Page 149 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

7.2 Motivation 121

VetBooks.ir motivated to attempt to climb trees. In this flying from one place to another. If the bird’s
wings were clipped during its first year of life,
case a keeper may need to shape the climbing
behaviour by first teaching the leopard to
repeated crashes to the floor or running into
touch a target outside the mesh and move the its flight attempts will have been punished by
target to where the cat needs to jump on the walls or other objects, thus reducing its moti-
log to touch the target. Or, a trainer can teach vation to attempt to fly later in life. It is cer-
the animal to touch a laser dot as a target on tainly possible for a parrot to learn to fly later
the log, and then gradually approximate the in life after its wing feathers have grown in.
dot up the tree branch. In some cases it might However, it will require much more time and
be best to make the behaviour easier by effort for the bird to acquire the skills than it
teaching the leopard to touch the dot on a log would have if it learned to fly in its first few
laying on the ground or leaning on a rock months of life. It will take an enormous
then generalise the behaviour to increasingly amount of reinforced repetitions to counter-
steeper angles, raising the tree a foot or two act the bird’s punishing history of flight
each day, until the tree is vertical. attempts. Additionally, teaching an older
bird to fly requires a very capable trainer to
lead the bird through the repetition of small
7.2.3 Learning History
approximations to acquire the ability and
Past consequences have strong antecedent confidence in the action of flying (Figure 7.1).
influence on motivation for future behaviour. Learning history associated with the type
Many trainers have experienced the frustra- and amount of reinforcers is an important
tion associated with trying to teach a parrot motivating operation. If the amount and type
with previously clipped wings the skill of of food reinforcer is consistent each time, the

Figure 7.1 Bird flight has been used as a central theme in many captive bird displays, like this one at Disney’s
Animal Kingdom. Source: Steve Martin.