Positive Human-Animal Interactions
Nonhuman primates and their human handlers (researchers, behavioral management staff, veterinarians, and husbandry technicians) often spend extended times together in the facility (spanning years), engaging in close and frequent interactions that increase the animals' reliance on staff for their daily needs. It is, therefore, not surprising that the quality of relationships between the animals and staff can make a significant difference in the animal’s welfare. Animals often seek and enjoy interactions with humans beyond simply relying on them for food, and may find interacting with humans inherently rewarding. Repeated positive interactions enable the animals to memorize and predict future interactions with humans, which, in time, develop into a beneficial relationship for all parties. Therefore, behavioral management staff are heavily invested in promoting and maintaining such important bonds, whether in unstructured interactions such as play, grooming and treat feeding or by employing more structured positive reinforcement training techniques. Positive interactions can be seen as a form of environmental enrichment and can induce similar effects to those observed following the introduction of an effective enrichment item. For example, relaxed treat feeding and playing (compatible with personnel safety) increased positive social behaviors towards other animals and humans. More structured interactions like those employed during positive reinforcement training sessions have also been found to be enriching for both animals and humans. In addition to forming strong human-animal bonds, positive reinforcement training methods promote the voluntary cooperation of the animal in various experimental, clinical, and husbandry-related procedures. By doing so, the animal’s perception of environmental control grows, a key factor in the animal’s welfare state.
Positive reinforcement training develops healthier relationships between trainer and animal, allows trainers to know animals individually, and reduces the animals' stress levels, which produces more accurate research results. Thus, for example, trained nonhuman primates may voluntarily participate in their shifting from one part of the enclosure to another during cleaning, enabling staff to examine their body condition without needing to be sedated, and administer medication in the animal’s home enclosure. Acknowledging the critical significance of forming positive human-animal relationships, the Behavioral Management Department invests resources in training husbandry, laboratory, and clinical staff on the principles of operant conditioning to strengthen the bonds between them and the animals under their care.