Welcome back to Building Behaviors at the Niabi Zoo, Part Two!
Teaching cooperative husbandry behaviors is critical to excellent animal care. The many benefits of trainer patience, a shaping plan, excellent observation skills, clicker mechanics, and the ability to modify training sessions based on the animals’ needs can be seen in this the video just below of a cotton-top tamarin. In the video, the 14.4-ounce female tamarin calmly follows the target onto the scale for voluntary weights. Even as the scale moves slightly, she remains calm and fluent.
About the authorLaura Monaco Torelli is a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training partner (KPA CTP) and the founder of Animal Behavior Training Concepts (ABTC). She has worked with beluga whales, dolphins, sea otters, seals, river otters, and penguins (at the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago), primates, large cats, birds of prey, horses, parrots, macaws, tree kangaroos, and red pandas (at the San Diego Zoo and Brookfield Zoo), and, of course, dogs (just about everywhere). Currently, Laura is the Animal Training and Behavior Consultant at Niabi Zoological Society, focusing on positive training programs with the primates, large cats, Arctic foxes, and reticulated giraffes.
