I have a wildlife zoo

Chapter 252 Zoo Director Fang is really talented!

Desensitization training is the most basic within behavior training!

In the wild, the fear of unusual environmental factors is an instinct that ensures the survival of wildlife, as fear allows them to avoid being preyed on by predators, stay away from dangerous environments, and maintain a safe distance from competitors.

However, in captivity, this fear becomes an obstacle in various aspects, such as always staying out of sight of visitors, being unwilling to try enrichment, and preventing veterinarians from having the opportunity for close-up treatment.

Therefore, animal keepers need to use some techniques to train animals to eliminate this excessive and unnecessary fear.

Take domesticated cats and dogs as an example; they might be particularly afraid of hair dryers. After a bath, you want to use a hair dryer to help them dry off, but they struggle desperately and scream heartbreakingly, maybe even scratching and biting the owner.

They think this monster is truly terrifying, capable of emitting very loud roars, and can blow out wild hot air, which really scares the baby to death.

To desensitize cats and dogs to hair dryers, you can start by not turning on the dryer, just placing it in front of them. First, let them get familiar with the appearance of the hair dryer, stay with it for about ten minutes, and give them a treat as a reward.

Then, use a low setting without blowing it on them. Hold it in the other hand, keep a distance, and let them get used to the sound of the hair dryer working. After that, come closer, reward them with food, and gradually let them get used to it. Finally, you can achieve the effect of desensitizing them to the hair dryer.

Breaking an event down into many small steps, where the animal is reinforced for overcoming each step, gradually no longer fearing and being able to stay calm and relaxed in the face of the event, is the basic process of desensitization training.

Desensitization is not an instantaneous process; sometimes animals may regress, becoming fearful again of things they were previously accustomed to. This is normal and requires the keepers to assist the animals in overcoming their fear with patience and time.

"Impressive, impressive!"

The experts couldn't help but marvel at how calmly Red Bean faced them!

Director Du was completely puzzled on the side, staring at the red panda in Fang Ye's arms for a long time, seeing nothing special. It was just a red panda, right? What was so impressive?

What he didn't realize was that Red Bean's seemingly ordinary behavior actually reflected an extremely sophisticated level of training!

Because this environment wasn't like the red panda exhibit that Red Bean was familiar with, where it knew it could find a place to hide at any moment, it could relax and observe the visitors once it felt sufficiently safe.

So many strangers watching from such a close distance would make anyone feel nervous, let alone the naturally timid red panda, which looked so comfortable and relaxed.

Now that was impressive!

And Fang Ye didn't even have any treats in his hand to reward Red Bean.

You should know that the Giant Panda Base isn't only home to giant pandas; it also houses red pandas! The experts were equally familiar with red pandas.

To train one this well is an excellent performance; a red panda like this could already be used for public education programs!

Education program animals, like ring-tailed lemurs, are those that can be somewhat close to humans.

If an animal keeper is holding a well-trained red panda for educational talks, they can even allow the public to watch closely or even gently touch it to feel the animal's physical characteristics, making the educational effect truly outstanding, and holding everyone's attention.

The director looked on with admiration and further asked, "May I touch it?"

Fang Ye smiled, "Yes, you may!"

So the director stretched out two fingers and gently stroked Red Bean's belly. Red Bean behaved obediently, allowing the touch without showing any resistance.

Guan Shan watched with her eyes wide and mouth agape, utterly baffled!

She even began to wonder if this was the Red Bean she took care of every day. When had it become so well-behaved?

Red Bean was clearly the timidest one! Unless she was holding an apple, she as the animal keeper would be disdained even if she wanted to stroke it!

"Guan Shan, go get the scales!"

"Oh, sure!"

Fang Ye continued with another demonstration on how to weigh Red Bean!

Guan Shan brought over the scale, on top of which there was a stump.

Since red pandas have a fluffy tail trailing behind them, if only the scale is used, the tail would rest on the ground and the weighing would be inaccurate.

Having the red panda stand on the stump to weigh itself allows the tail to rest on the scale.

Normally, red pandas are not so obedient as to stand quietly on the stump; they need apples as a reward, and someone to help support their body.

If you let go, they would run away in a very short time, so you need to be quick and accurate when reading the numbers.

Fang Ye placed Red Bean two meters away on the ground, patted the stump with his hand, and said with a smile, "Come on, time to weigh in!"

Then he subtly directed Red Bean using his affable skill.

Red Bean's eyes lit up, she quickly ran over, climbed onto the stump, and started licking Fang Ye's fingers with her little tongue.

Fang Ye laughed and stroked Red Bean's head, "Yeah, such a good girl!"

He then took an apple from Guan Shan and handed it to Red Bean, who sat on the stump holding the apple with her front paws and began to eat it contentedly.

The experts' eyes nearly popped out in astonishment, their gazes filled with disbelief. If they had been full of admiration before, now they were utterly amazed!

"This training is just too good! You don't even need a training stick?" Find your next read on empire

"I've really never seen a red panda this obedient and well-behaved!"

"You've let go of her, given her the food, and she's still staying on the stump. It's been like two minutes, right?"

The key point was that she was being weighed while all these strangers were watching!

Even Director Du, who did not understand animal behavior training, saw something profound. With such obedient cooperation, this would save the animal keepers and veterinarians so much trouble.

He was delighted inside. Zoo Director Fang really had a knack for managing animals! It seems that the Giant Panda is in the bag!

He couldn't help but ask, "Director Fang, how do you usually train them?"

Fang Ye honestly replied, "Actually, our training is still at a relatively low level, and average keepers certainly wouldn't have them this obedient. It's just that I have a way with animals, and they are willing to listen to me."

The experts shook their heads, their faces showing disbelief, "Hehe, Director Fang is too modest."

As for Guan Shan, she was already numb to it!

When it was time to weigh the red pandas normally, why hadn't they seen one-tenth of this obedience?

Well, anyway, it's all normal for the miraculous Archdruid Zoo Director, no matter how preposterous the event.

The director, who hadn't held much expectation for the behavior training part, didn't expect Fang Ye to give an outstandingly good answer beyond his imagination!

He gave a thumbs-up, sincerely saying, "Impressive, impressive! Director Fang, that's enough; you can put back this little cutie."

The rest of the visit was more casual, not as detailed as the red panda exhibit, and then Fang Ye took them to the reception room to sit for a while, exchanging experiences of everyday animal care in a friendly and enjoyable atmosphere.

The experts from the Giant Panda Base were quite skilled. Both Fang Ye and Guan Shan benefited a lot, learning several new enrichment techniques.