Small mammals — meerkats, prairie dogs, naked mole-rats, and others — are popular zoo exhibits but often receive less welfare attention than charismatic megafauna.
Small mammal welfare in zoos deserves more systematic attention than it typically receives. The welfare problems of inappropriate social housing, day-active exhibit design for nocturnal species, and inadequate dietary complexity affect small mammals just as significantly as equivalent problems would affect large mammals — they are simply less visible. Welfare-centred small mammal management requires species-specific social housing, appropriate activity period accommodation (reverse light cycles for nocturnal species), dietary variety meeting natural ecology, and systematic welfare monitoring rather than the assumption that absence of visible distress equals good welfare.