Should you call to animals?
- Thread starter OkapiFan
- Start date
I used to call the name of one of my favourites, an Asian Elephant by the name of Ongard who used to reside at Melbourne Zoo. I'd always call his name, and he'd come wandering over waving his trunk, possibly expecting food. Now he lives at Zoo Miami, but those memories I have made with him make him one of my all time favourite zoo animals!
Many animals become desensitised to their names through repetition and tune out the visitors as white noise. In some cases, the animal’s names are little more than a tool of engagement with the public.
Some zoos give their animals a house name and a media name. This is vital for great apes and elephants, who keepers need to be able to instruct via training sessions without the public shouting commands or desensitising them to their name.
I’ll confess to bellowing the name of Hamilton Zoo’s alpha male chimpanzee when I was younger out of curiosity to see if he’d look up. He acted as if he’d heard it all before. As an adult I’m more mindful of the reasons why the public shouldn’t confuse the animal’s training etc.
Many animals become desensitised to their names through repetition and tune out the visitors as white noise. In some cases, the animal’s names are little more than a tool of engagement with the public.
Some zoos give their animals a house name and a media name. This is vital for great apes and elephants, who keepers need to be able to instruct via training sessions without the public shouting commands or desensitising them to their name.
I’ll confess to bellowing the name of Hamilton Zoo’s alpha male chimpanzee when I was younger out of curiosity to see if he’d look up. He acted as if he’d heard it all before. As an adult I’m more mindful of the reasons why the public shouldn’t confuse the animal’s training etc.
I believe the reason Ongard responded to me is due to the fact no one ever called out his name. First off, the chances of the public knowing the name is rather unlikely. They all knew Mali (due to her being the first elephant born at Melbourne), but aside from that i've never heard them say the names of any of the others.
Ongard's name is also pronounced slightly differently than its spelt- 'ong-aa'. I overheard a keeper calling his name once in that way and was quite surprised as i'd gone all those years calling him 'on-guard'.
Many animals become desensitised to their names through repetition and tune out the visitors as white noise. In some cases, the animal’s names are little more than a tool of engagement with the public.
Some zoos give their animals a house name and a media name. This is vital for great apes and elephants, who keepers need to be able to instruct via training sessions without the public shouting commands or desensitising them to their name.
I’ll confess to bellowing the name of Hamilton Zoo’s alpha male chimpanzee when I was younger out of curiosity to see if he’d look up. He acted as if he’d heard it all before. As an adult I’m more mindful of the reasons why the public shouldn’t confuse the animal’s training etc.
In addition to media names, another tool I’ve seen keepers use to avoid the public shouting commands at animals is training them in commands given in a foreign language. The keepers at Auckland Zoo speak to the elephants in a mixture of German and Sri Lankan (neither of which are one of New Zealand’s official languages).
The great apes are usually desensitised to their names (their keepers often have nicknames for them too - usually an abbreviation of their name); but the one foolproof way to get their attention is to be eating a piece of fruit. I was waiting for the chimpanzee talk to start at Wellington Zoo and one of the females saw the apple I was eating. She outstretched her hand expectantly, hoping I’d throw it to her. My son got a similar response while eating a banana at Hamilton Zoo.
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
I think if we were to deeply consider why we do it we wouldn't be proud of ourselves. Motives matter.
Its been my experience watching them over many years, that despite the rigid 'no feeding' rules for the public at virtually all zoos nowadays, many Great Apes will still immediately use the time-honoured outstretched hand as
begging behaviour, if there is any chance it looks like a visitor might offer them something. Probably passed through the generations even if its not successful a lot of the time.
I don't see any problem with this?
To be fair, the chimpanzees at Wellington Zoo are fed daily via a pubic feeding demonstration, where food is thrown to them by a keeper. If the food of the day is carrots, the chimps can take it or leave if; but if it’s apples, they hoot with excitement and beg the keeper for one by outstretching their hand.
As a general observation, the chimpanzees I see most frequently begging the public for food are the older females (born 70’s and 80’s), suggesting the younger chimps have had less exposure to being fed by the public due to a change in public attitude.