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Proceeding of the NAVC
North American Veterinary Conference
Jan. 8-12, 2005, Orlando, Florida
Reprinted in the IVIS website with the permission of the NAVC
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Published in IVIS with the permission of the NAVC
The North American Veterinary Conference – 2005 Proceedings
THE VETERINARIAN’S ROLE IN ENRICHMENT
AND OPERANT CONDITIONING
Kathryn C. Gamble, DVM, MS, DACZM
Lincoln Park Zoo
Chicago, IL
INTRODUCTION
The historic image of the menagerie is far removed from
the AZA (American Zoo and Aquarium Association)
accredited zoos and aquaria of today. Gone are the
postage stamp collections of randomly acquired animals.
Modern facilities plan within and between the over 200
individual national campuses and worldwide to maintain
genetic diversity and maximize species preservation. Steel
bars, concrete floors, and painted murals of habitats are
replaced with trees, soil, optical enclosure boundaries, and
ecosystems with as much detail as creativity will permit. No
longer simply a source of amazement and entertainment,
the AZA accredited zoo and aquarium challenge visitor –
and animal – to reach new heights of exploration and
learning! These facilities dedicate substantial staff, time,
and financial resources to develop proactive programs of
enrichment and operant conditioning for their living
collections. This philosophy permits responsible animal
care and provides essential animal management strategies.
The veterinarian privileged to practice exotic animal
medicine, even those as pets, should become experienced
in this approach to improve the health and well-being of
their charges.
ENRICHMENT
This word evokes enhancement and improvement to
whatever it is applied. It is most often placed in the context
of environment. Used in this manner, enrichment should
explore the natural habitat and niche of the animal. This
assessment will include not only substrate, temperature,
and location, but also territory used on a daily and seasonal
basis. Conspecific (animals of the same species) and
interspecific (animals of different species) interactions
should be factored as well. This will provide the basis of
enclosure dimensions, construction materials, and social
structure that should be closely emulated in the captive
environment. However, limiting the assessment to these
features will only satisfy a small portion of the needs of an
exotic species.
In detailed reviewing of natural history for a species, it is
critical to consider typical diet. This will develop nutritional
soundness by an appropriate approximation of required
intake. For example, feeding a browsing (leaf and stem,
typically from trees) herbivore as a grazer (grass from
ground level) can introduce nutritional deficiencies or
toxicities that lead to overall poor health status. Knowledge
of typical feeding strategies can develop means of
supplementing the captive diet with nutrients or specific
food items, such as use of a complete feed top-dressed
with insects for an omnivorous reptile. Understanding
natural feeding habit develops a concept of the time that an
animal is involved with food acquisition and frequency of
food consumption.
In many species, daily activity budgets correlate with food
acquisition. For the captive exotic animal, food presented
in an easily accessible manner eliminates the bulk of this
animal’s need for energy. This imbalance between calorie
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intake and expenditure can easily lead to obesity.
Furthermore, unused daily activity can be directed by the
animal into less desirable behaviors, such as aggression,
self-directed trauma and stereotypic behavior. Changes to
routine presentations that introduce daily or weekly variety
to the environment can be simple, such as utilizing
seasonal produce to enrich the diet of an herbivorous
animal instead of offering the same fruits and vegetables
every day, and amazing results can be produced. Time
when food is offered can be varied within an appropriate
circadian cycle. Presentation can get creative and food can
be offered in manipulanda (devices the animal must engage
and handle), such as a paper bag or cardboard box.
Some food items can be embedded or smeared on the
enclosure or in its furniture or scattered over and in the
substrate to encourage foraging. The animal will not only
use a substantial amount of its time and energy acquiring
food but it will also display new, and quite natural,
behaviors. However enrichment should not be limited to
the senses involved with food; in fact, the senses involved
with food should not be limited to enrichment that revolves
around food.
Smell and taste can be explored by use of spices or
whole food items, perhaps non-food essences such as
perfume or another’s species hair can be used to stimulate
these senses without consumption.
Sight can be
challenged by hiding or placing an item nearby but not
accessible, even a mirror could be used, particularly for
animals housed without a conspecific.
Touch can be
provoked by new substrates or bedding materials. Hearing
can be engaged by recordings from natural habitats or
conspecifics.
Enrichment should be limited only by
creativity of the caretaker and safety for the animal.
Some enrichment could invoke a perception of frustration,
such as providing cleaned snake sheds in the enclosure of
a prey animal. However, this invokes natural defense
behaviors and can be termed eustress. The concept of this
“natural stress” is important to distinguish from true distress
that can induce the counterproductive behaviors described
earlier. Animals, as do humans, experience stress of some
form their entire lives. This cannot, and really should not,
be avoided when developing enriching environments,
schedules, and plans. However, permitting animals a
choice in their environment and interactions will facilitate
healthy behaviors and maximize benefit from enrichment
plans.
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Simply stated, this is capture of natural behavior rather
than teaching “tricks”. Reward association of a favorite
item, such as food, praise, or other positive factor, with a
cue at a desired behavior will increase the frequency of the
animal completing the behavior. In doing so, a caretaker
can gradually assemble these behaviors into routines which
improve the management of a captive situation. Although
many examples exist, two will demonstrate the simplicity of
the process to maximize impact. A bird in a free flight
aviary that must be netted after extensive chase for any
routine procedure can be accommodated to voluntarily
enter a crate for examination or transport. Large felids in
zoological facilities through many small behavior
accumulations participate in voluntary venipuncture from
their caudal (tail) veins through façade safeguards. This
can allow evaluation of pre-sedation clinical pathology,
repetitive monitoring of chronic disease, or offer another
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Exotics – Zoological Medicine
venue for anesthetic administration. These behaviors can
be actually selected by an animal to enrich themselves on
their schedule by choosing to participate or not with
sessions.
Regardless of the application, this behavior is not to be
entered without a well-developed plan and time
commitment from the caretaker. Consistency in cue,
reward, and behavior is crucial to developing positive
progress towards a well-established ultimate goal. This
consistency will also develop the behavior into one of
eustress, participation, and environmental choice for the
animal rather than frustration and distress. Furthermore,
caretakers that accept the role of trainer must embrace
patience, practice, and avoidance of negative reinforcement
(punishment) to reach similar benefits of incorporation and
success. Veterinarians may assist in developing these
plans but the primary interaction and establishing behaviors
is best left to those who interact with the animal on a daily
basis.
VETERINARIAN’S ROLE IN ENRICHMENT AND
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Communication: For successful progression of an
enrichment or operant training program, veterinarians must
encourage regular and open communication. This involves
discussion of not only successes but also set-backs as this
will coordinate efforts between multiple areas or maintain
consistency for an individual animal or behavior plan. As
animal responses are dynamic, an appropriate plan for their
behavioral health must include flexibility to change for
specific differences.
In development of enrichment programs,
Safety:
species-specific knowledge of a veterinarian facilitates
safety monitoring from the animal’s vantage. Toxicities,
such as garlic for felines, can be avoided by warning
caretakers from utilizing these products in the environment
or as a reward item. Small items that could be swallowed
or unsecured ropes that could entangle can be avoided by
a veterinary review. Safety for the caretaker is another role
that the veterinarian is expected to evaluate. Some
behaviors are not appropriate for certain groups of animals,
such as direct interaction with exotic carnivores without
appropriate barriers. Food rewards should be offered in a
safe manner by device (such as a spoon or dowel) or into
an area where the animal cannot directly approach the
hand.
Appropriateness:
Behaviors, even those that are
uncomfortable, can be gradually approximated by trust and
time.
Although not pleasant, venipuncture can be
completed on an understanding human. With time, many
exotic species will accept this procedure but it should be
evaluated by the animal’s individual circumstances with
each attempt. Some procedures that would require local
anesthesia or sedation for a human to participate willingly
can certainly be trained but should include a sedation
component in the training.
Intra-ocular pressure
measurements can be obtained by an alert human but the
cornea must be locally blocked to permit both accurate
reading and patient comfort. Seals can be accommodated
to topical ophthalmic anesthetic drops prior to applanation
tonometry. Those behaviors to which a human would
require anesthesia to complete should not be requested of
an animal, regardless of its tolerance.
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Utilization:
Veterinarians perform this role most
frequently. Well-conditioned animals can participate in
improving their own health management.
Through
caretakers, veterinarians can more directly interact with
these animals and provide more thorough clinical
assessments. To improve this role, veterinarians should be
active participants throughout the training process – first as
observer, then with participation, and finally with utilization.
The time to capture behavior is well before it is actually
needed rather than when the animal’s imminent health care
requires it. Regular revisiting of this role and as simply a
friendly visitor encourages a healthy relationship with the
animal – and its caretaker – producing not distress but
enrichment!
APPLICATION TO NON-TRADITIONAL SPECIES PET
MEDICINE
These concepts are not ones that find strict application to
the animal in a zoological setting. Private practitioners of
non-traditional species medicine should initially focus on
nutritional soundness and environmental appropriateness
with a new owner. However, as the relationship matures
with the animal, veterinarians can be an excellent resource
to encourage variety of environment and consistency of
training. This will ultimately improve health and facilitate
human-animal bonds.
REFENCES
1. Clyde VL, Bell B, Khan P, Rafert JW, Wallace RS,
Improvement in the health and well-being of a bonobo
(Pan paniscus) troop through a dynamic operant
conditioning program. Proc Am Assoc Zoo Vet 2002;
Milwaukee, WI: 45.49.
2. McManamon, R, Veterinarian’s role in monitoring the
behavior enrichment standards of the Animal Welfare
Act. In: Fowler ME, Miller RE (eds) Zoo and Wild
Animal Medicine, Current Therapy 4. WB Saunders,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1999: 387-391.
3. Miller M, MacPhee MS, Mellen J, Proactive
development of an integrated behavioral husbandry
program in a large zoological setting. Proc Am Assoc
Zoo Vet 2002; Milwaukee, WI: 59-62.
4. Ramirez, K, Animal training, an overlooked science:
bringing training out of the closet. Proc Am Assoc Zoo
Vet 2002; Milwaukee, WI: 40-44.
5. Stark B, Reichard T, Shellabarger W, Animal behavior
management is not just for keepers: the role of the zoo
veterinarian in an animal behavior management
program. Proc Am Assoc Zoo Vet 2002; Milwaukee,
WI: 53-58.
SUGGESTED RESOURCES
• Pryor, K. 1996. Don’t Shoot the Dog. Bantam Books:
New York, New York.
• The Shape of Enrichment (http://www.enrichment.org)
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