.

The great drought of 2015 almost wiped out the whiskers.

There were just three survivors

But, from the devastation,

Swift set about rebuilding the dynasty -

Just as her great-grandmother flower did

Three generatifoons bere her.

The whiskers now number eca resptable fifteen.

As matriarch, it's swift's duty

To ensure her fa mily keeps growing...

...And three weeks ago, veshe ga birth to her thirteenth litter!

[baby meerkats squeak]

Triplets!

[baby meerkaawts squk]

Hachi, laika... And fly

Have been kept safely underground

D today they're seeing daylight for the first time.

Eerkats ]squawk

S[birdsing]

It's swift's job to produce pups

But it will be the responsibility

Of the whole family to raise them.

All three are female... Which means

There could be a feisty future lemoader angst them.

Swift mustce balan motherhood with her others dutieas leader.

Still too young to leave the burrow,

The pups will stay home with a trusted babysitter.

Today, that job falls to o ne of swift's four eldest daugh,

Eplon.

This working mum can now lead the rest of helyr fami out

To find food ...

She'll be back just before sunset

To give the triplets their bedtime milk.

Swift has set the whiskers up

In some of the best real estate around.

Their two square mile territory hardly looks like a desert.

Unusuall ry highainfall in this spot,

Encourages atsll sor of delicacies to the surface.

But you've got to be quick andt derous to caemtch th!

[munching]

Less than a mile from the ample greenery of chez whiskers

Lies the smaller territory of their nenearest ighbours...

...Hakuntaa mata.

It mnsea nieo worrs but this family's got plenty.

Their drbly scruand stands in stark contrast

To swift's bountiful paradise.

Finding nutritious meals s in thidust bowl is hard work.

And compared with swift, the lef ader othis family...

Is a rookie.

[scratching]

Three-year-old, flint lockwood,

Has been in charge of hakuna matata for less than a year.

She too is descended f fromlower,

As flint is the greatt-grea grand-daughter

Of the kalahari's favourite rose.

Withg a ganof ten, mostly younger,

Siblings under her command,

This beginner has her hands full.

Six weeks agnto, fli gave birth er to h first litter as leader.

At[meerks chatter]

Her three girls and one boy are pretty demanding...

...But this morning

She's got a more immediate problem to deal with.

[alarm call]

Her partner finnick's head-bobbing

Signals he's concerned aboutht someing.

Until they know how serious the problem is,

It's best to gather the pups th togeer out of harm's way.

As the search team spreads out,

Flint's younger sister sencha stumbles into trouble.

[barks]

A sand snake is not the deadliedest prator

But it's enough to raise an alarm...

[meerkat barks]

The word is out.

Flint's other sister, munchkin,

Steps up to tackle the problem head on.

[barks]

But snake-mobbing is best attempted

With a support team.

Tails up to make themselves look bigger, they crowd the snake -

Heads bobbing an-cd spitalling in an attempt to force it away.

Ar [bks]

Outnumbereovd and erwhelmed,

The intruder turns tail inand slks off.

Flint could do without all this stress

First thing in the morning.

But at least everyone's safe for now.

The differing fortunes of flower's descendants

May simply be down to chance.

As the temperature rises,

Swift allows her now well-fed family a welcome midday break.

[squeaks]

Supervising playtime in the shade

Is her long-term partner and father to all the kids, brea.

At ten years old, he's knocking on a bit

Al hthoughe still likes to join in the fun...

In a sedate kind of way.

Swift's partnership with brea is full of affection

And has lasted longer than most.

Five glorious years together.

As everyone gets back to the grubby business of bug-hunting,

Oldest son lakilac tes up look-out duty.

Like young men the world over,

Lilac has been slow to leave home.

But today the sntoaggle-othed man child

Is ready to answer the call of the wild'.

[funky music]

E whilno one's looking,

This would-be romeo sneaks off in a diffeirrent dection.

Ros ving ithe destiny of every young male.

It's the desert leequivant of dating.

Fbut toind love in the dunes, the inexperienced rover

Will have to venture into enemy territory...

And if rival males catch him there, he'll be dead meat.

Tronansiti desert dating doesn't always end in disaster though.

It's how hakuna matata's leader flint found her new man...

Or rather, he found her.

Social climber finnick came looking for love'

From a rival family a fehsw mont ago.

He spotted the vacancy for dominant male,

Moved in, fathered flint's pups

And enhas be liberally s wiping his scent gland

Over his new e patchver since.

Pups with finnick

Hapeve held secure flint's position at the top

But they've also exposed a weakness.

[squawking]

A successful family

Is a finely-tuned childcare machine...

That runs omostlyn girl power.

Females without their own pups caucn prode milk

To help feed other membershe of t family.

But willing rswet nues are in short supply.

Finnick can't help... Even if he wanted to.

Nor shandy.

Luther couldn'att lacte if his life dependited on .

D anisrael's all man.

Gurke.

Sacre bleu.

Belphagor...

Man alive! A it's desert boy's club.

Unke swift, flint doesn't have an army of able daughters

R undeher control.

Her most senior deputy is y soungerister munchkin.

But inmunchk's blossoming

Into the kind of kalahari heart-stopper

That's catnip to roving males.

Ghand rit now, she's more interested in boys

Than in looking after the kids.

With little in the way of child support

And the constant pressure to keep her family fed,

It's no wonder flint is exhausted...

...And fractious.

And munchkin...

...Takes the brunt of it.

Watching flint's family from afar iies rook rover, lilac.

He's reached enemy territory

But he's less interested in the danger

And more attracted to the oasis of romantic promise!

Thldis cou be his lucky day.

The charming ms. Munchkin...

...And her equally delight fl sister sencha

Ght invite the attention of an ambitious young rover.

But...Oh... Wait...

A battalion of boys stanbeds tween lilac and the ladies.

If they orck finni spot him there'll be serious trouble.

Time to trydi a fferent approach then.

Perhaps they've left a babysitter at their .Burrow

But...The burrow is deserted.

Ah well, good things come to he who waits.

Back at the whisker's burrow,

Epsilon would be the perfect catch for veany ror.

[meerkat squawks]

.Although at the moment she's got her hands full

Looking after her baby sisters.

While they explore the wonders oof theutdoors,

She keeps a watchful eye out tr for ouble.

But forsur hou of this would test anyone's patience.

[m seerkatquawks]

Fortunately for epsilon, help is at hand.

Her sisters pandi...

And crimson have returne ed homearly

To hthelp wi the childcare.

It's a blessed relief.

[squeaks]

All this playing is thirsty work.

Mum won't be back for a few hours

So big sister crimson provides.

And when feeding time is o ver, everyone can enjoy forty winks.

On flint's sidhee of t manor, there's been no time to rest.

Afteffr a diicult day trying to find enough food for everyone,

She's finally taking her family home.

[loud squarks]

But their journey is rudely inted.Rrupte

[lourkd squas]

The manor's noisiest neighbours -

A pair of ground-n pestinglovers -

Have got themselves in quite a flap.

Oud squarks]

Ha the kuna matata clan

Has stumbled onto their nesting site.

Theiinr cunngly camouflaged eggs

Would be a delicious afternoon snack for the hungry clan...

If only they could get to them...

...But the birds aren't about to allow that.

[loud squarks]

Flint decides it's not worth all the bother.

It's been quite a day of unpleasant surprises

And she just wants to get home.

The commotion alerts rover-in-waiting lilac

To the rival family's immietnent rurn.

Ha the pless romeo makes his escape while he still can.

Vi rong is all about timing...

And lilackc's luy timing may have just saved his life.

Finnick immediately smells a rat!!!

He knows full well there's been ruan intder at his burrow!

But lilac is alreadyos crsielng safy back

Into whiskers territory.

[calm music]

As the sun begins to set on the day,

Re the st of lilac's family are making their way home too.

Swift leads the way.

After a long day apart from her pups

She's keen to check on their well-being.

She has no cause for concern.

R heable and willing daughters

Have played their babysitting roles perfectly.

Hachi, laika and fly

Have safely spent their first day above ground.

[meerkatwks squa]

Pushy little hachi wastes no time

Securing the first bedtime feed from her mum.

As the african proverb goes -

It takes a village to raise a child.

And the whiskers are making a fine job of it.

Fe will be full of challenges

For the youngestrs membe of the whiskers dynasty.

But nobody would expect those challenges

To come quite so soon...

♪♪