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We are fortunate to work closely with five different species of marine carnivores, from three phylogenetic families (Otariidae, Phocidae, and Mustelidae) in our program at Long Marine Laboratory. This opportunity allows us to explore the behavioral, sensory, and cognitive adaptations of these animals as they relate to differences in evolution and ecology. Each one of our animals is involved in an intensive training program that prepares them to cooperate in different behavioral experiments, allows their health to be carefully monitored, and keeps them in good physical and mental condition. |
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| Animal Training for Research and Husbandry Conducting noninvasive, interactive, behavioral research with marine mammals requires that trainers have a clear way of communicating information to their animals. Much of animal training consists of linking up a trainer's signals, an animal's movements or responses, and carefully timed outcomes or rewards. Our training program accomplishes this through the use of classical and operant conditioning techniques that reinforce desired behaviors with fish rewards. The animals learn quickly to respond to the trainer's tools, which include targets that the animals touch and track and cues such as whistles that tell them they've earned a reward. In this way, teaching various behaviors for research and husbandry can be broken down into simple steps and establishing new behaviors becomes a fun and rewarding process for the animal as well as the trainer. The animals are active participants in the training process, meaning they must make choices about how to respond in different situations. Their decision making relies on their current motivational state, their memory of past experiences, and their expectancies about the future. Because of this, the behaviors that an animal is trained to perform can illuminate internal processes like sensory events, associative learning, the formation of concepts, and short- and long-term memory. We design experiments that engage the animals in active problem solving and they develop and use strategies that allow us to measure their discriminative and cognitive abilities. An additional benefit of this research is the stimulating and challenging environment created for our animals during the testing process. In some ways, the testing protocols simulate the wild environment because the animals encounter new situations and successfully solve novel problems on a daily basis. |
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| Veterinary Care at Long Marine Lab Caring for the health needs of our animals is a joint effort between our project staff and our veterinarian, Dr. Dave Casper. Together, we work to plan and maintain a training program that meets the individual needs of each animal. This involves establishing and practicing behaviors that allow us to monitor health and treat ailments, such as training the animals for physical examinations, blood draws, diagnostic ultrasounds and X-rays, collection of tissues and fluids, and even tooth brushing. We invest a great deal of deal of time in caring for our animals and keep detailed records on their health and behavior in order to provide them with the best possible long-term care. |
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| External Oversight of Animal Care We are required by law to work with several regulatory agencies. The Office of Protected Resources, which is part of the National Marine Fisheries Service, provides our permit for housing and conducting research with pinnipeds (NMFS 1072-1771-00). Our work with sea otters is conducted under a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS MA186914). The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service regularly visits our lab to review animal care protocols, health and water quality records, and animal and food preparation facilities. Our government funding agencies have their own animal care and research protocol approval process which includes mandatory review of all research protocols and site inspections. Finally, each of the University of California's campuses and all of our off-campus research partners have Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs), which conduct site visits and review and approve detailed protocols for each research project we initiate. UC Santa Cruz recently achieved AAALAC accreditation, a voluntary certification from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care which demonstrates our continued commitment to ethical and humane treatment of animals. We work closely with all of these agencies to maintain the highest possible standards of animal care. |
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© 2009-2012 Pinniped Cognition & Sensory
Systems Laboratory. All rights reserved. |
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