Page 76 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

48 3 The Ultimate Benefits of Learning

VetBooks.ir the reduction of behaviours associated with High Arousal
high levels of stress, similar processes, which
lead to positive brain development and func-
tion, are also likely to occur in zoo settings Anxiety Flow
too.
Finally, and probably most importantly we
arrive at a concept that is particularly difficult Challenge level Worry Control
to demonstrate but central to all that we hope
to understand, to ensure the zoo animals in
our care have a good life – their emo-
tions – and more specifically their emotional
reaction to learning opportunities. It has been Apathy Boredom Relaxation
suggested that as humans, we gain an emo- Low
tional benefit from engaging in learning
opportunities which sufficiently challenge Low Skill level High
our abilities but are within our skill set. When Figure 3.7 According to the flow phenomenon, if the
the challenge and skill set are appropriately challenge experienced can be met by an appropriate
matched (see Figure 3.7) people are consid- level of skill, it is possible to enter a state of flow.
ered to enter a state of ‘flow’, a term coined by Source: after Csikszentmihalyi (1997). Reproduced with
Csikszentmihalyi (1990) which has been con- permission of creative commons licence.
sidered one of the biggest influences on
human happiness (Myers and Diener 1995). mals to experience a state of ‘flow’; the
When challenges exceed our skill set we can environmental enrichment would need to
feel overwhelmed and stressed, but if the provide a challenge which the animals’ spe-
challenges are too easily accomplished we can cies‐specific behaviours were capable of ful-
feel apathetic and bored. By contrast, the state filling. The incorporation of ‘flow’ into the
of flow which can be achieved through engag- concept of cognitive enrichment has provided
ing in a variety of different activities, has been a framework, to explore the relationship
associated with being described as ‘in the between providing learning opportunities
zone’ and people profess to losing track of (sometimes termed cognitive challenge) and
time because they are so enthralled and the animals’ emotional experience and is
absorbed by the activity they are in. For differ- being applied in zoos (Clark and Smith 2013;
ent people, different activities open up ‘flow’, it Clark 2017; Hopper 2017; see also Chapter 6).
might be a crossword puzzle, a computer Incorporating the animals’ emotional
game, painting, or a musical instrument. response to learning opportunities, has taken
Experiencing ‘flow’ seems to represent the puzzle feeders, a potentially overly used and
height of positive emotional engagement and under monitored object, to new sophisti-
whether animals can also reach this state was cated heights. There is much we can learn
initially explored by Meehan and Mench about animals’ responses to learning from
(2007). Meehan and Mench (2007) suggested studies of ourselves, and potentially, with the
that if appropriately chosen, forms of environ- right studies, we could learn about ourselves
mental enrichment could enable captive ani- from studies of animal learning.

References

Anderson, C., Arun, A.S., and Jensen, P. (2010). Baker, B., Taylor, S., and Montrose, V.T. (2018).
Habituation to environmental enrichment in The effects of olfactory stimulation on the
captive sloth bears – effect on stereotypies. behavior of captive ring‐tailed lemurs
Zoo Biology 29 (6): 705–714. (Lemur catta). Zoo biology 37 (1): 16–22.