Meerkats are highly cooperative mongooses whose welfare in captivity depends on stable social groups, appropriate substrates, and opportunities for the sentinel and foraging behaviour that define their natural social organisation.
Meerkat welfare in captivity requires authentic social group management that mirrors the cooperative structure of wild groups. Artificially composed groups of unrelated individuals lack the kinship bonds that underpin cooperative behaviour in the wild, resulting in higher aggression and less cooperative activity. Best-practice facilities maintain stable family-derived groups, provide deep substrate for burrowing, create elevated sentinel points that are used voluntarily by group members, and deliver enrichment that requires cooperative or competitive foraging. The high visitor interaction that meerkat exhibits generate requires careful management: habituated meerkats can tolerate moderate visitor presence, but crowds and sudden movements cause stress that undermines welfare.