Wednesday Abstracts

Wednesday Videos (Requires login)

Featured Speaker

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​Sabrina Brando

Take Care to Give Care

will publish PDFs of presentation soon

Live Animal Demonstration

​Jerusalem Zoo


Elly Neumann

Wednesday Papers

It's the Little Things,
The Fine Art of Training Animals​

Steve Martin

Natural Encounters, Inc.

Full Abstract

For many people, training is little more than giving a cue, bridging correct performance of a behavior and delivering a treat. For some, this is enough. With low expectations and the comfort that comes with avoiding mistakes, some people take weeks to train a simple behavior an animal can learn in one session. What’s missing here are the little things. Little things can ruin a session and little things can save a session. An inch too close, a bridge a millisecond too late, and a missed body language cue are just a few of the little things that can derail a training session. This presentation examines some of the most important “Little Things” that have Big influence on creating productive training sessions.

The Reptile Revolution: Embracing Reptiles in the Melbourne Zoo Training Philosophy​​

Bianca Papadopoulos and Raelene Hobbs​
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Melbourne Zoo

Full Abstract

Historically, training reptiles has not been a high priority in the zoo industry. They were commonly thought to be poor learners. Often, husbandry practices, like transporting of animals and veterinary procedures, were done under manual restraint. Recently, with more interest in incorporating the science of behaviour change into reptile training programs, reptiles are included in zoo-wide training programs. The ectotherm team at Melbourne Zoo have worked very hard to empower the reptiles to use their behaviour to be active participants in their own care. Through arranging antecedents, high rates of reinforcement and ensuring the trainers adjust their behaviour dynamically, based on the animal’s responses, a great deal of progress and welfare improvements have been made. This presentation will explore the evolution of reptile training at the zoo and showcase a few examples in the program including a Rhinoceros Iguana (Cyclura cornuta) scale, recall, crating and nail trim behaviours. A Philippines Crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis) target, recall and crating behaviours and the Aldabra Giant Tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) scale and blood draw behaviours.

Live Animal Demonstration

Turtle Bay Exploration Park


Sharon Clay

Fox, Raven, Raccoon and Desert Tortoise

Featured Speaker

The Plight of the Koalas in the Greater Blue Mountains

Jen Tobey

SDZWA

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has been working with Science for Wildlife in Australia since 2014 examining the behavior and ecology of koalas in the Greater Blue Mountain Region. Unfortunately, in the summer of 2019/20 this area was greatly impacted by bushfires. After dealing with the immediate emergency issues from the fires, such as supplying local wildlife with food and water, attending burned animals, as well as a rescue mission of 12 koalas; research began on assessing the long-term effects these fires had on the koalas. Utilizing all resources available to them, teams have been going out and surveying the five primary sites that are part of this project for the past 7 years. This research is being done with the help of koala poop sniffing dogs, sound recorders and citizen scientists so that the plight of the koalas in this region can be documented. Over 400 surveys have been completed so far and this along with camera trap photos and sound recordings will start to paint a picture of what the recovery of both the koalas and the forest they live in looks like for the future of this iconic species that continues to face pressures from climate change.