There are many reasons to use reinforcement over punishment. Easier said than done one may think, but the idea relies on ones observations. If you need to use forceful methods to reach a particular goal, you may be counter productive towards the goals you want to reach, or at least Read more…
Mixed species exhibits are regularly found in modern zoos worldwide, when done correctly they can look stunningly beautiful and have a range of benefits. Having visited a fair amount of zoos it’s fascinating to see how and what zoos have put together. Often to give a more natural look to Read more…
As animal care professionals we talk a lot about the relationships we have with the animals we care for. All of us would say that we have strong positive relationships with certain animals. Many keepers value the relationships they have with those animals and draw parallels with close friends, family Read more…
Animal training is evolving all the time and we have to keep ourselves open to any and all options that will help the animals we work with learn. There are many techniques we can use, some better than others but the focus should always be on the animal. Some of Read more…
Cover Photo: Hamilton Zoo, New Zealand Might be thought provoking but that’s what we are all about! Positive reinforcement training is all about focusing on the behaviours the animal does correctly. Through successive approximation plans we try to assure the animal will not make any mis-movements. Adding a motivation strategy Read more…
Imagine this, you are taking care of animals in a zoo, some in free contact (animals you enter the enclosure with) and some in protective contact. The exhibits are pretty big. You decide to train your animals, but then think, where do I start to get my animal to understand Read more…
It’s only recently that I had a talk with one of our experienced keepers who challenged my thoughts about aggression. She came with the point that aggression is not necessarily a learned behaviour, whilst my belief was that it is. Aggression has a lot of complex behaviours. When I asked Read more…
Through my time training animals, I’ve always found it very interesting to see how our energy can effect our animals. Using our energy with a variety of animals and observing their responses is an interesting way to keep the animals engaged without any other reinforcement strategies. Challenging oneself to go Read more…
There are many different facets within the animal training field. Dog training, horse training, falconry, marine mammal training, elephant training, etc. All of these fields of expertise have their own thought process around behaviour, and this is one of the ways we can communicate to each other. One of our Read more…
Since starting my career, I’ve worked with a huge amount of animals with different social structures, from Killer whales and dolphins, to Chimpanzees, Takins, Bush dogs, Lions, and even Elephants. I’ve also worked with a lot of humans, perhaps the most complex of all but we can agree all of Read more…