and a single sound engineer; researchers have required a minimal human presence to avoid stressing the animals. Eye-level shots were difficult to achieve at times, due to the meerkats' small size and the limited height of even the smallest tripods. For tracking purposes by the researchers, the dominant female of each group is fitted with a radio collar, as are some dominant and roaming males. The meerkats – especially younger animals – are marked with dye to differentiate them. As the meerkats are habituated, they would tend to ignore the camera crew as long as their "personal space" was respected. National variations The UK and US versions of the show have the same content for most episodes; however, the latter was sometimes edited for length to allow for more commercial breaks. Content was also sometimes altered; mating scenes in particular were often removed from the US version. Animal Planet US occasionally changed the names of meerkats and episode titles. Two of Flower's pups were renamed from Ren and Stumpy to Len and Squiggy; the title of the episode was also changed. De la Soul (named for the rap group of the same name), one of the sisters who started the Starsky group, was renamed Whoopi in the US as a tribute to actress Whoopi Goldberg, an early fan of the series. Animal Planet US has also renamed some of Flower's pups born in season three to honour two other famous fans of the show, Elizabeth Taylor and Denis Leary. Several episodes were renamed: the title of the final episode of the second series was changed from "The Killing Fields" to "The Quiet Fields". During the third series, the third episode's title was changed from "Something's Got to Give" to "Sister Act" (another Goldberg reference), while the sixth episode's title changed from "The House of Zappa" to "Sibling Rivalry". Narrative The show follows several groups of meerkats, who act communally for the benefit of the groups in which they live. These groups are typically led by a dominant female and male, who maintain almost exclusive rights to have offspring. The group followed most closely is known as the Whiskers family. This group was chosen because of its matriarch Flower, an unusually successful dominant female who led the group for five years. During series three, Flower died from a snake bite and was succeeded by her daughter Rocket Dog. Animals in neighbouring