Meerkats in the Zoo--Are They Trainable?

I went to the San Diego Zoo for one last trip this semester and couldn't pass up the meerkat habitat, I just love these little critters! One of the zookeepers happened to be in front inviting people to come and ask questions if they had any. I figured this would be a great time to get some more information for my blog! So I decided to ask her about meerkats in captivity and if there are many behavioral differences, and also if meerkats were readily trainable in zoo settings.

The zookeeper had a lot of information. She told me that meerkats in captivity live longer and get to be almost twice the size of wild meerkats! This is due to the abundance of food and the inability to hunt and forage for food and dig new burrows--some of the only ways meerkats get exercise in the wild. She also said many of the meerkats alarm calls fall by the wayside in captivity, since there are no predators to warn the group about. This helps to explain why they were so quiet and lazy last time I observed them at the zoo!

Another interesting thing the zookeeper told me about captive meerkats is that their hierarchy system is somewhat diminished. There is still a clear alpha male and alpha female, but they are not so strict about who can and cannot have offspring. She speculates this is due, again, to the abundance of food and burrow territory, but more research is needed to know exactly why this happens. She also told me meerkats in captivity reproduce twice a year as compared to once a year in the wild, and typically have larger litters.

When I asked about how trainable meerkats are, the zookeeper said despite some of their best efforts, the meerkats here in the San Diego Zoo have not been easily trained. Their one big success story is getting several of the meerkats to use a litterbox! But mostly she believes the meerkats are best left to live as they please and attempts to train them have fallen by the wayside. She said they are very good with human interaction and will readily come up to all zookeepers when they are in their enclosure.

Overall it sounds like the meerkats in captivity here in San Diego live great lives! In comparison to their counterparts in the Kalahari Desert they are practically living in paradise! :)