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Guest Speaker
Exotic Animal Training: The Constructional Approach to Addressing Extreme Fear Responses and Aggressive BehaviorIn zoological settings we are training everything from snarling big cats to flighty herds of antelopes. Traditionally our first step has involved delivering preferred food items. But some animals present such extreme fear responses or aggressive behavior in the presence of humans, that food holds little value. Trying to use systematic desensitization and keeping animals below threshold can be challenging to apply for many reasons. Results are often slowly realized in these cases, if at all. The constructional approach empowers animals to replace fear or aggressive behavior with desired responses. Using this procedure, the animal is approaching to accept appetitives usually within one or two sessions. When applying the constructional approach in zoos, we have a number of different challenges to address such as enclosure design, limited visibility, needing to know the natural history of the species, and how to apply the protocol to a group of animals. This presentation will address questions such as what is maintaining undesired behavior, why the usual advice of superimposition of positively reinforced behavior is less successful, and why behavioral interventions are non-linear. It will also provide video examples of how the constructional approach is helping a variety of species of animals commonly cared for in zoos.
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Friday Papers
BMF Scholarship Presentation
Using The Premack Principle
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The Importance Of Training For Enhancing The Animal Welfare For The Birds Of Prey At Landgoed Hoenderdaell, The NetherlandsSilke Kruk,
Saskia Verbruggen Animal Training Roundeurope, Landgoed Hoenderdaell Full Abstract
The main goal of animal trainers and caretakers should be to make sure the welfare of the animals under their care is as great as possible. Training is an important tool to accomplish this. Training provides physical and mental stimulus and often makes taking care of the animals a lot easier. For the birds of prey at Landgoed Hoenderdaell, which are used in educational demonstrations, training has made sure that the animals can be housed in a more natural way then before. They were housed in the traditional falkery way. Which means perched on blocks. Now they are housed in large aviaries, without the use of jesses. The birds have gained a lot of freedom to move around and make their own decisions. But we still can use them as ambassador birds. In this presentation we show you how we have accomplished this change through training. And how the welfare of our birds has been improved. |
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Social Media Panel
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Clay Carabajal
Holly Richards
Rebecca Fabri |
Friday Papers (cont.)
Training Free Flight Parrots --
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Positive Reinforcement In A Pinch
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Guest Speakers
Thad and Angi Lacinak Precision Behavior |
Targeting and Desensitization in
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Friday Papers (cont.)
Rodents Of Unending Surprises
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Early Morning Cheetah ExperienceCharmaine Davis San Diego Zoo Full Abstract
As animal caregivers and educators we are constantly working to create innovative, mission- aligned educational experiences for our guests, to show species specific behavior and to not make our animals look like pets. This is a challenge!! Cheetah need to be double leashed when in the public, which restricts the ability to show a variety of natural behavior. Together the educators and animal ambassador staff, formulated and created a premium tour, which has proved highly successful, and is meeting all the needs. A specialized "safety enclosure" was especially constructed for the guests, who can safely view cheetah running off leash after lures and giggle balls interacting with their care givers, demonstrating natural behaviors. After running the cheetah are leashed up and guests escorted to a seating area where the cheetah is given its whole prey item (rabbit or shank bone). As the animal eats the prey, trainers introduce themselves and their qualifications and experiences, we discuss: conservation facts, pet trade concerns, Operant Conditioning and the many benefits of offering whole prey to our carnivores at the zoo. After the cheetah experience guests continue with the tour to other animals areas. In this presentation we will demonstrate; how we trained the animals and staff, facility modifications, educational/conservation messaging and how the final tour looks. |