Behavior Analysis and Training
Going by different labels, including behavioral husbandry and applied behavior analysis, behavioral management is a discipline of psychology that deals with the functional analysis of environment and behavior. Behavioral management is an umbrella term tha
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Behavior Analysis and Training
The problem of occupational therapy, of providing pastimes in the zoo . . . has recently been given more and more attention, to the great benefit of the animals. We are no longer content to let animals vegetate stupidly in narrow cages, as in the old-fashioned menageries, but do our utmost to see that their lives are healthy and full, and as positive as possible. H. Hediger
One key specialty that needs to be unified under the zoo animal welfare banner is “behavioral management.” Going by different labels, including behavioral husbandry and applied behavior analysis, behavioral management is a discipline of psychology that deals with the functional analysis of environment and behavior. It is also comprised of the training technology associated with the science and practice of operant conditioning. Behavioral management is an umbrella term that encompasses many aspects of welfare, including behavior analysis, environmental and cognitive enrichment (Fig. 7.1), environmental design, biological (ecological) constraints, socialization and re-socialization techniques, and both medical and performance training. Zoos that once depended on former circus and carnival trainers discovered better practices and better training standards in the realm of science. The circus tradition utilized aversive control techniques and featured trainers who physically dominated and sometimes abused lions, tigers, bears, and elephants. Some of them, in the circus tradition, fired starter pistols and snapped whips to get the attention of the animals in their show. Fortunately, traditional circus training methods have been largely discredited and they are no longer practiced in modern, accredited zoos. Marine mammal training, in aquariums, marine parks, and some zoos, is an entirely different tradition, based on positive control and the use of both food and tactile reinforcement. Trainers in aquatic shows typically interact with their subjects in a playful and more respectful manner. However, marine mammal training has also been criticized for subordinating the animals, and for its use of demeaning story lines. Circus training, with few exceptions, never produced any research to further our understanding of mammal behavior and cognition, although Hediger studied circus T.L. Maple and B.M. Perdue, Zoo Animal Welfare, Animal Welfare, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35955-2_7, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
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Fig. 7.1 Chimpanzee operating a simple “termite probe” to obtain mustard (T. Maple)
animals for insight into the psychology of captivity (Hediger 1955). However, aquariums once employed or collaborated with behavioral scientists whose work (often supported by federal research grants) significantly advanced our knowledge of dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals (e.g., Kellogg and Rice 1966; Tavolga 1966; Pryor et al. 1969; Herman 1987). Hediger took a special interest in the marine mammal training program at a pioneering Marineland park that he visited in Florida
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