Sheehy, Haley V

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Haley Sheehy, GSURC 2014 Proposal  Great Apes: A Study of Human and Non-Human Primate Interactions in a Zoological Environment Zoo Atlanta is the home of North America’s largest collections of Orangutans and Western Lowland Gorillas, as well as a large collection of Old World taxa. I had the opportunity to work alongside all of these species from May to December of2013, recording my journey from internship to seasonal animal keeping position within the zoo’s primates department.  Recording observations of behavior was the main method of data collection, and over 30 hours a week were spent with the apes, engaging in their feeding, enrichment, and training routines. All of but the youngest of the zoo’s primates are trained for medical and husbandry related purposes Including body positioning for cardiac and prenatal ultrasounds, the administration of flu vaccines, dental and oral health maintenance, and the presentation of most body parts. The training is voluntary and reinforced in a positive manner in order to make the visual and diagnostic assessments of health and behavior much easier for both the keeper staff and the veterinarians.  The primary research question concerns identifying the types of training and enrichment that are most effective at increasing survivorship and promoting instinctual behaviors, and also whether or not these methods can be used to promote conservation and cognitive development in captive primates. The results demonstrate that when it comes to “work”, Bornean orangutans tend to figure out how to obtain the rewards much faster than their Sumatran counterparts and the gorillas. The ecological inference is that because primates are able to be trained to perform medical and husbandry types of behaviors, training and enrichment can be also be utilized to promote the learning of other behaviors necessary for survival in the wild, while at the same time  promoting cognitive development in captivity.  Key Words: Participant Observation, Primatology, Husbandry, Ecology, Primates, Orangutans, Enrichment, Cognition, Training, Gorillas 

Great Apes: A Study of Human and Non-Human Primate Interactions in a Zoological Environment

Georgia State University

Haley Sheehy, GSURC 2014 Proposal  
Great Apes: A Study of Human and Non-Human Primate Interactions in a Zoological Environment 
Zoo Atlanta is the home of North America’s largest collections of Orangutans and Western Lowland 
Gorillas, as well as a large collection of Old World taxa. I had the opportunity to work alongside all of 
these species from May to December of2013, recording my journey from internship to seasonal animal 
keeping position within the zoo’s primates department.  Recording observations of behavior was the 
main method of data collection, and over 30 hours a week were spent with the apes, engaging in their 
feeding, enrichment, and training routines. All of but the youngest of the zoo’s primates are trained for 
medical and husbandry related purposes Including body positioning for cardiac and prenatal 
ultrasounds, the administration of flu vaccines, dental and oral health maintenance, and the 
presentation of most body parts. The training is voluntary and reinforced in a positive manner in order 
to make the visual and diagnostic assessments of health and behavior much easier for both the keeper 
staff and the veterinarians.  The primary research question concerns identifying the types of training and 
enrichment that are most effective at increasing survivorship and promoting instinctual behaviors, and 
also whether or not these methods can be used to promote conservation and cognitive development in 
captive primates. The results demonstrate that when it comes to “work”, Bornean orangutans tend to 
figure out how to obtain the rewards much faster than their Sumatran counterparts and the gorillas. The 
ecological inference is that because primates are able to be trained to perform medical and husbandry 
types of behaviors, training and enrichment can be also be utilized to promote the learning of other 
behaviors necessary for survival in the wild, while at the same time  promoting cognitive development in 
captivity.  
Key Words: Participant Observation, Primatology, Husbandry, Ecology, Primates, Orangutans, 
Enrichment, Cognition, Training, Gorillas 


https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1184&amp;context=gsurc

Great Apes: A Study of Human and Non-Human Primate Interactions in a Zoological Environment

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