Elephants are amazing to train. They can learn a variety of behaviors from simple to complex in a short period of time. However, at times their behavior can be a challenge to change, when a behavior problem arises. Here’s an interesting one we addressed a few years ago. This elephant would eat anything you handed to her that was small enough to go in her mouth. The behavior goal was to have her hold an item (not suitable to eat) in her truck and wave it for a educational marketing campaign, but she would eat it. To get reinforcable action of holding an (edible) stick and giving it back, we started with a eucalyptus twig. Eucalyptus was the one thing we could identify she wouldn’t eat. We then wrapped a different (edible) stick with eucalyptus. Then faded out the eucalyptus twig. We repeated this with many sticks, stems, palm fronds, etc (things she could eat) until she generalized the behavior. In one session we had our “everything eating ele” waving edible items on cue. The entire video clip and detailed steps will soon be available at www.animaltrainingfundamentals.com as well as solutions to other behavior problems. I’m doing a conference presentation on solving behavior problems with exotic animals. I’ve got drives and drives full of these kinds of clips! Lots to dive into 😊 Visit the site to learn more. #asianelephant #elephanttraining #tradebehavior #givebehavior #elephants #elephant