THE TRAINING AND ADVENTURES OF AN APPLIED ANIMAL BEHAVIORIST...a photo album
ABMA 2003 Conference
In February 2003, over 200 people from across the world who work in the field of animal behavior gathered in Tampa Florida to present papers on the most recent advances in training behaviors utilizing positive reinforcement and the laws of operant conditioning.
Papers presented included using positive reinforcement training methods to get voluntary blood draws from gorillas, hyena and cape buffalo...the advantages of learning to train other species (marine mammal trainers working with birds, dog trainers working with chickens etc) to fine tune training skills, and an a number of workshops on the fundamentals of dealing with behavior problems and understanding aggression and how to deal with it across a variety of species.
The group made several field trips for close-up interactions viewing the training results of local groups including those at Busch Gardens, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Gatorland and the Center for Elephant Conservation.
