Nothing brings a nation together like the untimely death of an icon. And when Flower, the erstwhile alpha female lead of Animal Planet’s hit show, Meerkat Manor, was dispatched by a venomous snake to that Great Prairie Mound in the Sky on Sept. 28, the tributes swiftly flooded in. Seriously — it’s like our own Princess Di, if she were a tiny, partially bipedal rodent.
But we digress. While we await the inevitable Elton John single ("Candle in the Wind ‘07: Flower’s Lament"), we give you a survey of the painfully heartfelt tributes currently floating around on that greatest of equalizers, YouTube — a passing parade of wet, full-of-feeling meerkat eyes, mournful music, and genuinely stricken RIP sentiments. Below, a random sampling:
To the tune — shameless! — of Celine’s "My Heart Will Go On":
A spare elegy accompanied by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s familiar, lovely cover of "Over the Rainbow."
Theme song courtesy of Alan Jackson, tears courtesy of you.
So tell us, readers, now that you’ve had time to process the events of last week, what has the death of the Queen of the Kalahari meant to you? I’ve always been a little suspicious of all that narrative anthropomorphizing, but I can’t lie — it struck me. She died protecting her brood! She had so much left to give! Then again, seven years is a pretty long stretch for any animal in the wild, let alone one so preyed-upon. I mean, her enemies actually eat each other’s babies. Still, she is missed, is she not?
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I’ll miss you FLOWER
flower was always my least favorite
I’m still upset at the death of Shakespeare and Tosca and now Flower dies and Zaphod is trying to carry on in her absence. It is all too sad. Love the show, but it does rip you apart to get attached to these little creatures and see them suffer and die in later episodes.
I will miss you Flower, You were truly a meerkat Queen. You ran the show, and your dominate ways were beautiful. You took no crap from no one.
I haven’t been able to watch the most recent season of Meerkat Manor (because my stupid cable company, in its infinite *coughs* wisdom during the whole Adelphia-Time Warner debacle, unceremoniously removed Animal Planet from the channel lineup), so I didn’t find out about the demise of Flower until just now. Words cannot convey my shock, dismay, and raw sadness I feel over this loss. I’m an emotional wreck as it is, and a pure lover of all creatures of the animal kingdom (even the snakes!). Flower’s untimely and ill-fated death only compounds my feelings. Rest in peace, Flower. You will be forever missed.
I did’nt know about it until today. I almost cried. I love the Whiskers family. Flower could be a real beaach but you had to respect her.
RIP Flower- I’ll always love you
I am 62 years old and I had to fast forward through most of that episode where she was bitten as I found it too painful to watch. And yes, I cried, just like a million little kids. The show was built around Flower – and her amazing ability to “carry on”….when you follow a show over 2 seasons they get to be like your own pets…silly of course, but very human. It is like watching I, Claudius in the desert…I am glad a nation of meerkat lovers can get so tied up in a show…there is hope for us all. The kids and partents in the UK are having just a rough a time with this….
RIP Flower.
Flower’s death was truly heartbreaking! I was bummed for days. I’m still bummed.
Oh no! I didn’t know about this until today. I’ve missed the last few episodes. So sad. Poor Flower.
Flower was a fascinating character on TV and I’m still not happy that Rocketdog is now the main meerkat instead of the resilient Mozart.
I LOOOOOVVVEEEE this show. I got sucked into a rerun one night and have watched it ever since. Good to know I’m not the only person who watches it.
I always thought Flower was a major b!tch, but I bawled like I lost my best friend when she died. I miss you, Flower!
I, too, shed a few tears for Flower. Like others, I still miss poor Shakespeare and I HATE that Rocket Dog is back in power. My new fave ‘kat is Mitch, because he’s always looking out for “The Kids.”
I don’t think that Flower was seven I think that she was about 5 or 6. Regardless, she was the Queen of the Kalahari. She had built her family up to an amazing number. I’m 62 also, but when I found out because I had taped that segment, I almost started crying in the grocery store. That little 12 inch iron lady was loving, protective and a strong leader. It’s just like when Dale Earnhardt (Nascar Racing) died in 2001. I still think of him just before a race waiting for him to go to his car. Now when I watch Meerkat Manor I feel empty and now am very sad for Zafod, Flower’s loyal companion. The Meerkat’s have quite a family, Dominate Female, companion, babysitters for the pups, some always on watch. I do look forward to see how Axel is going to turn out that was the last loving that Flower got, when Mitch dropped Axel at her feet. She, by all rights, would have killed a pup from another mob, but she didn’t and now he is a Whisker. I miss Flower, it’s just not the same.
what flower did was the only thing that could bring millions of people down to tears she was sent by God to show us the importance family and so that we show that flower will always be in are heart no matter she will be remebered as the queen of the meerkats God bless
I will really miss Flower-she was my
shero. So strong and confidant!
Meerkats are not rodents, they’re a member of the Herpestidae family. I was deeply saddened by her death. However, I realize Meerkats have inhabited the Kalahari for 60,000 years. There have been thousands like her, and there will thousands more like her. Nature always strikes a delicate balance, and as wonderful as she made us feel Flower was the latest casualty in that balance. Rest in peace my furry little friend!
For starters meerkats are NOT rodents they are a member of the mongoose family or known by the scientific classification suricata suricatta. Far be it for anyone to discount the feelings of others by putting them down for what they feel or believe. I for one was devastated by the death of Flower, but so were tens of thousand of people all over the world, amazing to know that a twelve inch little critter could move people to that kind of emotion. then you have others who refer to them as rodents or make fun of the fact that people were moved to tears over her death, of course those are the people that are eagerly following the ridiculous Brittany saga, oh my gawd what will happen next. For those of you out there that mourn Flower or love the suricata suricatta (meerkats)you can go to http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/meerkat/flower/flower.html
What….Flower is dead, oohhhhnooooooooo
Flower,Mozart,Shakespeare,Kinkachue, Woopie and many more have left us I miss them all Starting with Flower, first of all RIP Flower you where the Iron lady and dessert’s favorite rose and we all will miss you every day now that Kinkachue your half neese is with you Woopie your half neese aswell and Mozart are with you above us and soon your old timer Zaphod will ncome too I dare and hate to say RIP I say agen will all miss you I think you might have somnething here, something bad Rocketdog and Mablein both want to be leader Rocketdog had had it like you yourself would have but Mabalein is doing it just for the fame thats ok though no matter what your legacy will live on we will all remember your name Mozart now YUou where strong and powerful and truly the last Starky member ever and you are agmired for that RIP sorry Sheakspeare and KInckacue and Woopie but I have to go so I will write about you later RIP to you all
Flower,Mozart,Shakespeare,Kinkachue, Woopie and many more have left us I miss them all Starting with Flower, first of all RIP Flower you where the Iron lady and dessert’s favorite rose and we all will miss you every day now that Kinkachue your half neese is with you Woopie your half neese aswell and Mozart are with you above us and soon your old timer Zaphod will ncome too I dare and hate to say RIP I say agen will all miss you I think you might have somnething here, something bad Rocketdog and Mablein both want to be leader Rocketdog had had it like you yourself would have but Mabalein is doing it just for the fame thats ok though no matter what your legacy will live on we will all remember your name Mozart now YUou where strong and powerful and truly the last Starky member ever and you are agmired for that RIP sorry Sheakspeare and KInckacue and Woopie but I have to go so I will write about you later RIP to you all
I loved Flower & Mozart sooooooooo much.How could our queen & princess die!Well there goes Starsky. Meerkat Manor will NEVER be the same without them! RD doesn’t seem fit for a leader. Daisy can do better! If Rocketdog was going to stay leader she should have evicted Maybelline so the group didn’t split! flower’s group is splitting up!!
I miss Flower & Mozart sooooo much! I wish i could have saved them.
These are tiny animals living in a harsh wilderness, wiht no safety net. Snack size for many predators, quick to starve or freeze to death. The facts – the average female meerkat, if surviving childhood, has a life expectancy of about three. A quarter of all meerkats perish any given year. Flower was born in 2000, Zaphod in 1998. One dominant female in the Vivian clan lived to be twelve and ruled for ten years.
They are astonishing animals and Flower was good at her natural role. Propagating her genes as a dominant female. She left something like 70 offspring? I find it astonishing that there aren´t far more tragedies on the show (compare it to “Meerkat Family Saga”) and that is probably mainly due to the size and experience of the mobs. Their reliance on social cohesion is of course what makes the meerkats interesting, and usable for a “soap opera”. You can see that in comparison to the mobs that are too small, like Gattaca or the ill-fated Starskies, they just die out.
*I KNEW WHO THE DM OF THE WHISKERS IS* he’s related to RD so they can’t mate.You might remember him from season 1 give it up for DUDLEY!!! i found out when i saw his stage name somewhere. then i looked up his name and turns out that Mr. Dudley is the new DM.
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Hey missing mozart, im here to, just like the other two blogs. I like the mournful mozart one the best. How about you.
hi no.1.mozart fan!!!!
i’m finaley alone from sis.Rachel “like totaly!”LOL:-) i really like mournful mozart too.
So nice to see you again. Both of us seem to be on every meerkat manor blog. I just found this one out yesterday. Yes, you dont have to post with your sister Rachel, thats a relief, wright.
yea it IS a relief!lol.she’s all ways buggen me to type this or type that! or sometimes she just charges in to take over.thank you mom for gitten her a laptop.anyway were always on the same blog!lol:-)