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9.3 Unfamiliar People 175

VetBooks.ir the reinforcers for acquiring these behav­ 2005), and after shows (Miller et al. 2011),
which can be interpreted as a positive stimu­
iours are presumably the stimulating effect of
seeing the human response to the behaviour
(after, for example, having faeces thrown at lating effect of HAI on the animals.
them), or else the occasional piece of food. 9.3.3 Learning to Avoid Visitors
There are a couple of reports, however, where
the animal appears to seek interaction with A possible consequence of large naturalistic
unfamiliar people for its own sake; in other enclosures is that the animals they house
words, the HAI is itself reinforcing. become less visible to the public. Since ani­
One example is a long‐billed corella mals are what the public come to the zoo to
(Cacatua tenuirostris) named Claude at see, lack of visibility of those animals is a
Adelaide Zoo. On busy days (weekends or potential problem, which zoos try to address
public holidays) he spent 90% of his time at in a way that doesn’t compromise animal wel­
the front of the enclosure, and showed behav­ fare (Bashaw and Maple 2001; Kuhar et al.
iours that he didn’t show, or rarely showed, 2010). This lack of visibility might be a result
on quiet days (weekdays), such as face‐to‐ merely of the size and topography of the
beak contact, vocalisation in words, and ori­ enclosure, and thus could be independent of
enting towards human visitors (Nimon and animal behaviour, or because the animals pre­
Dalziel 1992). The authors concluded that fer certain locations independently of visitor
the presence of people was reinforcing for presence. But it might also occur because ani­
Claude. Another example is a female gorilla mals have learned that they can hide from
(Gorilla gorilla graueri) named Isabelle at visitors, and thus avoid the more stressful
Antwerp Zoo, who, unlike the other gorillas aspects of visitor presence and behaviour.
in the group, stayed close to the viewing win­ Gorillas at Atlanta Zoo, for example, appear to
dow when visitors were present, and have a preference for particular types of struc­
appeared to seek eye contact and mimic the ture, and if these structures are in less visible
opening and closing of the mouth during parts of the enclosure, then the animals also
speech (Vrancken et al. 1990). In both of are less visible (Stoinski et al. 2002). Indeed,
these examples the animals were reared in a alternation of gorillas between a familiar and
human‐centred environment, with the an unfamiliar enclosure increased their visi­
corella being a former pet and the gorilla bility in the unfamiliar enclosure (Lukas et al.
having been hand‐reared, and we can specu­ 2003). Decreases in adverse responses to zoo
late that learning an attraction to a familiar visitors do occur when animals are transferred
human has become generalised to include from small ‘traditional style’ to larger more
unfamiliar people. naturalistic enclosures (Ross et al. 2011), but
If the opportunity for interactions with there appears to be no particular evidence that
people can indeed be reinforcing for animals, this occurs because the animals are choosing
we might expect to see the most profound to be less visible. Furthermore, animals in
evidence for it when the interactions are free‐range may be more visible, though this
direct, rather than indirect. Unfortunately does appear to be dependent upon the species
there is very little empirical evidence to (Sha et al. 2013; Schäfer 2014). They are, how­
inform us on this. Goats and pigs in a petting ever, presumably learning something about
zoo didn’t appear to find grooming by the visitors, or perhaps about how much choice
public enriching (Farrand et al. 2014). they have about just how visible and interac­
Bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus, on tive they can be.
the other hand, have been reported to There is some limited support for the latter
increase their play behaviour after interac­ interpretation from studies of direct HAI.
tion sessions in which people get in the water Undesirable behaviours shown by sheep and
with them and touch them (Trone et al. goats towards people in a petting area