“They’re just like furry little people!” The charm of a meerkat, with its upright stance and seemingly affectionate nature, can be incredibly appealing. It’s easy to see why someone might think, “A meerkat would make the perfect pet!” However, before you consider bringing one of these captivating creatures into your home, it’s crucial to understand the reality behind their endearing facade. Meerkats, or suricates ( Suricata suricatta ), are wild animals with complex needs, and the truth is, keeping them as pets is far more challenging – and often detrimental to the meerkat – than many people realize.
The Wild Nature of Meerkats: Instincts Over Affection
Unlike domesticated animals like dogs and cats, meerkats remain fundamentally wild. Their behaviors are driven by survival instincts honed over generations in the harsh landscapes of the Kalahari Desert. That endearing habit of a meerkat following you around? It’s not affection; it’s a deeply ingrained survival mechanism. In the wild, a solitary meerkat is incredibly vulnerable. Young meerkats instinctively stay close to the group for safety from predators like hawks and eagles. This constant need for security and proximity is a 24/7 reality for them, lasting their entire lifespan, which can be around 15 years. This inherent need for constant companionship places an immense burden on the human attempting to bond with a meerkat.
Social Animals, Not Solitary Pets
Meerkats are obligate group-living animals. Their well-being is intrinsically linked to being part of a social unit. They thrive on constant interaction, physical contact, and the security of their mob. To isolate a meerkat, especially in confinement, is an act of profound cruelty. Deprived of social interaction, they can develop severe psychological distress. This can manifest in various ways, from hysteria and aggression to obsessive self-grooming, sometimes leading to self-mutilation. This trauma stems from the deep-seated fear of abandonment, a primal terror for a creature wired for constant group security.
The Destructive Side of Meerkat Behavior: Garden and Home Havoc
For those who cherish a pristine garden, a pet meerkat is a recipe for horticultural heartbreak. Digging isn’t just a pastime for meerkats; it’s a fundamental instinct. Over 90% of their natural diet consists of subterranean creatures – grubs, beetles, scorpions, and the like. Baby meerkats begin digging as young as 8 weeks old, and by 5 months, they can be dedicated diggers for up to 6 hours daily. Even a well-fed meerkat needs to dig to satisfy this innate drive. Their powerful forepaws, equipped with long, robust nails, are a testament to their evolutionary design as digging machines. Trying to suppress this behavior is futile.
Garden Demolition
In a garden setting, this digging instinct translates to widespread destruction. Lawns become riddled with holes, flowerbeds are uprooted, and meticulously landscaped areas resemble a “miniature minefield.” This isn’t malicious; it’s simply a meerkat being a meerkat.
Indoor Chaos
The digging doesn’t stop outdoors. Indoors, the consequences can be equally devastating. Meerkats will excavate grout from between tiles, tear apart carpets, and dig into skirting boards, plaster walls, and even cement floors. Stuffed furniture and potted plants are also prime targets for their digging endeavors. A meerkat in a house is essentially a miniature, relentless demolition crew.
Dietary Needs: A Challenge for Owners
Meeting a meerkat’s dietary requirements is far more complex than feeding a dog or cat. Their natural insectivorous diet is crucial, especially during their early months. Insect exoskeletons are rich in calcium, vital for bone and tooth development. This necessitates supplementing their diet with insects or calcium and vitamin powders to prevent debilitating conditions like rickets.
Specialized Diet
Commercial dog or cat food is inadequate for meerkats. Dog food is too low in protein and too high in carbohydrates, leading to obesity. Cat food is slightly better but still doesn’t replicate their natural feeding patterns. Meerkats are adapted to continuous foraging and consuming small food items throughout the day, unlike the larger, less frequent meals of domestic pets.
Feeding Frequency and Obesity
Due to their rapid metabolism, meerkats often act hungry and beg for food constantly. Overfeeding in response to this begging, coupled with insufficient exercise (wild meerkats can travel up to 5km daily), quickly leads to obesity and related health problems.
Aggression and Scent Marking: Unpleasant Surprises
While young meerkats can be initially friendly, their temperament can change dramatically around 6 months of age as they mature and their wild instincts fully emerge.
Aggression Towards Strangers
A ‘pet’ meerkat, now reaching adulthood and potentially imprinted on humans, may perceive visitors as threats to its group (you, its human family). This can trigger aggressive behavior towards strangers. Attacks can be severe, with meerkats biting and latching on, causing significant injury. Children, perceived as vulnerable, are often targeted. This aggression is purely instinctual, a defense mechanism against perceived intruders, and punishment will not alter this ingrained behavior.
Scent Marking Issues
The development of anal glands around this age also introduces another challenge: scent marking. Meerkats use a musky secretion to mark their territory. In a domestic setting, this translates to scent marking on furniture and various surfaces throughout the house. While this behavior provides the meerkat with a sense of security and “home,” the pervasive musky odor is often unpleasant for human cohabitants.
Ethical Concerns: The Meerkat’s Well-being
The desire to keep a meerkat as a pet often stems from admiration for their unique charm. However, the reality of meerkat ownership frequently leads to tragic outcomes for the animal. The extreme measures some owners resort to in an attempt to make meerkats “fit” into a domestic lifestyle raise serious ethical questions.
Mutilation and Cruelty
Cases of meerkats being declawed, castrated, and even having their teeth removed are horrifyingly documented. These cruel mutilations are attempts to curb their natural instincts and make them more manageable as pets. Such practices are not only inhumane but also deeply detrimental to the meerkat’s physical and psychological well-being.
Rethink Meerkat Ownership: For Your Sake and Theirs
Taking on a meerkat as a pet is a lifelong commitment, demanding 24/7 attention and adaptation to its wild nature. It means accepting potential home destruction, a specialized and demanding diet, and the possibility of aggression towards visitors. It means living with pervasive scent marking and understanding that their “affection” is rooted in survival instinct, not genuine companionship in the way we understand it with domesticated pets.
For your own peace of mind, and most importantly, for the well-being of these fascinating but inherently wild creatures, reconsider the idea of a meerkat as a pet. Their place is not in our homes but thriving in their natural habitat, amongst their own kind.
Reference:
- Based on the expert insights of Prof. Anne Rasa, a pioneer in the study of social mongoose behavior and author of “Mongoosewatch.”
