The Role of Preventative Medicine Programs in Animal Welfare and Wellbeing in Zoological Institutions
The overarching goal of a preventative medicine program is to minimize the chances of health problems developing and to maximize the chances of detecting health problems early, in a manner that best benefits the animals and the organization. The traditional paradigms of animal welfare, stemming from the five freedoms and being progressively fleshed out to […]
Strepsirrhine Primate Training Programs in North American Institutions: Status and Implications for Future Welfare Assessment
Many articles have shown the benefits of operant conditioning training techniques in the care and welfare of several species of nonhuman primates; however, the information regarding their use in strepsirrhine species is scarce. We assessed the development and current status of training programs with these species in North American institutions. An online survey was distributed […]
Positive Reinforcement Conditioning as a Tool for Frequent Minimally Invasive Blood and Vaginal Swab Sampling in African Lions (Panthera Leo)
Information regarding the physiology of African lions is scarce, mainly due to challenges associated with essential routine research procedures. The aim of this experiment was to test the possibility of training six captive lionesses by positive reinforcement conditioning (PRC) to voluntarily allow the collection of vaginal swabs and blood samples. This was done with the […]
Investigating fear in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) using the conditioned-suppression paradigm
Trout learned the operant task of pendulum-pressing for a food-reward in a mean of 4.3 sessions lasting 1 hr. In a separate phase, fish also learned–through classical conditioning–to associate a neutral light cue with an aversive stimulus. When again allowed to pendulum-press for food, after aversive classical conditioning, there was a drop in the rate […]
Operant Conditioning of Apes to Facilitate Medical Procedures and Immobilizations
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The use of positive reinforcement training to reduce stereotypic behavior in rhesus macaques
Stereotypic behavior is a pervasive problem for captive monkeys and other animals. Once this behavior pattern has started, it can be difficult to alleviate. We tested whether or not using positive reinforcement training (PRT) can reduce this undesired behavior. Subjects for this study were 11 adult, female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) with a history of […]
The Use of Positive Reinforcement Training Techniques to Enhance the Care, Management, and Welfare of Primates in the Laboratory
Handled frequently and subjected to a wide range of medical procedures that may be particularly invasive, nonhuman animals in a laboratory setting have unique needs. To produce the most reliable research results and to protect and enhance the well-being of the animals, it is desirable to perform these procedures with as little stress for the […]
The Development of an Operant Conditioning Training Program for New World Primates at the Bronx Zoo
This article describes the development of an operant conditioning training program for 17 species of New World primates at the Bronx Zoo. To apply less invasive techniques to husbandry protocols, the study introduced behaviors-hand feeding, syringe feeding, targeting, scale and crate training, and transponder reading-for formal training to 86 callitrichids and small-bodied cebids housed in […]
Training Nonhuman Primates to Cooperate With Scientific Procedures n Applied Biomedical Research
This report provides a brief overview of aspects of training nonhuman primates who have been, and continue to be, used in this laboratory. The research context involves applied behavioral studies in which animals are trained to perform complex operant behavioral sequences, often in their homecage environment. In such studies, animals have freedom to choose whether […]
Positive reinforcement training as a technique to alter nonhuman primate behavior: Quantitative assessments of effectiveness
Many suggest that operant conditioning techniques can be applied successfully to improve the behavioral management of nonhuman primates in research settings. However, relatively little empirical data exist to support this claim. This article is a review of several studies that discussed applied positive reinforcement training techniques (PRT) on breeding/research colonies of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) […]