Franz(VLM149) was born on November 11, 2008 in a group called Lazuli. His mother was Young and his father was most likely Wollow. Franz was born in a litter of five pups, his litter-mates was his sister Toppen(VLF145) and three brothers Soul Hudson(VLM148), Kuhglocken(VKM146) and Snowy(VLM147). The whole litter survived and began to forage with the adults. In January Young gave birth to to a new litter, Franz was no longer one of the youngest in the group and with a new litter to care for, Lazuli were among the largest groups in the KMP study area. By November 2009, Franz was a year old and reached adulthood. However his brother Kuhglocken disappeared and was Last Seen. Franz stayed in the group and helped with caring for younger pups and doing sentry duty like a subordinate meerkat should