The Truth About Training: Promoting Wellbeing Through Behavior

At Kovler Seal Pool, a member of the Learning staff narrates as keepers work with Storm, the harbor seal, and Charles, a grey seal. It’s a beautiful spring day and a group of onlookers has gathered to watch these marine mammals in a short training session. Trainers use whistles and targets, along with favorite foods like fish and squid, to reward the seals when they respond to requests from the keepers to show different body parts and do other behaviors they have learned.

This care session is just one that happens every day at Lincoln Park Zoo. Keepers show guests how they teach the seals to present body parts or take certain actions when asked, using established cues the seals have learned to associate with the desired behavior. But the training sessions you see on zoo grounds are not the only ones that take place, nor is it the only kind of training animals get here. In fact, Lincoln Park Zoo has a whole department that specializes in positive reinforcement training, and they help train a majority of the animals at the zoo.

Why Is Training Animals at the Zoo Important?

Training sessions are often entertaining for people to watch, but that’s not why they’re done at Lincoln Park Zoo. Training can be enriching for the animals and offers many other benefits as well. Sessions provide learning opportunities and mental and physical exercise, lowering animals’ stress. Training also allows staff to better monitor health and improve welfare by teaching the animals to voluntarily participate in their own health care.

Around 80 percent of zoo animals participate in some level of behavioral training at any given time. “Every animal can benefit from training,” Associate Behavioral Husbandry and Enrichment Manager Amanda Barnes explains. “But some animals have certain needs—like taking certain medications for health conditions. These may require more intensive or focused training techniques to help them adapt to the delivery systems that provide the medication they need.”

And of course, says Manager of Behavioral husbandry and Enrichment Allison Kao, “Safety is our number one priority. The first training goal for potentially dangerous animals will always be shifting between their indoor and outdoor habitats safely.”

How Training Happens at the Zoo

On any given morning you can find Barnes and Kao traveling all over the zoo to conduct sessions with keepers for animals from black bears Birch and Katai to small primates and even reptiles—like box turtles. These zoo residents learn to do things like voluntarily present a body part for an injection, receive medication, step onto a scale so they can be weighed, or enter and exit spaces.

The zoo’s training philosophy is based on positive reinforcement: Each behavior is followed by a stimulus that the animal finds valuable, such as food, as a reinforcer.

“Positive reinforcement is the most ethical way to train an animal,” Barnes says. “If you ensure positive interaction with the animals, you’ll likely have less-stressed animals and fewer behavioral concerns. Training gives us the ability to include animals in their own care and helps them learn skills that support their welfare.”

This type of learning model is designed to increase the behaviors that keepers want. When an animal does a behavior that keepers don’t wish to see, it is simply ignored. However, food is never withheld, and animals always receive their full diet no matter what they do. Also, most behaviors asked for are natural to the species.

“Whenever possible, we try to train animals for something they need in the future,” Kao explains. “For example, if animals are being transferred to a different habitat or another AZA zoo, we will work with them to voluntarily enter crates that can be transported. In many cases, this also removes any need for anesthesia and is less stressful with fewer risks,” says Kao.

For example, Zari the lioness was trained to tolerate an ultrasound, so that when she was expecting cubs in 2021 and 2023, she was able to participate in her own healthcare through voluntary testing.

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Zari, an African lion, is expecting cubs very soon! Zari voluntarily participates in her prenatal care includes weekly ultrasounds with Lincoln Park Zoo veterinarian Dr. Kathryn Gamble, DVM, MS, Dipl ACZM, Dip EZCM (ZHM). #BabyAnimals #ZooTok #AnimalTok #lions #pregnant #ultrasound #wildlife #conservation #zoo #lioncub #Chicago #NotAPet

♬ I Think I Like When It Rains – WILLIS

Keepers conduct most of the training sessions as part of their daily care routine, but the behavioral husbandry team assists, helps them build their skills, and supports their efforts. Fortunately, the basic science of training is the same for every species, although some mechanics will differ. This means every day is different for those training the animals at the zoo. “The way we do it on a basic level always going to be the same, but the natural history of the animal and the individual’s learning history determines the details,” Kao says. “For example, some animals are predisposed to be more nervous, like prey species. They are more aware of little things, so it takes some time to build trust with them.”

Every element of training has its own challenges and much planning goes into every aspect of behavior modification. Actions must be consistent, focused, and sensitive to the temperament of individual animals. And every step must be evaluated to ensure that goals are being met.

Case Study: Cosie, Pygmy Slow Loris

Cosie is a 4-year-old pygmy slow loris who has been diagnosed with urolithiasis, a condition that causes bladder stones. The veterinary team initially recommended a weekly regimen of fluids. Over the long term, this procedure has successfully prevented new bladder stones from forming.

It eventually became clear that Cosie would need this treatment for the rest of her life. That’s when training began, to make sure that Cosie could take those fluids voluntarily as part of her daily care. The goal was to minimize her stress while keeping both animal and care staff safe, since slow lorises have a venomous bite. As Cosie had not experienced any training before, caretakers and the zoo’s behavioral husbandry managers had to start from scratch and ramp up as quickly as possible.

That means she had to learn foundational behaviors first, like coming to a designated spot and understanding the reinforcement system. Her care team also needed to establish a “bridge” (a secondary enforcer in the form of a sound or a word—think “Good job!”—used to bridge the gap between an action and a reward).

Cosie, pygmy slow loris. Image courtesy of Associate Behavioral Husbandry and Enrichment Manager Amanda Barnes.

Once this was accomplished, the team devised the safest, least-intrusive way to give Cosie the fluids she needed. They trained her to stand still with her head in an open-ended PVC sleeve, giving her the choice to opt in or out as liquids are administered, as part of a 24-step behavior-shaping plan. Cosie is working through the steps and making progress. However, training with any individual is almost never linear. Sometimes the process of teaching Cosie or any animal at the zoo to participate in their own care can include regression phases and reconsideration of strategies.

As her training continues, the team continues to meet Cosie where she is at—using her own behaviors as cues to stop or continue their work. “Cosie’s training and health requires constant conversation, patience, and understanding,” says Barnes.

Watch Daily Training Sessions at the Zoo

Although most training at Lincoln Park Zoo happens behind the scenes, guests can also see training happening on zoo grounds. The harbor and grey seals are trained daily during Seal Training sessions at 11:30 and 2:30 p.m., while this summer Giraffe Training sessions take place at 1:30 p.m. on Fridays. You might even catch a lion training if you’re here at the right time! All schedules are dependent on animal needs. To find out what free training might be taking place on a day you’re visiting the zoo, check the Daily Activities schedule at go.lpzoo.org.