Using Operant Conditioning and Desensitization to Facilitate Veterinary Care with Captive Reptiles

Hellmuth, Heidi; Augustine, Lauren; Watkins, Barbara; Hope, Katharine

doi:10.1016/j.cvex.2012.06.003

Cited by 28 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The animals began training on name recognition, shifting, and targeting. Positive reinforcement programs have been demonstrated to enhance psychological well‐being (Ramirez, ; Hellmuth et al, ; Burghardt, ) which has been linked to captive reproductive success (Desmond and Laule, ). It has also been theorized that environmental enrichment contributes to reproductive success through stabilizing social groups, reducing aggression and increasing play behaviors (Carlstead and Shepherdson, 1994).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age, fertility and reproductive behavior in cuban crocodiles,Crocodylus rhombifer, at the smithsonian's national zoological park

Augustine

Watkins

2015

Zoo Biology

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The Smithsonian's National Zoological Park (NZP) has a long history with Cuban crocodiles, Crocodylus rhombifer, beginning in 1900's when the first animals arrived at the NZP. Today, the Zoo has two breeding groups of C. rhombifer and has observed and analyzed reproductive behavior and fertility rates over the last three years. Fertility rates were determined initially by observing the formation of an opaque band that forms on the shell of a fertile egg, called banding. The fertility rates by banding were later compared to the observation made after opening the eggs to verify fertility. In addition to tracking fertility, nesting and agonistic behavior were also observed. Several notable observations were documented over the same period. These included a male predating a nesting female's eggs, increased aggression between two females housed together, the continued development of a partially banded egg, and the discovery of 19 additional egg shells post oviposition by both females in the enclosure. Here we discuss the nest phenology, fertility and behavior of the five exhibited C. rhombifer at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park over a 3-year period. Zoo Biol. 34:278-284, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals Inc.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age, fertility and reproductive behavior in cuban crocodiles,Crocodylus rhombifer, at the smithsonian's national zoological park

Augustine

Watkins

2015

Zoo Biology

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“…However, some reptiles that are undergoing chronic stress will present with obesity [47]. Obesity also results from overfeeding in conjunction with reduced energy expenditure, which may be related to the captive environment and/or a failure to consider low reptilian metabolic rates, and high conversion efficiencies, when establishing feeding regimes [75]. Obesity has many detrimental effects, including dystocia and decreased lifespans.…”

Section: Health As An Indicator Of Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Welfare Assessment Methods in Reptiles, and Preliminary Application of the Welfare Quality® Protocol to the Pygmy Blue-Tongue Skink, Tiliqua adelaidensis, Using Animal-Based Measures

Benn

McLelland

Whittaker

2019

Animals

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Simple SummaryReptiles are commonly housed in wildlife parks and zoos, and are increasingly being kept as pets. Husbandry of reptiles is complex; signs of pain or disease can be challenging to recognize, and behavior is not always well understood. Therefore, assessment of reptile welfare may be difficult. In comparison to mammals, methods of welfare assessment in reptiles are under-investigated. In this paper we review the literature on welfare assessment techniques in reptiles. We determine that indicators of negative affective state are better characterized in reptiles, and are likely easier to apply in a welfare assessment tool. Indicators of positive affective state such as play behavior, and judgment bias experimental techniques, should be investigated further in reptiles. We also explore the application of the Welfare Quality® Protocol to the pygmy blue-tongue skink, an endangered species. This application presents examples of predominantly animal-based indicators that may be further investigated for use in a tool in this, and other reptile species.AbstractReptiles are held at wildlife parks and zoos for display and conservation breeding programs and are increasingly being kept as pets. Reliable indicators of welfare for reptiles need to be identified. Current guidelines for the captive management of reptiles utilize resource-based, rather than animal-based indicators; the latter being a more direct reflection of affective state. In this paper we review the literature on welfare assessment methods in reptiles with a focus on animal-based measures. We conclude that, whilst a number of physiological and behavioral indicators of welfare have been applied in reptiles, there is need for further validation of these methods across the diversity of species within the Class. Methods of positive welfare state assessment are comparatively understudied and need elucidation. Finally, we examine some widely-used welfare assessment tools in mammals and explore the application of the Welfare Quality® Protocol to the endangered pygmy blue-tongue skink, Tiliqua adelaidensis. We propose that this framework can form the basis for the development of taxon-specific tools with consideration of species-specific biology.

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“…Training procedures are increasingly used with reptiles in zoos as enrichment to improve welfare and to be able to perform veterinary procedures without excessive handling of the animals to reduce stress (Hellmuth et al, 2012). However, training procedures might also be used in experimental studies, in which they are often labelled as reinforcement training.…”

Section: Animal Training Through Operant Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The end goal of all these procedures is for an animal to perform a certain behaviour or behavioural sequence which is accomplished through operant/instrumental conditioning which is a form of learning: a desired behaviour is reinforced within a certain context until the animal performs this behaviour reliably within the context. If complex behavioural sequences are the goal, then multiple small steps are usually trained by successive approximation until the more complex endpoint is achieved (Hellmuth et al, 2012). In contrast to habituation, behaviour learned by conditioning is usually long-term and sometimes permanent (Peeke & Herz, 1973).…”

Section: Animal Training Through Operant Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-avian reptile learning 40 years on: advances and promising new directions

Szabo¹,

Noble²,

Whiting³

2019

Preprint

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Recently, there has been a surge in cognition research in non-avian reptiles. As a diverse group of animals, non-avian reptiles (turtles, the tuatara, crocodilians, and squamates - lizards, snakes and amphisbaenids) have shown to be good model systems for answering questions related to cognitive ecology; from the role of the environment in brain, behaviour and learning to how social and life-history factors correlate with learning ability. Furthermore, given their variable social structure and degree of sociality, reptiles have been pivotal in demonstrating that group living is unnecessary for animals to learn effectively from conspecifics. Past research has undoubtedly demonstrated that non-avian reptiles are capable of more than just instinctive reactions and basic cognition. Despite their ability to provide answers to fundamental questions in cognitive ecology and a growing literature base, there have been no systematic syntheses of research in this group. Here, we systematically, and comprehensively review studies on reptile learning. We identify 83 new studies investigating learning in reptiles not included in previous reviews on the same topic – affording a unique opportunity to provide a more in-depth synthesis of existing work, its taxonomic distribution, the types of cognitive domains tested and methodology that has been used. Our review therefore provides an up-to-date knowledge overview by tying the collected evidence together under eight cognitive umbrella terms: (1) aversion learning, (2) spatial cognition, (3) learning during foraging, (4) numerical competency, (5) learning flexibility, (6) social learning and (7) memory. Importantly, we identify knowledge gaps and propose themes which offer important future research opportunities including how cognitive ability might influence fitness and survival, testing cognition in an ecologically relevant setup, testing invasive compared to non-invasive species, and social learning in social reptiles. Overall, we believe that, for the field to move forward, it will be immensely important to build upon the descriptive approach (testing if a species can learn a task) with experimental studies elucidating causal reasons for cognitive variation between and within species. With the appropriate methodology, this still young field of research should advance greatly in the coming years and represents a significant opportunity for testing general questions in cognitive ecology and beyond.

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Using Operant Conditioning and Desensitization to Facilitate Veterinary Care with Captive Reptiles

Cited by 28 publications

References 36 publications

Age, fertility and reproductive behavior in cuban crocodiles,Crocodylus rhombifer, at the smithsonian's national zoological park

Age, fertility and reproductive behavior in cuban crocodiles,Crocodylus rhombifer, at the smithsonian's national zoological park

A Review of Welfare Assessment Methods in Reptiles, and Preliminary Application of the Welfare Quality® Protocol to the Pygmy Blue-Tongue Skink, Tiliqua adelaidensis, Using Animal-Based Measures

Non-avian reptile learning 40 years on: advances and promising new directions

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