Photograph by Jeremy Kramer
Eunice Framm, senior keeper of barnyard animals at the Cincinnati Zoo, has taught pigs to bowl, goats to paint, and red pandas to receive vaccines. She, and all other keepers, do so through the zoo’s preferred method of training—a process called operant conditioning, which uses positive reinforcement so animals can voluntarily receive necessary medical care (for example, gorilla ultrasounds) and perform fun tricks for guests (the hippos know how to “sit”).
As a keeper, what does it look like to care for the animals every day?
Our priority is making sure everyone is healthy. We also make sure we have a really good relationship with the animals so we know what normal looks like. If we see something that’s abnormal, we have a wonderful vet team, and we’ll reach out to them right away. We can diagnose anything if we need to.
We do a lot of training to learn different vet behaviors, so we work hard training our animals to voluntarily participate in all those things. [For example], with our red pandas, we do some injection training. They’ll come into a chute, have a seat, get some apples. During COVID, we had to give three [vaccines] within a week, and they all sat perfectly. It was a win-win for everyone—they get their COVID vaccine, they have a great time getting apples. I think that’s a big push for what we try to do with all of our animals with vet care, is make sure they’re happy to participate.
Outside of that, one thing we do a lot of is our guest interactions. The Barnyard Bonanza show, we do it twice a day, five days a week. We do a lot of natural behavior, so with our goats, who love to climb, we train them to climb a ramp. Our pigs are trained to bowl—they get to use that nose and do that rooting instinct. We train different animals to do different behaviors that they would naturally do, but in a fun setting. It’s all about making sure they have the best care and allowing them to demonstrate natural behaviors through different positive reinforcement training.
You train your animals through a system called operant conditioning. How does that work?
That term essentially means learning that the behavior is influenced by its consequences. A perfect example is your dog at home. If you ask your dog to sit, and then you always give a treat, your dog is more likely to want to sit the next time you ask, because the consequence, which was a treat, happened last time.
The injection training with our red pandas—we knew this was something they would need from time to time. It’s all about small steps. Let’s get them used to coming into a chute, give them lots of apples. Now let’s see if they’ll have a seat in the chute, lots of apples. Then we would build on that, making sure not to move forward until they’re really comfortable with the last step. Then it was a soft touch—they seem fine with that, [and they get] apples. The next time, we might use a mist bottle to give them novel sensations. Then over time, we used a blunt needle to make sure they were really used to that. It’s all about the small steps and making sure we follow them with treats and fun things. There’s a lot of different ways to train. We’re all about positive reinforcement training, which means anything that we ask, the animal wants to repeat it the next time because they got something good. For the barnyard show, I use a lot of food reinforcers—which just means the animal seeks it out.
What makes a good trainer is that they know the small steps to start to move forward in behaviors. And before we start any training with our animals, we always try to build a really strong relationship with them from the beginning.
How long does it take to build a relationship between animal and keeper?
It depends. Some animals might be really shy and timid, so you have to take it slow. Some might be confident. Every animal is an individual and I also think some people might have a better rapport with animals, too. Every person-to-animal relationship is different, so there’s no exact window of how much time it takes. It’s our job to figure out what to do to help build that relationship with the animal.
In our department, we have people who are primary with certain animals. We also have people who swing, so they work a bit with all the animals. You need that, because people take time off, so you’ve always got someone who can jump in and do some things with the animals. Then we have people who focus a lot on a few animals, so they really get to know them, and can make a lot of progress with whatever training behaviors look like, whether it’s guest demonstrations or different vet needs.
We have giraffes that are trained to put their foot up on a block, and then keepers can work on their feet. A lot of our primates, they’re trained for blood draws, ultrasounds, x-rays. We worked on some training with our pigs for x-rays, and so we can do x-rays without anesthesia.
So, the animals will have relationships with multiple different keepers?
[Vet techs] come up and build relationships too, it’s not just the keepers. That’s something we started doing in the last five to 10 years, recognizing that the vet staff should have a good relationship with the animals as well. They’ve really given us a lot of time to come and be a part of training sessions, because obviously it wouldn’t be as successful if we train [an animal to do a behavior], and then all of a sudden, a stranger shows up to do the ultrasound. Once or twice a week, we have a couple vet techs who come and are part of the training. That way, there’s nothing that happens different when an actual injection happens because [the animals are] used to all the different things.
When you’re building a relationship with an animal, what’s the first step?
Mars and Moon were born last summer. They’re runner ducks, which historically are very shy. When they were babies, I just sat there with them. I would always hold bugs in my hands and just let them approach me. Over time, they learned if they chose to come over, my hands stayed nice and still, and they could eat out of my hands. They started to get more confident. I would start to walk farther away and still hold the bugs, and they would learn to follow me.
In the beginning, it’s just teaching them to follow me, and if they chose to follow me, there’s my hand with the bugs. Same thing with going into a crate.
With our ducks, they’ve got to learn how to walk out with people. I might see a guest coming and ask Mars and Moon to start coming outside with me, and I’ll give them bugs. I would leave their door open so if they got scared, they knew that they could run home. Early on, they did that a lot. Then they learned over time, it’s OK and they can choose to come out, because they know if they don’t want to, they can run back home. Mars and Moon are doing great now.
With keepers who work with bigger, or even dangerous animals like lions, how does relationship building work?
With those animals, we work with protected contact. That means there’s always going to be a barrier. Let’s say we’re working on relationship building. You’re going to be doing lots of feeding, but always through a protected contact barrier, and your animals learn to trust that coming up, it’s always going to get treats. Same thing, our large cats are trained for different injections, it looks just like we train our domestics.
I also like to train through protected contact because I think sometimes that makes the animal feel safer too, almost like they have more control of their environment. With a big cat, you’ll have your fence line, you might create some sort of chute, and again, you’re going to ask that cat to come in. It’s [essentially] the same thing—feeding some treats through some kind of mesh barrier. Then vet techs, if they’re doing blood draws from tails or injections, it looks the same.
Are the relationships between animal and keeper personal enough that, in instances where an animal is being released or rehomed, it’s difficult for them?
With our wolves, who have the potential to be released, they’re worked with very differently. Manatees too. We want to make sure they have a great life here, but we do it in a way that’s kind of silly. People will wear a suit or an outfit, so this animal has a nice life but never associates people with something it likes, which is food. Even with the wolves, they feed them in a way where the food isn’t associated with them. Same with manatees. We don’t want them to approach people and associate people with food.
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