Page 250 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

222 Box B8 Training Reptiles in Zoos: A Prooessional Perspective

VetBooks.ir result, boasts amongst the most notable injections, and blood‐draw from the caudal
vein, ultrasound examination, ‘stationing’ on
achievements in this field (see Figures B8.1
and B8.2). For example, several zoos report
application of a mask for anaesthesia
carrying out veterinary procedures on unre- X‐ray plates and weighing scales, and even
strained dragons including nail‐clipping, (Hellmuth et al. 2012).
Targeting and desensitisation have been
put to further use in shifting dragons and
crocodilians between enclosures, crate and
crush acceptance, directing feeding, increas-
ing exercise and enrichment, positioning and
controlling animals for filming and photog-
raphy, presentations to zoo visitors, and
acceptance of a harness to allow walks out-
side of their enclosure in suitable weather
(see Figure B8.3).
Snakes are certainly the most neglected
reptile group (excluding the tuatara
Figure B8.1 A conditioned adult Komodo dragon [Sphenodon punctatus], the sole survivor of
Varanus komodoensis receives an unrestrained the order Rhynchocephalia) in terms of
ultrasound scan to assess reproductive condition. active conditioning (though habituation to
Source: ZSL. handling is common). Hellmuth et al. (2012)
mention only two snakes in their appendix of
examples of reptile training in zoos; the green
mamba (Dendroapsis angusticeps) and false
water cobra (Hydrodynastes gigas). However,
Kleinginna (1970) reported that indigo
snakes (Drymarchon corias) show a similar
propensity to operant conditioning as that of
rats or pigeons tested in similar studies so
certainly it is not a lack of aptitude for train-
ing that leaves snakes clinging to the bottom
rung of the training ladder.
Nevertheless, there are some inherent
complications in training reptiles, which
relate largely to their physiology, one of
which applies most pointedly to snakes, the
infrequency of feeding. Most people know
that most snakes don’t eat every day. Indeed
some don’t eat for weeks or months at a time
and when they do it tends to be single large
meals. Using small titbits to repeatedly rein-
force behaviour is therefore impractical with
most species. Training snakes however,
needn’t rely on food rewards and many keep-
ers report deliberately or incidentally train-
ing their charges to retreat to the opposite
Figure B8.2 A sub‐adult Komodo dragon Varanus end of the enclosure or enter trap‐boxes
komodoensis in a training crate modified to allow
conscious, unrestrained X‐rays and other (where they are undisturbed) in response to a
procedures. Source: ZSL. signal, a gentle touch (with a hook in the case