Meerkats are intensely social animals whose welfare in captivity depends on maintaining stable family groups with appropriate sentinel and foraging behaviours.
Meerkat welfare in zoo settings is frequently compromised by inadequate substrate for burrowing and insufficient environmental complexity for their highly active foraging lifestyle. Their extreme popularity as zoo exhibits — due to their charming sentinel behaviour and apparent engagement with visitors — creates pressure to maximise visitor exposure at the expense of welfare provision. Genuinely welfare-first meerkat exhibits provide deep sandy substrate, varied terrain and stable family group compositions that allow natural social and foraging expression.