Meerkats are highly social mongoose species that live in cooperative groups. Zoo welfare requires appropriate group management, thermoregulation opportunities, and enrichment matching their foraging lifestyle.
Meerkat welfare in zoos centres on maintaining functional social group dynamics and providing enrichment that engages their extensive foraging behaviour. Group size is critical: meerkats have evolved complex cooperative behaviours that are expressed only in appropriately sized groups. The dominant female's reproductive suppression of subordinates means group management must account for potential welfare costs of this hierarchy for lower-ranking individuals. Substrate quality is essential for welfare: meerkats are burrowing animals requiring deep substrate for thermoregulation and natural behaviour expression. Foraging enrichment — scatter feeding, buried food items, insect-based enrichment — extends feeding time from the brief opportunity of twice-daily feeding to more natural patterns. Their popularity as exhibit animals must not translate to excessive visitor disturbance that prevents normal foraging and sentinel behaviour.