My daughter Victoria is studying the genetic code of meerkats in the Netherlands. Not being native to the low countries, their social behavior presents challenges to their hosts (in zoos) -meerkat colonies can only have one "alpha-male" at a time. Those males unlucky enough to be born into a colony with existing aplha become" rogue males", wandering about in a quest to stumble upon a colony with a need to replace recently deceased alpha- an opportunity that presents itself regularly in the wilds of the Kalahari- much less so in zoos. Somehow, I can't get the idea of a "rogue male meerkat" out of my head...
