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Elephant Training in Zoos
Greg A. Vicino

Training is deeply embedded in the culture the ability to control the outcome of a situa-
of zoo elephant care. It would be unthinka- tion through behaviours that are beneficial to
ble, at least in the United States, to house them. Perhaps the most logical argument is
elephants in zoos without relying heavily on simply that elephants in zoos often face a myr-
training to care for them. In fact elephants iad of conditions that would not exist in the
remain the only zoo animals in the United wild, some of which the outcomes must be
States for which accreditation standards spe- facilitated by humans. Elephant training in
cifically mention and evaluate training meth- zoos continues to evolve and some validated
ods and outcomes (Association of Zoos and measures of positive welfare have been associ-
Aquaria 2018). Although the training of zoo ated with training. For example, Greco et al.
animals is now commonplace, it is the spe- (2016) found a negative correlation between
cific details involved in elephant training that the time an elephant spent demonstrating
make it perhaps one of the more unique, and stereotypic behaviour and the time they spent
arguably, necessary paradigms in the captive in the presence of human caretakers practic-
management of any species. ing positive reinforcement training; essentially
The size and power of an adult elephant in a suggesting that the more time spent training
zoo setting is quite simply the most basic the elephants, the less stereotypies they per-
explanation as to why training is crucial for formed. Training zoo housed elephants,
the effective management of the species. From remains a fundamental part of elephant hus-
the most basic need of shifting an elephant bandry and will continue to advance in line
(moving it from one location to another), to with our knowledge of how best to care for
the more complex need of medical manage- this species.
ment such as wound treatment and pregnancy The past two decades have seen a monu-
monitoring, in which anaesthesia carries a mental shift in zoo elephant care, most nota-
high risk (Fowler et al. 2000). Daily husbandry bly characterised by the influence of positive
routines with zoo elephants often involve a reinforcement training and the concept of
high level of training, and as long‐lived spe- protected‐contact. Within the basic frame-
cies, this can serve not only to provide mental work of training methods, positive reinforce-
stimulation, but also to aid in the medical ment is a method of operant conditioning in
management of ailments associated with old which desired behaviours (as a response to a
age. Training zoo elephants can serve as a trainers cue) are rewarded when successful
proxy for the problem solving challenges they (Daugette et al. 2012). That definition in
would face in the wild by providing them with this context serves to differentiate from the

Zoo Animal Learning and Training, First Edition. Edited by Vicky A. Melfi, Nicole R. Dorey, and Samantha J. Ward.
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.