Animal Diaries Archive

Tiger School

4 February 2005

Over the past few weeks, the tigers have been introduced to target training as part of their enrichment. All five of the tigers are doing really well and took to the training almost instantly.

Firstly, the tigers were introduced to mark training which involves a "mark board" that the tigers are called to with a simple command. When the tiger places both front paws on the board, a food reward is then given. The tiger will only get the reward if the process was done correctly. As the tigers improve with their training, the mark board will get smaller and less noticeable until the tigers can determine an object as small as a leaf to target.

Target training will be helpful to us in the future with filming or photo shoots but can also be extremely helpful in moving the cats into new places as well. The tiger can be called to a point without the assistance of a handler. Hopefully this training will be shown in future presentations at the Zoo which will demonstrate the intelligence of these fearsome predators.

Other forms of target training are slowly being introduced to the tigers but we'll talk more about that when their training advances.

Until next time - We'll see you at the Zoo!