The elephants currently on display are all old enough to have been taught to following commands back in the “bad old days” when elephant hooks were still being used. (I’m curious to know how young elephants are trained to respond to voice or whistle commands without the benefit of some sort of direct contact.) |
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Elephant Care Center #2
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6 comments:
Young elephants, and these older elephants are trained to follow targets (often a pool float at the end of a pole). It's the same technique that's used to train dolphins and now many other animals. The animal receives postive reinforcement for following, or maintaining contact with the target. San Diego was one of the first zoos to use protected contact training with their elephants after some keeper injuries and one fatality. It works.
I'm not against "hands-on" training, I've done it. Frankly, it's more fun and we know done properly it works well. In a zoo situation protective contact makes sense if for no other reason than liability. I'm too old to fight this fight again. Protected contact vs. hands-on is right up there with politics and religion. You're not going to change some minds.
Doesnt look very protected to me. i know if that were a tiger or a chimp i would not be so comfortable standing there, that trunk seems more powerful to me than either of those.
I agree Mr. Alexander. Since it is unlikely that these elephants will ever be loaded up, driven to some new building, unloaded, saddled up and have to hump a ride for an hour before running through a quick routine. Why not use PC? Even if the animal doesn't co-operate right now, we can come back after lunch and try it again. It would seem any zoo would benefit by going PC. I am a huge fan of hands on working with elephants myself, but I can totally understand the position of the zoos that have gone hands off. You have eliminated a large portion of the danger. Obviously, as anonymous has pointed out, there is still danger, but it is minimal compared to not have a barrier between handler and animal. Plus the fact that the elephant can't knock someone down, then run off.
I will bow to Mr. Alexanders and Caseys exstensive knowledge of handling protective contact elephants in a zoo envirement as i have no working knowledge of how its done. I would never claim to be an expert on something i have never done myself.just pointing out that if this is an example of handling what i would guess to be an aggressive animal wich is why it is probably handeled this way it doesnt seem safe to me. i know that elephants are highly intelegent and that maybe it could not only knock you down but pull you in thru the bars. I think just because they call it protected contact it doesnt make it that much safer if this is how it is done, as a trunk seems to be one of the most dangerous part of an elephant ( im no expert ). They call a seat belt in a car a safety belt but if the seat isnt bolted down it doesnt meen its going to keep you safe in an in an accident.
I'll agree that letting the trunk flip around can cause problems. I think I'd train the elephant to hold something with it's trunk along with the other desired behavior. (Probably why elephants "tail-up".) Some would refer to that as training an incompatible behavior -- if the elephant is holding a bar with it's trunk it can't be grabbing you.
I would assume this is a pre protected contact elephant, who had proven herself to be safe. They are usually handed much differently protected contact wise, then one who has proven themselves to be unsafe. I don't think protected contact has much to do with skill of handling. Mr. Cainan points out a number of situations where it has gone just as bad as it has in a zoo with not much to do.
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