A giraffe's choice

Modern behavior management in zoos includes positive reinforcement training. Identifying the reinforcement value of various events is an important aspect. At Kristiansand zoo, the giraffe Melvin regularly approaches people who then sometimes reach up and touch his nose. The aim of the current experiment was to investigate the reinforcement value of touch, and to evaluate a strategy for preference testing. Two behaviors, nose-touch to two different targets, were trained in an ABC design. A forced choice procedure was implemented with different consequences (food versus touch). Here the nose-touch behavior deteriorated in the “touch” setting and Melvin consistently left before the session ended, while the behavior remained strong in the “food” setting. Then the procedure was altered to free choice, where Melvin mostly stayed through the session and chose “food” over “touch”. The touch did thus not show to be an effective reinforcer, which is valuable information for future behavior management.