Page 117 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

5.4 Adult Life 89

VetBooks.ir animals can broadly be split into three cate- over many weeks or months (Clayton et al.
2003; Kamil and Gould 2008). Some species
gories: (i) routine feeding in a focal location
(e.g. from a bowl in a specific exhibit area);
ous actions; for example, zoo‐housed short‐
(ii) feeding within a large, naturalistic exhibit are also able to take into account their previ-
in multiple locations; and (iii) feeding the beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus)
majority of the diet as part of a positive rein- learned to avoid a location which had previ-
forcement training programme. These will ously contained food (a ‘win‐shift’ strategy) as
now be discussed in turn. long as the period of time to memorise this
It could be argued than routine focal feeding location was less than 90 minutes (Burke et al.
requires the least from animals in terms of 2002; see Figure 5.5). In contrast, a study on
learning skills. However, anyone who has managed black‐tailed deer Odocoileus hemio-
worked with domestic or wild animals will be nus columbianus (Gillingham and Bunnell
familiar with their ability to learn to recognise 1989) showed that deer used the same search
the sound of keys rattling, buckets clanging, or path repeatedly if it was previously successful,
any other noise and movement associated and were not adept at taking into account
with the impending arrival of feeding time. changes in food availability. This has great
This type of learning is through classical con- implications in a zoo setting, where different
ditioning, where an animal learns to associate species will have different spatial learning
one stimulus (such as rattling keys) with abilities and therefore their food needs to be
another (such as food arriving), until the stim- arranged in space accordingly.
ulus alone may invoke a response (such as rat-
tling keys making the animal run to the exhibit
door, even if the food does not arrive).
Acoustically sensitive animals can learn to
become attuned to the sound of automatic
feeders (food containers set to automatically
release food randomly or at specific times)
and therefore caregiver attempts to make
feeding times less predictable are thwarted.
Feeding animals via environmental enrich-
ment may help decrease feeding predictability
and thus reduce conditioned responses to
unintentional feeding cues, to be discussed
further in Chapter 6.
The second approach is feeding animals in
large, naturalistic exhibits at several locations
across time and space. In some instances, ani-
mals may be able to forage from scattered and
hidden food items, and even from natural
vegetation. Spatial learning is of relevance
here, and several learning mechanisms have
been identified across the animal kingdom.
Juvenile chimpanzees have been shown to
learn the locations of up to 18 hidden foods in
a large outdoor enclosure, and use ‘optimum
routing’ to visit these locations with minimal
backtracking or revisiting empty locations
(Menzel 1973). Caching animals, including Figure 5.5 A common method of providing learning
but not limited to squirrels and corvid birds, opportunities for zoo animals is the provision of
puzzle feeders or manipulating food provision in
can learn the locations of tens or hundreds of some other way, as seen here with a short‐beaked
hidden food items, recalling these locations echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus. Source: Ray Wiltshire.