Page 318 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

290 12 Training Animals so They Can Return to the Wild

VetBooks.ir (Caro and Hauser 1992). For example, in the success of training and subsequent
reintroduction to the wild (Jule et al. 2008).
African meerkats (Suricata suricatta) the
A recent study on orphaned cheetah cubs
young pups rely on their parents and older
group members to provide them with demonstrates how large felids can be trained
prey. The young meerkats are initially given to hunt live prey (Houser et al. 2011). Three
dead or disabled prey, but as they acquire orphan cheetah cubs were raised in captivity
the necessary hunting skills, they are at the Cheetah Conservation Botswana facil-
provided with more active prey (Thornton ity in southern Botswana, Africa, where they
and McAuliffe 2006; Thornton 2007). In had minimal human contact. Initially, the
domestic cats (Felis catus) mothers also cubs consumed a diet of meat and bone, but
alter their hunting behaviour as their off- as they grew older, they were offered live
spring develop. Typically, mothers bring chickens; three months later, they were
back dead prey to very young, non‐mobile offered live rabbits; and seven months later,
kittens. However, once the kittens are they were offered dead impala (Aepyceros
mobile, mothers present live prey to melampus, a medium‐sized antelope). One
their offspring, and they actively recapture month after the cheetahs had learnt to con-
any fleeing animals to ensure that their sume the dead impala, they encountered
kittens have ample opportunity to develop injured impala that they successfully cap-
their hunting skills. When kittens are older, tured, killed by suffocation, and consumed.
mothers observe prey catching behav- Even in the absence of their mothers, the
iours in their offspring, but they take cheetahs hunting skills improved over time.
little part in the pursuit, capture, and killing Given that the cheetahs had learnt to hunt
of prey (Leyhausen 1979). A detailed large prey in captivity, they were fitted with
study on wild cheetahs in the Serengeti radio collars and released into a 100 ha fenced
revealed remarkably similar maternal enclosure on the Kwalata Game Farm. The
provisioning behaviours (Caro 1994). When farm contained suitable habitats for cheetah,
cheetah cubs are young (up to two months and contained free ranging wild herbivores
old), mothers usually kill the prey including impala and tsessebes (Damaliscus
before presenting it to their cubs. lunatus). The cheetahs successfully hunted
However, as the cubs grow older (2.5– game in this enclosure (mostly, impala), and
3.5 months), the mothers begin to release seven months later they were fitted with
live animals in the presence of cubs, provid- global positioning satellite (GPS) collars and
ing the young cheetahs with opportunities released onto the 9000 ha Kwalata Game
to learn to overpower and kill the prey Farm. The free ranging cheetahs continued
(Caro 1994). to hunt successfully on the game farm, and
These examples illustrate the complexities their behaviour was very similar to their wild
involved with training carnivores to hunt counterparts, suggesting that the pre‐release
prey. Ideally, intervention training of captive training was very successful (Houser et al.
bred animals should be done inside an enclo- 2011). However, longer‐term monitoring
sure at the release site, to provide animals revealed that the cheetahs migrated from the
with opportunities to learn to identify and game reserve to pastoral areas, where land-
locate prey, and to acquire hunting and kill- holders subsequently killed them. Clearly, we
ing skills (Biggins et al. 1999). If possible, need to remove the threatening processes, in
young animals should be trained to hunt in this case, persecution by humans, prior to
the presence of experienced mothers, sib- reintroducing large carnivores to the wild.
lings or conspecifics. Finally, training should This problem is not unique to Africa, and
involve the introduction of live prey during indeed, human persecution has plagued
ontogeny. The use of live prey raises ethical many attempts to reintroduce large carni-
and animal welfare issues, but it is crucial to vores across the globe.