I’ve been meaning to take a video of the keepers and animals doing a training session and finally remembered last week. The keepers each work with a specific animal or group of animals: The red ruffed lemurs are working with Cassidy. The ring tail lemurs are working with Kristen The bears are working with Katy The barred owls are working with Jill Max the steer is working with Kent Lightning the donkey is working with Erin Chummix goat is workingRead more
Posts tagged: #operant conditioning
EnrichBits: Training
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment Kristen doing some operant conditioning with the ringtail lemurs Marilyn mentioned operant conditioning in her latest post about Gus the Bear, so I wanted to explain it a bit further. You can click here for a technical definition of operant conditioning, but it can really be summed up with one word: “training”. Training is the final big area of all those important enrichment categories (remember?…exhibit design, olfactory, visual, auditory, tactile, social, novel objects,Read more
Creature Feature: Gus the black bear
Our bears are some of the most entertaining animals to watch here at the museum. Gus is our only male bear, and he has some funny antics that make the keepers laugh on a regular basis. Even though he is the youngest bear, at only 3 years old, he is already the dominant bear in the enclosure! Since black bears are naturally solitary animals, they have to form a heirarchy in order for them to co-exist with one another. ItRead more