Meerkats are highly social mongoose relatives with complex cooperative social structures and specialised anti-predator behaviours. Their welfare in zoos depends on maintaining stable family groups and providing adequate foraging and sentinel opportunities.
Meerkat welfare in zoos depends critically on social group stability and appropriate environmental design. Disrupting the mob structure — removing or introducing individuals without careful management — causes significant aggression and stress. Welfare-positive meerkat management maintains the family group structure, allowing natural dominance hierarchy expression without forced introductions that cause injury. Environmental design must include deep diggable substrate for burrowing behaviour, adequate vertical structures for sentinel posting, and warm basking areas. Meerkats in stimulating environments with varied terrain and foraging challenges show significantly more natural behaviour than those in barren enclosures. Welfare assessment should track time spent in natural behaviours including foraging, sentinel posting, and social grooming.