Training Wild Elephants

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One thing that amazes me about animal training is that the basic principles can be applied to any animal. Dog, cat, hawk, fish, porcupine, and elephants. Even wild ones. Yes, you can change the behavior of wild animals in your backyard - or in Africa.

Animal trainer Ken Ramirez has been working on a conservation project in Zambia to protect a dwindling herd of elephants. The herd's annual migration path meanders through Zambia where they are protected from hunting. But part of their path crosses the border into Democratic Republic of the Congo, where poaching is rampant. Many elephants are killed in this small section of their journey. 


So the conservation team began to wonder if they could train the elephants to reroute their migration path to stay within the political boundaries of Zambia.

Ramirez developed a training plan using the same principles that he would use to train a dog. First, they made the dangerous path more difficult by installing a tall stick barrier at a narrow section of the path. Then, they added reinforcers to the new path by creating temporary watering holes. 

It worked! Rather than pushing through a barrier, the elephants changed their route to follow the much-needed water. 

But building and dismantling 325 watering holes every year is not sustainable for the conservation team. The Zambia government also gave the project a limited time frame - after several years, the team could not interfere any more. How would they convince the elephants to take this route after the barriers and man-made watering holes were gone?

Just like with dog training, you make changes a little bit at a time. Over several years, the team moved the barrier farther back until it was not visible from the trail intersection. The elephants no longer tried going down that route! And each year, the team builds fewer watering holes, farther apart. The elephants still continue going down the desired path! 

What a fascinating project! To learn more, check out Ramirez's webinar about the project here: 

Live from Africa: Elephant Conservation-Training with Ken Ramirez  

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