There is a very common
question that we get at zoo show programs, especially when we have a bird on
the arm. “Does the bird ever bite
you?” The short answer is yes, but
the better question is “why
does the bird bite you?”
I hate the phrase
“aggression” or “the bird was being aggressive”. Okay, allow me to rephrase, I dislike when people,
especially new trainers use those phrases as they tend to lump together any
sort of negative display from the bird.
Over the years I have
found that birds may be aggressive for a number of different reasons, and
unless the reason is identified, curbing the negative behavior becomes
increasingly difficult.
Questions that I like to
ask both myself and people that I am training when trying to identify the cause
of aggressive behavior are: How
was the bird “being aggressive”?
What exactly was it doing?
When did the negative behavior start exactly? Was there an instigating moment? What was the trainer doing?
Feed me human! (photo: Leah Tyndall)
The first form of
aggression is food aggression.
This is when a bird tends to react in a violent manner because it wants
food. Everyone gets a little
grumpy when they are hungry and birds are no exception. Food aggression can vary from rushing a
trainer who has food, to biting at the glove when it does not contain
food. The key is to reward the
birds not when they are charging or footing, but when they are exhibiting calm
behavior.
We also redirect their
aggressive tendencies into a different behavior. For instance one of our Black Vultures used to rush at
people all of the time since he had accidentally been rewarded for doing so at
his previous location. We taught
him to perch on a branch or stump, wait for 10-15 seconds and then he would be
rewarded. He found this to be a
much faster and easier way to get his breakfast, rather than charging at
people. That often caused them to
leave, taking the food with them.
Training Zeuss (photo: Mike Cerutti)
Birds that become
aggressive to the glove are no longer rewarded from the glove; instead they eat
from a cup or a “food glove” which is on the opposite hand from the handling
glove. This is how we trained
Zeus, our Golden Eagle. The use of
a food glove also had the added benefit of creating a disregard for our bare
hand. This allows us to check his
feet and change his equipment without any issues.
Birds also become
defensive if they think you are trying to take food from them. This often leads to a behavior called
mantling. This is when a bird
hunches over its food and droops its wings so that the food is not visible to
other birds. If any creature dares
approach their prize there is usually a loud vocalization followed by the bird
striking out with either its beak or feet.
Yup...looks like a rat to me! (photo: Leah Tyndall)
On occasion it does not
even need to be food, the bird just perceives it that way. The other day Buford our Bald Eagle was
sitting backstage on his perch and he relieved himself. I decided to grab a paper towel to
clean it up once I picked him up.
Apparently that paper towel looked exactly like a rat because Buford
immediately jumped for it, feet first.
He didn’t stop until I tossed him the paper towel, he realized it was not a rat and promptly spit it out. After that he was a prince.
Aggression is sort of a
catch all term for a bird reacting in a hostile or violent way. It can have many root causes, only one
of which I have touched upon here. Come back next month as I discuss
territorial aggression, perceived threat aggression, and dominance
aggression. Actually, maybe come
back for several months, this might take me a bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment