Adopt a Gorilla or Golden Lion Tamarin.
Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History.
Training at the National Zoo is done to monitor animal health, provide
essential medical procedures and preventative care without
the use of restraint or anesthesia.
Frequently, you will see a keeper interacting with one of the animals through the mesh. Zoo visitors get the opportunity to observe daily animal management and care.
Training also provides for the animals by:
- Successful animal management, which may help to move animals
more readily from one enclosure to another or to prepare
them for medical procedures.
- Promoting physical exercise and mental challenges that
stimulate the animals.
- Animals, such as the great apes, retrieve foreign objects in their enclosure and rather than eat or destroy them, can present them to a keeper for a treat.
The Smithsonian National Zoo trains its animals using positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement involves the following:
- Focuses on building good or correct behavior and ignoring
incorrect behavior.
- As the animal displays correct behavior, a reward in the
form of a whistle bridge, treat or praise is given.
- Treats given during training are removed from the diet bag for weight control. We do not use food deprivation
as a training technique.
- Bridge training (clicker or whistle) along with hand signals and voice cues help shape the behavior the trainer wants.
- If the animal does not respond correctly, the keeper’s
response is to either say “no” or ignore the
behavior. Negative stimuli are never used for an incorrect
response.
- Animals always have the choice of participating in training sessions.
Training often consists of mock medical procedures such as presenting a body part for examination or opening the mouth for inspection and cleaning.
Training begins by requesting a behavior such as presenting
a hand for examination. When the correct behavior is performed
a whistle is sounded, creating a bridge for the animal. Pairing
the bridge with the food reward and timed with the correct behavioral response reinforces, or shapes, the behavior. Eventually
the keeper should be able to simply say “hand”
and the correct behavior is performed.
The following is a partial list of primate training:
Gorillas
- Present a body part for examination
- Retrieve and trade items with the keepers
- Daily shifting routines
- Health-related behaviors, including urination
- Syringe training for anesthesia
Orangutans
- Present a body part for examination
- Retrieve and trade items with the keepers
- Daily shifting routine
- List Retention with Karyl Swartz
Gibbons
- Daily shifting routine
- Scale training
Lemurs
- Daily shifting routine
- Scale training
In the wild, animals spend a lot of time foraging or resting, and these behaviors occur in zoo settings as well.
The body language of animals is not the same as that of humans. Apes’ facial expressions and postures are sometimes considered sad or bored by people who do not understand the context of the behavior from the animal's perspective.
A careful study of behavior (breeding, aggression, eating)
and physical measures (weight, hormones, hair condition) by
knowledgeable observers is the way to truly determine an animal’s
health and mental condition.
