ABC'S: ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

CONCERNS & SOLUTIONS

A Question & Answer Forum For Animal Professionals

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Welcome to the ABC's! Animal Behavior Concerns & Solutions is an animal behavior column written by animal behaviorist and animal trainer, Diana L. Guerrero. This section is dedicated to animal training techniques for all animals and pets, and topics related to operant conditioning and reinforcement. This column discusses a Masai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) behavior evaluation and training. For pet training please visit the pet sections, see our pet behavior booklets in the shop, or click here for enrollment information for classes and teleseminars.

Animal Behavior & Training Evaluation:
Masai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)

QUESTION
We are having some trouble with training our giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis). We notice a variation between our animals and are not sure how to move through our current impasse. Can you give us some ideas?

DISCUSSION
The current situation involves training multiple animals. Some of the behaviors desired are cooperative behavior into a chute, movement down a corridor, and more behavioral control in order to get voluntary cooperation for husbandry work such as exams, blood draws, footwork, shots, etc.,

As a flight animal the giraffe can be very sensitive. A few of the animals appear to have reacted adversely during the construction of the restraint chute and as a result, some want little to do with it.

Having very long necks and legs the animals have also found out ways to "cheat" in order to obtain rewards and so progress has been slow. No matter what you might think they have been pretty creative in their non-cooperation!

In general, many zoo employees can quickly grasp the idea about training. Reading training books can help but it does not divulge all the nuances or steps to developing a successful program or the steps to obtaining ideal behavioral progress. Go back and make sure the steps are clear to both staff and to the animals.

Also be alert to the tendency to try and progress too fast. Taking your time with the foundations of training gives you a firm base from which to move forward from. Without it things crumble and progress is erratic -if you make any at all!

In this situation, the parameters are not completely controlled by the staff. The animals actually have control in some cases. For instance, these animals are rewarded via buckets and can walk away and then walk back again to finish their reward. This gives the animal control over their reinforcement and what transpires in the session. It also fails to give the animal a clear idea about what is supposed to be transpiring.

In addition, the animals will reach out and give a token advance toward loading in the chute. Maybe the animal will place a toe on the edge of the platform, for example. There is some interest in cooperating but by just doing the minimum….and they have taken some creative steps to receive rewards without real progress.

Finally, jumping the gun by closing one animal into the chute too rapidly caused a breakdown in behavior and a lack of trust in the process. Remember that the temptation to force an issue can undo all the training you have accomplished thus far. Given the time restrictions and other influencing factors that come into play you may be feeling pressure from management but it is important for you to understand this clearly and work to assure them of your forward progress.

Forcing the issue this way is an older type of procedure and in most cases the re-coop time takes twice as long than if you had taken the time to train it right in the first place. (I talked about this in regards to dolphin training sometime back.) Don't confuse this with forcing/requiring/making an animal perform to the proper level of criteria -that is important to do. Knowing the difference is the key to success.

ANSWER
Since management supports you in your training efforts there are several areas I would encourage you to work on. You may want to assist them in understanding your progress and efforts by providing them with some feedback in addition to your other training steps.

A. Assess your animals, create an animal profile and a behavior repertoire.
This is time well spent. It is suggested that you create an animal profile in your area or at least a book with a profile that outlines their markings for identification, any illnesses or medications, birth data and history of housing, and predisposition of the animal's personality toward training and manipulation.* Be sure to include a list of behaviors and who knows what and to what level of criteria they know it.

*Although some professionals frown upon defining "personalities" categorizing animals has been done by Pavlov and most recently within the primatology field.

B. Outline steps and acceptable responses.
Create a pre-training plan with all your steps outlined. Once you have a clear listing of steps you can create the training sheet for the behavior. One trainer per behavior and animal is ideal since it means consistency and less confusion. Once the trainer has completed the training the other trainers can be signed off on it. However since you are working in teams this is not always a possibility. So your training records are critical for developing consistency and success with you animals.

Attempt to design a training sheet or form that has the behavior stages with clearly defined criteria. Ideally with an am/ pm column since your training occurs within your regular routine.

Using a simple training sheet or ethogram that allows you to place all your behaviors on a sheet so that you can simply check them off rather than write it all down. AND if you can develop a rating scale that eliminates the subjective opinions between the trainers -the better off you are!

Maybe a "1" means excellent response time and position at the current level of behavior. Define that further -a couple of seconds or a minute? Make it very clear. Also define by definitions already being used in the field if you can. Responsiveness of your animals can be variable. You may find the three stages of response from giraffes as defined by the Folsom City Zoo of interest:

1. Fidgety
Where the animals were nervous, confused with inclination to flinch, fidget and kick.

2. Tolerant
Where the animals would settle down quickly and accept manipulations.

3. Indifferent
Where the animals understood the step and accept it calmly.

I prefer a sheet that is easy to review rather than having many, many pages of writing (that I often cannot read!). Make sure you have an area that allows you to make notations on the date, weather conditions, or any other notes of interest (estrus etc.,) so that variables are conveyed.

Also find ways to develop visual markers so that you can develop further consistency. If you can use visual markers during your training then you can define progress by distance to that marker. It helps you with creating a more solid criteria. You can convey progress easily if you have an animal that is four feet from a specific marker, then three feet, etc. This can allow you to use successive approximation to move the animal more successfully given your situation of multiple trainers.

C. Review reinforcement methods & control reward disbursement.
This is one of the most difficult areas for newer trainers to grasp. The whistle you are using is a secondary or conditioner reinforcer AND is a bridge. So, it signals the animal that the performance is correct and that primary reinforcement is coming. Once your behaviors are trained you will need to learn how to move up into another more advanced method of using reinforcement. However, for the moment use continuous reinforcement while training new behaviors. (I.e., one whistle blow means one reinforcement.)

Based on your restrictions on what type of reinforcers you can use, I would continue using your bucket to distribute reinforcement. However, instead of just using your bucket add a bait bag attached to the side or back of your pants with a small scoop in it so that you can control the reinforcement that you place within the bucket.

A flavor burst is the effect that you want and you do not want the animal to spend a bunch of time chewing. This simple change will allow you to control the amount you give the animal and prevent them from receiving poorly timed reinforcement. It also will give you the ability to work more behaviors with less delays.

D. Train A to B movement.
This is an important behavior for you to get under stimulus control. It will help you to move your animals more quickly down the corridor and into the chute. An "A to B" is simply teaching your animal to move from one keeper to another on command or from one location to another. You already have a good start so make it stronger.

Begin to train this stationing behavior on your giraffe walk with two keepers. First teach the giraffe to come and reward. Then you can give a signal (verbal like "Go" or something similar) and withdraw as the second keeper calls. Make sure you teach them to also stand at station for longer periods of time before movement (add at 5-10 second increments or less per session initially) AND later be sure that you alter locations where the animal is moved.

E. Set limits on time of response.
When working your animals give them a window of time to respond. If the animal does not respond within the window then withdraw for a time out. Try again later. Be consistent here. You may need to start off with longer time periods that are acceptable and back off into shorter desired slots. Make the animal successful if you can…but don't wait all day for their cooperation! Make sure that you define your limits and outline your goals for this area.

Some animals will need smaller, gradual steps while others will progress rapidly. Pay attention to this and allow for differences in the animals. If the animal stresses, this usually means that you have progressed to quickly. However, sometimes the animal will need to be desensitized. This is where you will need to learn to know the difference so that you can make the proper call to proceed successfully.

F. Give a cue for termination of session.
For clarity you may want to consider using a signal for the termination of the session so your animals understand when they are done. The less confusion there is then the more secure and successful your animals can be.

G. Use targeting poles to assist with body positioning.
Because of the logistical problems associated with the long necks and legs of your animals I would recommend you use target poles on the body and legs. Thin and light material would be good since the length of your pole will add more weight. Make sure you teach touch toleration in doing this. The animals are rewarded for tolerating the touch without reacting. Later you have them move toward the pole.

H. Create a spreadsheet that can translate into a graph for progress assessment.
This is mainly for management. If you have designed your training sheet and ethogram successfully, put it into a spreadsheet format so that you can automatically have it translate into a progress graph.

Showing your progress and updating your management will further gain their support in your efforts. I would recommend that you update them quarterly (or monthly if you are so inclined).

SUGGESTED READING
Houts, Lee. Giraffe Training. Animal Trainer Magazine. Vol.1(3).

King, J.E. And Figueredo, A.J., (1997) The five-factor model plus dominance in chimpanzee personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 257-271

Ramirez, Ken. (1999) Animal Training: successful animal management through positive reinforcement.

Are you a reader with a question? Be sure to submit it--and good luck in all your training endeavors!

About the columnist: Since 1978 Diana L. Guerrero has worked professionally with both wild and domestic animals. Guerrero has been affiliated with, and certified by, a variety of animal programs in the USA and Europe. Based in California, she writes, consults, and speaks. Information on her animal career programs, training courses, and her books {What Animals Can Teach Us about Spirituality (SkyLight Paths, 2003), Blessing of the Animals (Sterling, 2007), Help! My Pet is Driving Me Crazy (Guerrero Ink, 2007), Animal Disaster Preparedness for Pet Owners & Pet Professionals (Guerrero Ink, 2007)} can be found in this web site and in the shop. Questions for Guerrero should be submitted via the blog comments or membership forum.