This podcast is part two of a conversation I had with Bianca Papadopolus, Senior Primate keeper from Melbourne Zoo Australia. You can listen to part one by clicking HERE.Bianca has been working in the zoo industry and training animals for over ten years. Last year in 2015 she traveled to the US and visited numerous industry leading organisations and attended various workshops led by some of the biggest names in the field. In the first half of the podcast we discuss training animals to participate in voluntary health procedures and training groups of animals. In part two we talk about some future trends in animal training including
- Exploring how long standing animal keepers have changed their mind set on animal training and adapted their keeping style to facilitate daily training sessions.
- Observing how research study training is conducted in conjunction with zookeepers and research scientists.
- Discussing how animal training is an aspect of behavior science and is consequently constantly evolving. We discuss new advances in the science behind the training.
CLICK HERE to view/read Bianca’s ISS institute fellowship report
Positive reinforcement trends – with humans as well.
In this episode we talk about how positive reinforcement training works with all species of animals. As human beings we are not excluded. Like all animals we are constantly moving towards the things we want and away from the things we don’t.
Positive reinforcement trends – scientific research in zoos.
One thing that really stuck out for me in this podcast is when Bianca talks about some of the research that is going on in Zoos. Specifically when she talks about zoos measuring cortisol levels in the animals poo. One of my favourite sayings is by management Guru Peter Drucker who said “If you can’t measure it then you can’t manage it.” Having new scientific information available to support best practice is so important.
Positive reinforcement trends – Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
The great work being done by Dr Susan Friedman is really contributing to our animal training knowledge. Dr Friedman originally implemented ABA with people but has now brought this information across to the animal trianing world. This had helped provide clear guidelines moving forward regarding the application of the most positive and less intrusive animal training techniques. You can view Dr Freidmans’ website HERE
Part two as enjoyable and informative as part one. So interesting and inspiring to hear what is going on in the world of training. We are just starting out on the training journey at my zoo and as a small zoo we will never be able to hit the heights of the larger zoo’s but I really think we can start to explore a lot of the things you guys have talked about. If we can learn to teach our animals the power of their own choice I think I would be pretty happy! Thanks again Bianca and Ryan for sharing your knowledge.
I am a trainer in my 50’s. I wish this knowledge and training methods had been available when I was young! Amazing the changes that are taking place today in Zoos, Marine Parks and the domestic animal training industry. So glad to say goodbye to techniques that I witnessed as a young person that were quite frankly abusive. Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much Jane.
It made my heart sing to read that and really reinforces my efforts.
Much appreciated
Ryan Cartlidge