OPERANT CONDITIONING AND THE MEMPHIS ZOO
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Operant conditioning makes health checks possible.
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Every day, animals and humans naturally behave and perform tasks from eating to sleeping without even thinking about them. Additional natural behaviors like waving, yawning, walking and others can be shaped into actions that, for animals, can be used to better their physical and mental health.
At zoos across the country, the very training methods handed down from zookeepers for generations are being shaped into something completely different. These new methods have proved to be beneficial to both animal and trainer by improving the relationship between the two and bridging the gap of animal/keeper communication.
Through experiments initially done on pigeons, psychiatrist B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) took Pavlov’s famous classical
conditioning technique and molded it into a process that rewarded partial action in steps leading up to the final behavior.
The Memphis Zoo has been on the forefront of animal training. The use of
operant conditioning has improved the relationship between animal and keeper and is creating a better living and working environment for both.
By using operant conditioning, the keepers are truly gaining the trust of the animals with which they are working, and the animals are being stimulated to think about the behavior asked to be performed. But, these behaviors are not limited to show acts such as jumping out of water on command or waving a flipper to a captive audience - like our sea lions do. Keepers are training animals to connect a behavior crucial to their physical and mental health with a
cue or signal and then rewarding the animal when it behaves correctly.
How does one begin the process of
positive reinforcement training with exotic animals? The key is patience.
Capturing and shaping are basic techniques that can be used in training animals. Capturing is when the animal offers a behavior and the trainer reinforces it in hopes this will increase the likelihood the behavior will reoccur. Shaping, as B.F. Skinner did with pigeons, can be used to train behaviors from scratch and can also be used to refine captured behaviors.
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Sea Lion performing a handstand during a show.
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One tool that makes shaping easier is a
target. Targets may be objects like a buoy on the end of a pole to the trainer’s fist. The animal learns to touch a specific body part, usually the nose, to the target in order to get the reward. The target is then moved in order to guide the animal toward the goal behavior like turning around.
Another important factor in operant conditioning is
desensitization. Desensitizing an animal to a needle takes time and patience. Keepers begin prodding the animal with a small blunt needle and slowly work their way to getting the animal used to a larger and sharper needle. They continue this until the animal is completely used to the sensation and process.
Vets, as well as keepers, find operant conditioning helpful in working with exotic wild animals. In order to take blood from animals like sea lions in the past, vets and keepers had to capture the animal in order to perform any tests, check-ups or vaccinations. This process proved to be quite stressful on the animals, vets and keepers. It was especially strenuous for marine mammals that had to be transported out of their aquatic environment. By using operant conditioning instead, vets are now able to work one-on-one with the animal - always using precaution and often using
protective contact.
Not only does the use of operant conditioning help with animal husbandry procedures, but it also increases the mental health of animals experiencing training.
ANIMAL TRAINING GLOSSARY
Capturing - When the animal offers a behavior and the trainer reinforces it in hopes this will increase the likelihood the behavior will reoccur.
Condition – This is when a behavior is molded over time into a more desirable behavior. This is accomplished by gradually raising the standard of what is expected from the animal, and only rewarding when the animal reaches that new standard. This must be done gradually to avoid confusion and frustration in the animal.
Conditioning technique - Association of an action with a new stimulus.
Cue – A signal that lets the animal know when a behavior is to be expected.
Desensitize – The process of gradually acclimating an animal to a new or different stimulus.
Operant conditioning – A type of training in which behavior is modified when the trainer follows the performance of the behavior with a reinforcing stimulus. Rewards the animal for a partial behavior or natural action that ultimately produces a behavior desired by the trainer.
Positive reinforcement – This is when something the animal desires, a reward, is given immediately following a correct behavior, thus increasing the chance that the behavior will happen again in the future.
Protective contact - Standing at a protected distance from an animal in a barred enclosure through which only parts of an animal can fit through.
Shaping - As B.F. Skinner did with pigeons, can be used to train behaviors from scratch and can also be used to refine captured behaviors.
Targeting - This is a behavior in which the animal is trained to touch an object, the target, with a specific body part. This allows the trainer, by moving the target, to guide the animal into different positions, creating an infinite range of training opportunities. This is often the first behavior trained.