I've seen a mention of this somewhere but I still wonder if she is the leader or someone else. Alternately, maybe it's just a neutral group without a specific leader. What do you all think?
In the show "Meerkat Manor" and in real life in the wilderness, there's an alpha female in every group who commands everyone, and in a big group like "Meerkat Manor", she can be vicious to the point where she evicts her own daughters who have pups, because only the alpha is allowed to have kids.
Ma is a compassionate character, which is lovely to see.