I knew that meerkats were small, cute and fuzzy. I’ve also heard people saying that the human race should sometimes take example of how selfless and kind these cuddly creatures can be.
What I didn’t know was that meerkats, or if you prefer the Latin term, suricata suricatta, were cruel child-killers. So should we really live the meerkat way?
Let me elaborate. 3DTVwatcher was one of the lucky few to catch an early screening of the National Geographic Channel’s production for Sky 3D called Meerkats 3D.
When 3DTVwatcher asked Caroline Hawkins, the film’s producer, from Oxford Scientific Films, why was the team keen on bringing the film to life in 3D, she said:
“We decided to film in 3D to bring the viewer into the meerkat world as closely as possible. The format makes the movie more natural and dramatic, rather than yet another animal study documentary.
“The footage is a glorious celebration of 3D and natural history film making at its finest.”
The production crew was assisted by Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tim Clutton-Brock, without whom according to Ms Hawkins, the filming would have taken approximately five years instead of 71 days of movie shooting and 12 weeks of editing.
Although Prof Clutton-Brock admitted that he “generally avoided being called Meerkat King”, 3DTVwatcher doubts that there is anyone else on this earth who knows as much about these small animals as him.
By the way, Prof Clutton-Brock was the one who broke the news to 3DTVwatcher – meerkat clans are led by alfafemales who aren’t very forgiving when their teenage daughters get pregnant or someone breaks into their property… Things will get ugly.
All will be revealed in this “wild reality TV” show on the Sky 3D channel on Sunday 16th October at 8pm.
The 2D version of Meerkats can be seen same day and time on Nat Geo Wild (Sky channel 528).
