Meerkats are highly social cooperative breeders whose welfare in captivity is fundamentally dependent on the quality of their social group structure and dynamics.
Meerkat welfare cannot be adequately addressed at the individual level because their wellbeing is fundamentally a group-level phenomenon. A socially well-structured group of appropriate size and composition is itself the most important welfare provision. Captive management must maintain stable group compositions, provide adequate territory to prevent stress from overcrowding, and ensure subordinate individuals have access to resources without constant harassment from dominant animals. Enrichment for meerkats should reflect their cooperative behavioral ecology, including foraging tasks that reward group participation and sentinel platforms that allow expression of natural vigilance behavior.