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Mr Hester, who has spoken at the International Society for Equine Science conference, told guests it is clear the zoo and equestrian worlds \u201chave a shared goal of improving the lives<\/a> of the animals in our care through a compassionate science application\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that this crossover continues, and I\u2019m excited to see where it might lead us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mr Hester explained that to understand behaviour, we have to \u201cknow what the genes are doing, what the brain is doing and what the environment is doing\u201d. He added that his role considers species\u2019 natural history and behaviour, considering the role of the animals\u2019 environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we behave, the environment changes too,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like casting a stone into water, there\u2019s a ripple. The environment responds; individuals act upon the world and change it and are changed in turn by the consequences of their actions. There\u2019s this transaction, this interaction, exchange, between our behaviour and the world around us. And that\u2019s what\u2019s meant by the term operant behaviour. We\u2019re talking about learned behaviour, the result of experience where the organism is an operator, they act on their world.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what does it look like? What does behaviour look like when an environment is lacking? An environment is insufficient when it lacks diversity, variety and variability, and similarly, a behavioural repertoire is insufficient when it lacks diversity, variety and variability.\u201d<\/p>\n Repetitive pawing<\/p>\n Mr Hester showed footage of a beaver who, as seen on video camera, spent two to four hours a night repetitively pawing a pane of glass bordering her enclosure.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see in this way how behaviour and environment mirror one another,\u201d he said. \u201cShe is not in a diverse environment, so she doesn\u2019t perform a diverse repertoire.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call patterns of behaviour like this stereotypic. We\u2019re talking about a narrowness, a lot of one thing. The problem is not inside the animal, the problem is inside this animal\u2019s environment, so we change conditions, we change the environment to change behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Hester said that the zoo team provides elements to ensure each environment is responsive to changes resulting from operant behaviour. He cited a 1996 research paper that identified free operant freedoms, which guide engineering of environments.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first is the freedom to initiate, to start, stop, start over and skip an activity,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I were to put an asterisk on one of these freedoms, it would be on this one. In the wild environment, animals are always free to initiate behaving for reinforcers [meaningful outcomes of behaviour].<\/p>\n \u201cThe second is the freedom to repeat responses, then to form responses, to inventively select what you do, and to self-pace. So what does this look like from a practical point of view?<\/p>\n \u201cThere are four criteria that help us improve engagement. We try to design environments where the resources the reinforcers are slow to deplete, to satiate or we\u2019ve come in with a strong enough dose, there\u2019s enough reinforcers present in the environment to be meaningful. And where there is some intermittence, the animal doesn\u2019t succeed on every attempt, just like in the wild environment, they learn to be persistent problem solvers.\u201d<\/p>\n Studying the wild animal<\/p>\n Mr Hester said that when trying to identify any species\u2019 reinforcers, it is key to ask those who have studied them in the wild.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you ask that question for North American beaver, you tend to get these answers that they will be where there\u2019s running water, abundant vegetation and manipulable substrates, dirt or mud,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that\u2019s what we provided for these beavers.\u201d<\/p>\n The zoo could not provide running water in the beavers\u2019 enclosure but having seen research that found the sound of running water alone had encouraged beavers to build dams, they provided a recording. They provided abundant branches and vegetation and, having seen one beaver digging in a particular place, moved the speaker to the same spot.<\/p>\n \u201cThey began building a dam there that night,\u201d Mr Hester said.<\/p>\n There was no more pawing of glass and within a week, the beaver who had been pawing had refined her dam-building skills. A year later, the pawing had not returned.<\/p>\n \u201cHere, we ask what reinforcers do we want animals behaving to get,\u201d Mr Hester said. \u201cOur focus is on the reinforcer, when we put those in the environment, behaviour will emerge to control them.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do we make environments responsive to animals? How will those reinforcers depend on their behaviour? When we map out the answers to those questions, we\u2019re on the road to freeing up the operant and a more enriching lifestyle for the animals in our care.\u201d<\/p>\n Translating to the horse world<\/p>\n Asked if this would translate to horses, Mr Hester said he is confident it is applicable.<\/p>\n \u201cBehaviour is this uniting principle on the planet, so it has cross-species relevance that\u2019s very exciting,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d start by looking at what horses do in the wild; what choices do they make in environments where their choices are maximal?<\/p>\n \u201cI work with a conservationist named Michael Brown, and he calls the wild environment a decision landscape; it\u2019s full of choices, but species make relatively predictable choices.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Hester said in the day\u2019s other presentations, he\u2019d seen video of horses in a diverse environment, including water holes, dust baths and play with other members of the herd.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are those features of the environment?\u201d he said \u201cThat\u2019s where I would begin, and when you put them in, then you stand back and watch; watch animals learn how to control those outcomes, and it often requires a few revisions.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you see the animals interact, like the location of the running water sound, we had to make a revision in order for that to work.\u201d<\/p>\n You may also be interested in:<\/p>\n \t\t\tCredit: EMMA HERROD PHOTOGRAPHY\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tCredit: Andrew Sydenham\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tLibrary image. \t\t\tCredit: Future\t\t<\/p>\n
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H&H news editor
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\n\t\t\t\tEleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
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