Francis

I went to the San Diego Safari Park last week (will post that... later...), then went to a professional conference. One of the lectures I attended was about training and medical/husbandry behaviors at the Zoo.

Imagine that you need to examine the mouth of a tiger.  Or do an ultrasound on a panda.  Or trim the toenails of an elephant.  Or apply moisturizing cream to the feet of a bear.  Or acquire a blood sample from a cheetah.  If one of those critters doesn't want to let you do those things, you will have to chase it around with a dart gun (from the other side of a fence, no less), which is stressful for everyone, and anesthesia can be incredibly risky in some of these animals, and if it does for a minor procedures... well, that's a problem.

Coming in to the target.

Enter training.  At the San Diego Zoo, all these species (and more!) have been trained to allow all the behaviors I mentioned - and they've been taught to do it through a fence or other barrier, and they allow these procedures to be done voluntarily.  If a tiger doesn't want to let you look in its mouth, there's no way you're going to force it to let you.    There isn't a good way to trim the tusks of a hippo if the hippo won't hold its mouth open and let you put a cutting wire around the affected tooth and saw at it.  If a cheetah doesn't want to hold still and let you poke a needle into its tail (there's a nice vein in the tail, and the tail is far away from the bitey end), there's no way you're going to force it.  The Zoo also personalizes the training programs to each animal, and prioritizes behaviors based on what's important.  For example, when they sent some tiger cubs to other zoos, all the cats were trained to the point that their preshipment exams and bloodwork were able to be performed without any anesthesia necessary, and the travel was less stressful because they liked their crates and were used to the crates moving around with them inside.  Most dogs and cats can learn to allow all the same things, but most people aren't willing to put in the time and/or aren't aware it's a possibility, or they don't use the right techniques (positive methods only!) and the technical skills required require a lot of practice and training.

Mouth open.

Today, I had the fantastic opportunity to watch a short training session with a sun bear named Francis.  He has a history of cracked feet due to pacing too much - so his training sessions started as a way to give him a way to redirect some of his stress in a focussed way, and to allow shea butter ointment to be applied to his feet.  A happy side effect of these sessions is that they give him something to do and engage his mind - so he's less bored and stressed, and doesn't pace as much as he used to.  He typically gets 2-4 training sessions a day, most lasting about 5-10 minutes.

Practicing presenting toenails to be trimmed.

 Working through the fence, the trainer I was visiting with asked Francis to target - a fairly straightforward, easily taught skill.  From there, he showed me that he knew how to sit, stand up, present his chest, put his feet up to have ointment applied (front AND back - he does this by sitting down, hooking his front claws to the chainlink fence, then scootching his butt until his back feet are at the fence), open his mouth, and allow injections in his left hip.  He also demonstrated that he's learning to have his toes trimmed - but this is a project in progress, with very small steps being taken (right now, he just sticks his toenails out for a few seconds and allows the nail trimmers to approach the foot).  He was willing to do all this for a piece of omnivore kibble or a bit of fruit for each behavior, and his response to each command was faster than the "sit" command for most dogs I know (and she only had to repeat herself once the whole session).  He did leave a few times - all of this is up to the animal to decide whether he's going to participate or not - but always came back after less than a minute.  He even chose to do everything with me (a stranger!) standing just a few feet away.  He clearly enjoyed the session, and trusts the trainer.  The keepers also do sessions with him - and everybody who works with each animal logs the training sessions so everyone knows what's been accomplished, what's been worked on, and how the animal has been working.

Going back out on exhbit.

Safety is very important in these training sessions.  If most of these animals become worried or untrusting of the person working with them, there is a serious potential for injury.  Many animals are worked through fencing or other barriers to minimize risk to staff.  The animals have also been habituated to the people working with them - I very much doubt that many of these animals would do these behaviors for a newly-introduced stranger.

I think I'm going to have work with my housecats more when I get home.  After all, Kaz, the cat I'm catsitting while in San Diego, knows how to sit, stand, high-five, move to different locations as indicated, meow on command, and play the piano (not very melodically).  Then again, his owner is a trainer for Backstage Pass, an interactive animal encounter show at the Zoo...

The Kaz (playing, not performing a trained behavior :P)