I recently gave a behind-the-scenes tour of our ambassador animal area, and I caught myself making a mistake. It wasn’t that I had forgotten a fact or botched a number, but rather that I repeated a phrase I had used a dozen times before, and it was only in that moment that I realized what I had said was categorically incorrect. When asked why one of our animals, a kinkajou, was not going out on encounters – I cited that behavioral issues were the primary reason. Isn’t that audacious of me? Let’s take a second to operationalize the behavior I…

Our understanding of animal learning and behavior has changed tremendously in the past two decades, in large part thanks to the influence of applied behavior analysis and a greater value on scientific methodology in our approaches. While simplifying a complex behavior interaction to a core equation of stimulus and response is a great learning tool for teaching new trainers and developing plans of actions, the formulas become inherently flawed as stand-alone tools if one doesn’t understand the true nature of environmental association.