(MY) animal trainers

[Guest guest]

They talk to animals - The Star - 27th Dec 2006

 

To train animals, you have to show them who's boss but also show them

love and care. StarTwotalks to two animal trainers at Zoo Negara about

the joys and perils of their job.

 

LISTENING to Zoo Negara animal trainers Mahat Mohamed and Zainal

Abidin Yahya describe how they train animals, you kind of get a mental

picture of a good cop-bad cop routine. Strange, but that is almost how

it is.

 

When a new animal arrives for training, Mahat takes it on first and

uses dominance to assert himself. After he is done with the basic

training, the animal is passed on to Zainal, who then employs love and

affection to further train and bond with it.

 

Zookeeper Vijayandran handles trained birds in the daily shows at Zoo Negara.

" We have to show that we are dominant, or else it would be very

difficult for the animal to obey us, " Mahat explained. " Look at the

elephant, how big it is. So we must show our dominance over them. "

 

Zainal added: " We show them love by talking to them, and they can

understand and recognise our voices. When we're feeding them, we pat

them and talk to them. They like it, and when they're happy, we are

too. "

 

" We say things like 'good boy.' We can't say too much or they will get

confused! " Mahat laughed.

 

Mahat has been an animal trainer for over 10 years. He first studied

under some Singaporean trainers in Johor Baru, after which he worked

in Bukit Merah, Perak, and at the A Famosa Safari, before he joined

Zoo Negara. Zainal has been with Zoo Negara for 18 years, and has just

recently been officially made an animal trainer. He started out as a

handyman but was transferred to the animals department after five

years.

 

Zainal can be seen handling the sea-lion that performs in the daily

shows at the zoo. Mahat emcees the shows as well. The shows usually

starts 11am, but there are also night shows that feature nocturnal

animals such as the owl and the raccoon.

 

Both men have had experience training sea-lions, monkeys, orang utans,

otters, raccoons, foxes and birds. But they say mammals are the

hardest to train simply because they are a little smarter than the

other animals. Mammals need to be trained from young while reptiles

can be trained at any age.

 

" Mammals know how to judge a person and know who to be friendly with, "

said Mahat. " It can be a headache training them, but once they are

fully trained, they are the best performing animals. Elephants, for

example, will follow our instructions if we show them love. If you

forbid them from dirtying themselves after cleaning, they won't do it.

 

" But mammals pandai tipu (good at fooling people)! " he laughed.

 

The orang utans of Zoo Negara performing their antics to the

instructions of senior zookeeper Christopher Caine Xavier.

Mahat pointed out five important aspects of animal training that every

trainer has to know. The first is positive reinforcement, which means

good behaviour is rewarded. The second is negative reinforcement,

where if the animal misbehaves, it is scolded or not given food. The

third is observation, where the trainers observe the animal's

behaviour. The fourth is communication which has to be created between

the trainer and the animal. The fifth is cues. For example, a ball is

brought out as a cue for the animal to perform a ball trick.

 

" The five aspects are closely related, " Mahat revealed. " Let's say we

have a wild animal. How do we get close to the animal? We use feeding,

which is positive reinforcement, and we also use communication, where

we use a whistle. If we use vocal instructions, then each trainer's

voice is different and that might confuse the animal. But if we use a

whistle, the sound is the same no matter which trainer uses it. So

whenever the animal hears the whistle, it will know there is food and

will follow the sound. "

 

He said there is no fixed period of training as each animal is

individualistic, just like human beings. Some are smart, some not so,

some are aggressive or stubborn while others are too affectionate. The

trainers have to observe the animals' likes and dislikes.

 

" We stress on their natural behaviour and shape the training according

to that, " said Mahat. " For example, a gibbon loves to swing on the

branches. So we add that to its performance in the show. "

 

Since Mahat is the one who has to show dominance to train the animals,

he also unwittingly becomes unpopular with the animals. Because he

shows them who's boss, the animals are rather unfriendly with him, and

would rather stick to Zainal. And Mahat is usually the first to get

bitten!

 

" The risk is always there, " he said. " In animal training, if the

animal doesn't bite, you won't be able to gauge what approach to use!

(Laughs) However experienced we are, we would still make mistakes

sometimes. The thing that I emphasise is that the trainers shouldn't

frighten the animals too much. And they shouldn't cause hurt to the

animals, especially the new ones. When an animal is too frightened, it

will attack. We shouldn't take it to the extent where the animal

regards us as its enemy. "

 

He recalled how he was once bitten by a sea-lion. Asked if the bite

was serious, he laughed and said: " When an animal is angry, it doesn't

bite half-heartedly! "

 

And thanks for all the fish ... Animal trainer Zainal Abidin Yahya

with Bart, the sea-lion that performs jumps and balancing acts.

But he said it wasn't the sea-lion's fault.

 

" I was trying to get it to do a high jump, " he explained. " It didn't

wait for my instruction and jumped. I tried to stop it, and that was

when it bit me in the thigh.

 

" When an animal bites, we have to use negative reinforcement. We don't

give it any food for that day, so that it understands that it has done

something wrong. "

 

Newly arrived animals are also too risky to train. They have not

gotten used to the new environment in the zoo, and so must be allowed

some time to relax and familiarise themselves with the surroundings.

This takes two weeks to a month.

 

But Mahat said there has never been any serious injuries to trainers,

because they place a lot of importance on safety.

 

" Before we enter a cage, we observe the behaviour of the animal

first, " he said. " All animals, before they attack, show some kind of a

signal. For example, a dog would prick its ears up. Apes would bare

their fangs. So when these signals are evident, do not enter the cage

or approach the animal. "

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