Positive Reinforcement Conditioning as a Tool for Frequent Minimally Invasive Blood and Vaginal Swab Sampling in African Lions (Panthera Leo)

Information regarding the physiology of African lions is scarce, mainly due to challenges associated with essential routine research procedures. The aim of this experiment was to test the possibility of training six captive lionesses by positive reinforcement conditioning (PRC) to voluntarily allow...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied animal welfare science 2020-10, Vol.23 (4), p.508-519
Main Authors: Callealta, Isabel, Lueders, Imke, Luther-Binoir, Ilse, Ganswindt, Andre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African lion
Anesthesia
animal welfare
Animals
Behavior modification
behavioral training
Blood
blood collection
blood sampling
Blood Specimen Collection - methods
Blood Specimen Collection - veterinary
Collection
Conditioning
Conditioning, Operant
distress
environmental enrichment
Female
Lions - physiology
operant conditioning
Panthera leo
Physiological effects
Positive reinforcement
Reinforcement
Reinforcement, Psychology
reproduction
Sampling
Side effects
Training
training (animals)
Vagina
Vaginal Smears - methods
Vaginal Smears - veterinary
vaginal swab collection
zoo animals
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Information regarding the physiology of African lions is scarce, mainly due to challenges associated with essential routine research procedures. The aim of this experiment was to test the possibility of training six captive lionesses by positive reinforcement conditioning (PRC) to voluntarily allow the collection of vaginal swabs and blood samples. This was done with the final goal of avoiding frequent anesthesia, and potentially stressful management during reproduction research. All lionesses mastered basic clicker and targeting principles within 2 weeks. Routine sampling was possible after 20 weeks of training, enabling the collection of about 750 vaginal swabs and 650 blood samples over 18 months. The animals remained calm and cooperative during all sessions, and demonstrated curiosity in the training. PRC training of captive lionesses proved to be a suitable, minimally invasive method for repeated collection of vaginal swabs and blood. Additionally, PRC may serve as behavioral enrichment for African lions in captive settings. Compared to chemical or physical restraining methods, this noninvasive management approach may reduce distress and physiological negative side effects, thus opening up new avenues for feline research.
ISSN:1088-8705
1532-7604
1532-7604
DOI:10.1080/10888705.2019.1709066