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tamarin positive reinforcement

In this lessons video I am at Natureland Zoo in Nelson, New Zealand, helping to train the Zoo’s Cotton Top Tamarin Monkeys. There are three Cotton Top Tamarins that live there. The Natural habitat of these monkeys is forests in Colombia, South America. Click HERE to learn more about this species and its conservation. The room in the video where the training takes place was relatively new at the time. The room helped mimic natural Tamarin environmental conditions. Inside the room were heaters to help keep the animals warm on colder days.  We decided that we wanted the Monkeys to increase the time they spent inside this new area. Consequently we initiated some training to make that happen. Watch the video below to learn how.

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Positive reinforcement

We were using positive reinforcement to teach these animals that if they came into the room good things were going to happen. Positive Reinforcement is when something gets added to the environment after a behaviour occurs. This added stimulus acts to maintain and/or increase the frequency of that behaviour in the future. Positive Reinforcement 2In this video we add meal worms and grapes into the Tamarins environment. These get added after the Tamarins enter the room. You can see how adding these items contingent on the Tamarins behaviour increase the frequency of:

  1. The Tamarins coming into the room and;
  2. The Tamarins staying in the room.

NOTE: You only see two of the three monkeys in this lessons video. This is a good reminder that all animals are individuals. Whats reinforcing for one animal might not necessarily be reinforcing for another. The Tamarin you don’t see took a while longer to build it’s confidence. Although you don’t see it in this video, over time he eventually started coming into the room at a higher frequency as well due to the use of positive reinforcement.

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