Elephants Elephants - Wildpro - Twycross Zoo

or operant conditioning. Only positive reinforcement methods are used and
the elephant’s compliance is voluntary.
The term protected contact is somewhat misleading. Although the keeper is
behind a barrier, mistakes can result in serious injury. The elephant can still
reach the keeper, therefore they MUST follow a set safe method of working
and a minimum of two trained handlers should always be present.
Skill levels and staff training are required to manage elephants in both
systems. The form of elephant management chosen will be dictated by the
facility and the aims of its elephant programme, its philosophy, staff ability
and the number, type, gender and demeanour of elephants held. A zoo
MUST have a written elephant management protocol. All bulls should be
managed in a protected contact situation as should cows that are insecure,
fearful or have a predisposition towards aggression. In both situations it is
important to have consistency in commands and training methods (Guerrero
1997) (Alexander and Reid 1992). Much of the management methods in free
contact have been passed on from generation to generation (and may differ
between institutions) and still lacks a coherent system than can be accurately
and objectively transferred from one keeper to another.
Some institutions use protected contact with difficult cows and bulls and free
contact with more tractable cows and young animals (Doyle 1993) (Miller et al
1994). Note that the same individual cannot be managed both ways, a choice
has to be made (Parrott and Kinzley 1993).
Protected contact involves positive reinforcement using verbal and food
rewards and is a positive partnership between the keeper and elephant. In the
protected contact training process the elephant is given the option to comply
with the handler and thereby earn rewards for performing desired
behaviours. Compliance by the elephant is voluntary. This management
system controls the elephant’s behaviour and providing its day-to-day care
using a system of targets and reinforcements from outside of the elephant’s
living space. The only discipline used is a time out, that is a withdrawal of the
trainer’s attention from the elephant for a short period before resuming
activity or ending a session. The elephant can decide to ignore the handler
and leave the handler’s presence at will, although it is the handler’s goal to
maintain the elephant’s interest and willingness to respond correctly for a
reward. Protected contact is not a remote or hands-off system, there is still a
lot of contact between the trainer and the elephant; this physical contact is
critical for maintaining the physical well-being of both elephant and keeper.
For example an animal is trained to put its foot through a steel plate with a
cut-out, where foot treatment can be safely carried out by the handler.
Training methods are similar to those used for marine mammals. Targets are
usually poles with styrofoam floats and the bridge or cue is a high-pitched
dog whistle or a clicker and/or voice commands. The positive reinforcement
is a food treat such as monkey biscuits or fruit and vegetables, i.e. the animal
is rewarded for a positive movement towards the target, which is the opposite
of ankus training where the animal avoids the ankus point (Desmond and
Laule 1991). The shaping of just about every conceivable behaviour in this
system has a common origin in the act of touching the target. The target
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