Where was the first meerkat exhibit and how did the meerkat craze spread?

Lafone said:
I always look at them as I find the whole family fascinating, mongoose are a real treat.

I realise I’m probably in a minority of about one on zoochatwho enjoys a meerkat enclosure.

But like you I do wish there were more diverse / rarer mongoose species in more places. I’d go out of my way to see mongoose of all sorts.

It’s such an opportunity for collections as the sub species are often active.

The films, use in ads and their social structures coupled with the sentry behaviour, means they are fun to spot for people particularly those with kids and they have instant recognition value. I’ve rarely heard a meerkat being misidentified (though some of the other mongoose family get the whole ‘it’s a meerkat’ thing). I’d expect they are also not the hardest animals to keep / maintain or to build interesting enclosures for.
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I’m also in that minority haha!

I’ve heard them misidentified as raccoons and lemurs but generally people are definitely aware of what they are.
 
As was mentioned earlier, meerkat were first seen in the US in 1908, but didn't start to become common until 1960s. The SSP has the first zoo birth listed as 1964, with births starting to become commonplace in the 1970s (by '73 zoo-borns began to outnumber wild-borns). There are still occasionally imports to bolster the US population, such as one from Czechia in 2013, which have boosted genetic diversity. The population is at about it's target level in AZA
 
I'm really glad someone took a crack at this question.

It helps to bust the myth that they owe all popularity to one film's influence. Their high activity levels alone make them a great exhibit animal - always doing something, always something to see.

Brookfield Zoo first held meerkats prior to 1974, presumably in Small Mammal House, but they were added to Baboon Island in 1978 and remained there for some time, and there is footage of them at the exhibit. The Fragile Kingdom, where their current exhibit, is located opened in 1991, although I am not sure if meerkat were there at opening. I'm fairly certain they were present within a decade.
 
I don't know if this suggests anything in particular, but further to Tim's initial comment that London Zoo's first meerkat arrived in 1830 - in 1904, they had a covered outdoor enclosure built which has its own entry in the guide/number on the map (i.e. they are not one of the many inhabitants of the small mammals house or small cats house like mongooses, civets etc, but their own entity) - I don't know if that suggests that maybe they were seen as something a bit special and different that early on?
 
Those interested in the history of meerkats in captivity should note that Frank Buckland kept the species back in the 1870s.

Buckland's experiences of keeping them are documented in his books:-

(i) Logbook of a Fisherman & Zoologist
(ii) Notes & Jottings from Animal Life
 
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