A very interesting article here about how animal training is being expanded from providing care to captive animals to teaching wild animals how to respond appropriately to certain situations.
The three main wildlife conservation examples cited in the article are:
- a troop of wild chimpanzees in Sierra Leone has been trained to scream in unison at the sight of unfamiliar people, so reducing poaching incidents by 80 percent
- Captive-bred California condors released into the wild have been trained to act more like wild condors and avoid towns or people
- Polar bears have been taught to avoid associating with humans, preventing the bears from raiding litter bins and significantly decreasing wildlife conflicts
Also interesting are some accounts of training in captive animals. The one that particularly stands out to me is how Ken Ramirez (who wrote the textbook on positive reinforcement for animal management in captivity) once trained 10,000 butterflies for a show where the insects flew en masse, on cue, from one location to another in three different groups, at three different times.
The article is included below:
Animal trainers are teaching wildlife to conserve themselves
The three main wildlife conservation examples cited in the article are:
- a troop of wild chimpanzees in Sierra Leone has been trained to scream in unison at the sight of unfamiliar people, so reducing poaching incidents by 80 percent
- Captive-bred California condors released into the wild have been trained to act more like wild condors and avoid towns or people
- Polar bears have been taught to avoid associating with humans, preventing the bears from raiding litter bins and significantly decreasing wildlife conflicts
Also interesting are some accounts of training in captive animals. The one that particularly stands out to me is how Ken Ramirez (who wrote the textbook on positive reinforcement for animal management in captivity) once trained 10,000 butterflies for a show where the insects flew en masse, on cue, from one location to another in three different groups, at three different times.
The article is included below:
Animal trainers are teaching wildlife to conserve themselves