Meerkats are highly social animals requiring complex group management in captivity, with welfare depending significantly on appropriate social structure and behavioral outlets.
Meerkat welfare in captivity depends heavily on appropriate social management and environmental design. As cooperative, vigilant social animals, meerkats need group living, elevated vantage points for sentinel behavior, and complex environments that engage their naturally active and inquisitive natures. Diet is a welfare dimension often underemphasized — meerkats in the wild spend hours digging for insects, scorpions, and other invertebrates, and providing varied invertebrate enrichment in captivity partially fulfills this foraging drive. Temperature management including appropriate heating and UV access supports their natural thermoregulatory behaviors. The best meerkat programs view their high activity levels not as a challenge but as an indication of good health and welfare to be supported.