on the gene pool by saving a weaker meerkat [or] affecting the outcome of what's natural in the Kalahari." As the research project is monitoring "...the breeding success and survival of individuals and ... the factors that affect reproduction and survival" interfering in the natural processes would render the research results invalid. There is one exception to this rule: researchers will euthanize meerkats that contract tuberculosis, to prevent outbreaks that would threaten both the meerkat population and nearby cattle. Awards Meerkat Manor was nominated for a 2005 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Award in the "Animal Behaviour" category, and in 2007 for "Best Original Score". At the 2006 Wildscreen Festival, the series was a finalist in three categories: "Animal Behaviour", "Innovation", and "Popular Broadcast". The series won Gold Statues in "Natural History" and "Cinematography", and a Silver Statue for "Writing", at the 2006 Omni Awards. The eighth episode of series three, "Journey's End" which depicts the death of Whiskers matriarch Flower, was awarded the 2008 Wildscreen Festival Panda Award in the "Five Award for Popular Broadcast Programme" category. Meerkat Manor was a two-time Gold Medal winner in the "Nature & Wildlife" category at the New York Festivals Award Gala, in 2006 for series one, and again in 2007 for series one and two. The series was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007, one for "Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming" and one for "Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming", and again for "Outstanding Cinematography" in 2008. In 2009 the series was awarded the Grand Award at the New York Festivals International Television Programming and Promotion Awards in the "Family Programmes" category. Impact on the genre Meerkat Manor's innovative new methods of filming allowed the Kalahari Project scientists a chance to uncover aspects of meerkat life never before seen, including life within the burrows. The film crew was also the first to capture meerkat infanticide on film. While many documentaries maintain an emotional distance from their subjects, Meerkat Manor – due to its extended length, soap opera-like narration, romanticization of the animals' lives, and close-up filming techniques, provides a closer, more personal view of the meerkats. Viewers describe being emotionally involved in the animals' lives, sometimes forgetting they are watching a documentary. The meerkats' frequently short lives and brutal deaths become surprising and disturbing to some audiences. This experimental format was seen as expanding the boundaries of both the nature