Page 118 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

90 5 What Is There to Learn in a Zoo Setting?

Finally, some zoo animals, particularly
VetBooks.ir marine mammals such as sea lions and dol- other elephants. Although the method used
by the demonstrator did not predict the
phins, are fed the vast majority of their daily
subjects spent a greater percentage of their
diet through participation in positive rein- methods used by the ‘observer’ elephants,
forcement training sessions (Ramirez 2012). time interacting with the apparatus if they
Animals will learn through operant condi- had observed the demonstrator doing so first.
tioning to associate a cue (such as a caregiver
hand signal) with a behaviour they must per- 5.4.3 Learning Through Exploration
form (or indeed a sequence of behaviours) in
order to receive a food reward (Laule 1999). Spatial learning is important to all animals
In terms of how to feed, many feeding because at some point they must navigate
behaviours are learned at a young age through their environment to find food as well as
social learning. A zoo‐based feeding experi- other resources such as mates and shelter.
ment found that young Japanese squirrels Amongst vertebrates, rats and mice are
(Sciurus lis) learned an optimal method of known for their ability to navigate complex
processing and eating nuts after watching a 3D mazes (Vorhees and Williams 2014). The
demonstrator squirrel, but this learning spatial learning skills of honeybees (Apis
period was fairly rigid and took place before spp.) are also impressive; they can learn to fly
the squirrels reached three years old (Tamura through a complex maze using coloured
2011). Young koala bears (Phascolarctos markers as ‘sign‐posts’. Furthermore they can
cinereus) will consume digested eucalyptus in use these sign‐posts to navigate a novel maze
their mother’s faeces; undigested eucalyptus efficiently (Zhang et al. 1996). In guppies
is toxic to their immature digestive systems (Poecilia reticulata), a complex maze can be
and so coprophagy is an important feeding learned rapidly, over around 5 days (30 trials
behaviour to learn (Martin and Handasyde of exposure). These types of studies are
1999). Experiments in a range of species highly controlled and therefore are not sited
including primates and elephants show the in zoos; however, as spoken about before, the
importance of obtaining novel foraging skills results of highly controlled laboratory exper-
through social learning, especially when trial‐ iments can still have implications for zoo ani-
and‐error learning may be inefficient. A suite mals. Since many animals ‘know where they
of captive studies have used the paradigm of a are going’ far better than we give them credit
food (puzzle) box with two possible actions to for, this strengthens the case for larger, more
open (for example a lid which lifts and slides); elaborate zoo enclosures moving forwards.
a demonstrator (human or animal) can be Clark (2013) remarked on how most captive
observed performing one action, and cetacean exhibits are smooth‐sided concrete
researchers measure if the rest of the group pools, and how this does not cater for their
learn that action socially and the behaviour innate echolocative abilities; a substitute for
spreads (Tomasello and Call 1997). For exam- a complete exhibit rebuild could be to add
ple, in the case of captive black‐and‐white underwater obstacles to navigate into the
ruffed lemurs Varecia variegata (Stoinski current pool. A recent development for cap-
et al. 2011) and African elephants Loxodonta tive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
africana africana (Greco et al. 2012), viewing has been an underwater touchscreen, which
a demonstrator’s interactions facilitated the dolphins can use to ‘hunt’ moving images of
learning of a novel task. Greco et al. (2012) fish (Fenz and Kaplan 2017).
provided a zoo herd of six adult female ele- Exploration is known to be a highly moti-
phants with food‐acquisition tasks that could vated behaviour in both wild and captive ani-
be solved using two possible methods. mals (reviewed by Clark 2017). If exploration
A ‘demonstrator’ elephant (the dominant is split into two broad types, inspective and
female) solved the tasks in the presence of the inquisitive, the purpose of the latter type of