Tonight I watched the premiere of “Meerkat Manor,” a new half-hour series on Animal Planet. Everybody knows meerkats are adorable as they pose up on their hind legs. But do you know what’s even cuter than a meerkat? A baby meerkat. Specifically, a three-week-old baby meerkat. Especially when they’re practicing balancing on their hind legs. And when you put a couple of baby meerkats together, the cuteness factor shoots through the roof. See, I made this icon to prove it:

“Meerkat Manor” is narrated by Sean Astin, known to most of us as Samwise Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings films. The narration is a mix of anthropomorphizing and reality - the writers attribute a lot of emotions to the meerkats, but in a way that might just indicate what they’re actually feeling - or at least doing. The animals probably don’t have the depth of feeling we do, but they definitely interact in a social way, and it’s captivating to watch. If you get Animal Planet, I definitely recommend checking out “Meerkat Manor.”

For more information about meerkats, check out the Fellow Earthlings website. For $100 you can adopt a meerkat, and that includes a two-hour session for four within the meerkat enclosure! (The center is near Palm Springs, CA.)