Fagen et al (2014)

• Traditional Elephant Training Methods

  • Focus on punishment and aversive stimuli
  • Involve unlimited contact between handlers and elephants (free contact)

  
• Contemporary Training Methods


  • Emphasize a management system with protected contact for handler and elephant safety
  • Based on positive reinforcement/rewards

  
• Secondary Positive Reinforcement (SPR) Training


  • Aims for a more humane approach
  • Uses a distinctive sound marker as a secondary reinforcer, consistently followed by a primary positive reinforcer (usually food)
  • Allows for precise timing in indicating correct behavior
  • Prompts behavior through pleasant motivation rather than fear
• Benefits of Positive Reinforcement


  • Increases control and problem-solving abilities for the animal
  • Enhances safety for handlers or trainers
  • Facilitates acceptance of veterinary procedures with less stress
• Application of SPR in Other Species

  • Effective in training non-human primates, bongos, nyalas, and giant pandas
• Specific Scenario for SPR

  • Collection of sputum from elephants for TB testing
  • 11% to 25% of captive elephant populations in places like India and Nepal test positive for TB
  • SPR may be crucial for safely testing elephants, especially for zoonotic TB

  
• Challenges Addressed by SPR

  Trunk-wash samples for TB testing were difficult to acquire before this study
• Operant conditioning


  • Learning by consequences
  • Organism needs to be directly involved in process for it to be conditioned
  • Consequences based around reinforcement + punishment
  • Reinforcements increase probability of repeating a behaviour
  • Punishments decrease probability of repeating a behaviour
• Types of reinforcement


  • Primary (fulfil biological need)
  • Secondary (has no intrinsic value, can be exchanged for primary reinforcer)
• Shaping


  • Use operant conditioning, specifically reinforcement
  • To refine behaviour
  • Learning new behaviour – variation in quality of it
  • Reinforce better attempts with reward
  • Reinforcing better attempts enhances the learning process
  • Encourages the organism to refine its behavior over time
• Behavioural chaining


  • Also use operant conditioning, reinforcement
  • Creating strings of behaviour performed in succession
  • Forward chaining (1st behaviour rewarded, then 2nd once mastered)
  • Backward chaining (final behaviour rewarded first, then work backwards)
• Primary reinforcer


  Chopped bananas
• Secondary reinforcer


  Short whistle blow
• Initial training


  1. Understanding reinforcers (pairing whistle with banana reward)

  2. Capture (rewarding spontaneous behaviours)

  3. Lure (rewarding necessary positions)

  4. Shaping (refining behaviours)
• Verbal cues


  Monosyllabic sounds paired with each behaviour, no meaning in English or Nepali, each distinctive
• Procedure for behavioural chaining

  1. Reward blows towards bucket, then shape to center

  2. Pair behaviours in sequences, use marker (whistle) but only give primary reinforcer (banana) at end of full sequence

  3. Chain together full trunk wash sequence (trunk here, trunk up, bucket, blow)
• Final training stage


  1. Introduce syringe and saline, reward for staying in position as syringe gets closer

  2. Increase amount of liquid inserted, start with 1 drop then up to 60mL

  3. Transition to plain water, offer water before training to reduce drinking
• Overall training plans were tailored to each individual elephant due to different rates of learning
• The elephants were able to graze in the jungle with their mahouts from 5am to 7am and then from 10.30am to 4pm

  
• For the remainder of the day and during the night each elephant was leg-chained to posts in an open stall, with chains between 6 foot and 8 foot long
• Saline liquid medium


  0.9% saline solution
• Trunk wash training


  1. Start with saline liquid medium

  2. Transition to plain water

  3. Offer water before training to reduce drinking saline

  4. One elephant preferred saline, transitioned to water
• Training plans


  • Tailored to each individual elephant due to different rates of learning

  
• Elephants were able to graze in the jungle with their mahouts from 5am to 7am and 10:30am to 4pm

  
• For the remainder of the day and night, each elephant was leg-chained to posts in an open stall, with chains 6-8 feet long and slack enough to allow easy movement
• The elephants' diet was mainly fresh grass and dhana (a mixture of grain, nutritional supplements, and grass)

  
• The elephants had access to water only when they were grazing
• Data collection


  1. Timing of training sessions

  2. Tallying number of verbal cues offered for each behaviour
• Performance tests


  1. Began after training session 10

  2. Given after every 5 subsequent training sessions

  3. Tested all behaviours the elephant had been taught

  4. Pass score was 80%

  5. Subjectively determined by the trainer

  
• Steady behaviour


  Tested separately in 3 positions: trunk up, trunk down, and trunk here
• Overall training was recorded as 'complete and concluded' when the elephant had a pass rate of 80% for the full sequence of a trunk wash, irrespective of the animal's pass rate scores for trunk down and steady behaviours

  
• Potential reasons why elephant 5 (the adult) did not complete the training included significant distractions, visual impairment, trunk weakness, and a foot abscess
• Traditional Elephant Training Methods

  • Focus on punishment and aversive stimuli
  • Involve unlimited contact between handlers and elephants (free contact)

  
• Contemporary Training Methods


  • Emphasize a management system with protected contact for handler and elephant safety
  • Based on positive reinforcement/rewards

  
• Secondary Positive Reinforcement (SPR) Training


  • Aims for a more humane approach
  • Uses a distinctive sound marker as a secondary reinforcer, consistently followed by a primary positive reinforcer (usually food)
  • Allows for precise timing in indicating correct behavior
  • Prompts behavior through pleasant motivation rather than fear
• Benefits of Positive Reinforcement


  • Increases control and problem-solving abilities for the animal
  • Enhances safety for handlers or trainers
  • Facilitates acceptance of veterinary procedures with less stress
• Application of SPR in Other Species

  • Non-human primates
  • Bongos
  • Nyalas
  • Giant pandas
• 11% to 25% of captive elephant populations in places like India and Nepal test positive for TB

  
• SPR may be crucial for safely testing elephants, especially for zoonotic TB

  
• Trunk-wash samples for TB testing were difficult to acquire before this study