Holly Garson is head exotic animal trainer at Flamingoland Zoo. The company she works for is called APAB Ltd who provides the bird and sealion displays at Flamingoland, and animals for film and television productions. She joined the company at 14 years old doing weekend work and she is the manager of the bird show 19 years later.

Simeon Smeele & Sara Torres Ortiz

The project on short-term memory in pinnipeds began when Dolphin Adventure, to increase the motivation and concentration of animals, trained each and every one of its individuals to perform the behavior, which we will call "repeat". This behavior consists of a signal or SD that basically means "repeat what you just did".

We have seen in previous articles how to reinforce a correct behavior when we train with our animals, as this will increase the probability that they will occur in the future, but what do we do when a behavior is incorrect?

When we train animals to respond to a specific stimulus, regardless of what they are doing or what situation they are in, to go to a particular location, we know it as recall training.

Team communication

The union of a group of people to achieve a common goal is what we know as “team communication”.

For an effective communication, it is necessary to know how to listen, not to have a unique reality and whenever possible, to reach a common agreement in the decisions.

In our case, the purpose is to ensure the care and handling of the animals under our care to ensure their welfare.

As we already know, a behavior is determined by its consequences, so we will keep in mind that depending on how those consequences are, there will be a higher or lower probability of the behavior repeating itself.