Dr. Balcombe about the inner lives of fishes, cognition, and relationship with other animals!

Dr. Jonathan Balcombe describes himself as a synthesizer, someone who pulls together research and practical information to correct or expand our often underestimated views and treatments of animals, including the often invisible, unliked, and unpopular animals.

Jonathan shares his insights and stories about fishes cognition, being a machiavellian, play, human-fishes interaction, social dynamics, behaviour, recognition, memory, and emotions.

For more information on Dr. Jonathan Balcombe please visit his WEBSITE

Short bio: Jonathan Balcombe is a biologist with a PhD in ethology, the study of animal behavior. His books include Pleasurable Kingdom, Second Nature, The Exultant Ark, and What a Fish Knows--a New York Times best-seller now available in fifteen languages. His next book, all about flies, will be published November 2020 by Penguin Books. Jonathan does professional editing for...

Today's episode is with Karen Fifield MNZM, the Chief Executive of Wellington Zoo in New Zealand, who shares the philosophy, experiences and insights of the zoo on animal welfare and care. About what leading zoos and aquariums are doing for animal welfare today.

The importance of social media to bring people with us to understand the work we are doing in zoos, as well as the importance of transparent messages, focusing on the visitor experience, and how we can work together with the staff and the public for animals and conservation.

Karen discussed the opportunities we have regarding animal welfare, as well as potential tensions with other goals such as conservation, education, research, and recreation, and animal welfare being the basis and being fundamental to all other programs. And the importance of continuous improvement, to do the research and ask 'Could we do this better?' To be thinking all the time, to do the best we can, to know that we have it right through continuous...

Over the years of working with animals, I was often asked, what my private formula for training animals was. It has been very difficult, to put it into words, but I came up with five concepts, which are the basis for all my interactions with animals. Plus, they do come in handy around humans too.

Patience

I learned to be the most patient person when working with an animal. I give them the time they need to react and understand what I am asking of them. Sometimes, I might also have to change my approach, because I might have done something leading to the opposite of what I was hoping for. From time to time it is also good to remember, to treat humans with as much patience, as I treat animals.
 

Body language

There are many things about my body language that can influence my interaction with an animal. One very important part of establishing a positive relationship is to be fully aware, of the way I move, my posture, my voice, and my facial expressions. During every interaction...

In this episode Heidi Quine, Bear & Vet Team Director Vietnam Animal Asia, talks about the work of Animals Asia, about bears, rescue, change, more bears, & hope!

How do you go about rescuing a bear, what happens on a farm and why? What is Animals Asia doing and how? Who are the bears at the sanctuaries, and how does the care staff work for them, managing over 200 bears!

Animals Asia's national and international heroes in the veterinary department and bear care specialists are working hand in hand with Government Partners to end the farming of bears in Vietnam.

Heidi shares a beautiful story of her favourite bear, Tuan, and how they rescued him from a farm, and to see him now in the sanctuary, it is everything that is right in the world, and his best friend Valerie.

Heidi also shares a beautiful story about James, and how she connected with him inspired by the work of the late Else Poulsen, asking "What are you trying to tell me bear? What do you need me to know?"

And then there...

In this episode, Dr. Heather Hill, Professor of Psychology, St. Mary's University, shares her research, experiences, pipe dreams, and stories about belugas, dolphins, and killer whales, including very exciting collaborative work on a stranded beluga calf. 

Heather has done welfare-related research on topics such as play, baby animals, mother-calf behaviour and development, including developmental aspects. Heather's research interests also include cognition, problem-solving, communication systems, and group formations. To understand what are animals doing in the wild, and how can we give them the best experience in human care, also using the information from the wild to shape care programs. 

Heather has worked with SeaWorld, and with many other facilities, on observational, cognition, and developmental studies among her many interests. 

Heather shares stories and work of her friend, mentor, colleague, and inspiration, the late Dr. Stan Kuczaj.

This podcast was recorded on...

The first podcast of AnimalConcepts is a special podcast. It is dedicated to our friend and colleague, the late Graham Law. This podcast is a conversation between AnimalConcepts & PAWS Director Sabrina Brando and Mark Kingston Jones, Co-Founder of Team Building with Bite, remembering the work, travel, and downtime with the kind, witty, always up for a joke and drink, and to animals committed Scotsman, of which he was very proud. 

Graham Law was Graham, and he was a husband, father, friend, and colleague. He was a visionary, an inspirator, joker, deep thinker, a poker & pusher to explore and be the best we can be, he was and is a legend.

Graham's thinking and ideas have brought so many changes in the animal care and welfare field, for bears, cats, birds, fishes, and others. Enrichment ideas such as the wobble tree, the pitfall feeder, the 'bear' basket, the swing pole feeder, and the feeding pole, are all among the many contributions he made. ...

Wellbeing for you and your animals is too important not to get right

At AnimalConcepts we help you be at your best to achieve excellence in animal care and welfare. The Practical Animal Welfare Science 'PAWS' platform, is the first e-learning platform combining human and animal wellbeing science and practice. It allows you to get the education and continuous personal development (CPD) opportunities as well as tools and practical resources you need so you and your animals can flourish.

Navigating the sea of animal care and welfare information, and caring for yourself while giving care to others is a challenge that can leave you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, where do you start?

"My vision is that the PAWS platform is one of the go-to resources that animal care professionals can use to learn, engage, and enjoy in our collective commitment to serving and caring for animals and for ourselves. See it as a short of wellness atlas where you can find all kinds of...

This week I attended the 2nd World Marine Mammal Conference in Barcelona, Spain – a 7-day immersion in the world of dolphins, whales, pinnipeds, polar bears, and all the other marvellous individuals who inhabit salty, brackish, or freshwater aquatic environments, or spend their time between water and land.

This scientific gathering had over 2500 people from all around the world. Some of my friends and colleagues attended too and we spend a lot of time talking about animal welfare and care, how we have seen such an evolution of programs and sciences, ranging from health care, environmental enrichment, human-animal interactions, and training. There were so many of us working with and in zoos and aquariums, as well as research facilities and universities, there to present and represent the individuals and species we care for and study.

During the conference I had not 1 but 4 colleagues tell me “you worked at a zoo and aquarium? I did not know that!” You know when you...

Dit is één van die boeken die je wílt lezen, maar eigenlijk niet wilt lezen. Velen zullen gehoord hebben van de “dierenbeul van Twente”, de psychopaat die niet alleen dieren mishandelde en vermoordde maar ook een zwerver doodde en drie aanslagen op mensen heeft gepleegd. Sander Wageman heeft het verhaal van Henk ten Napel en de dierenbeul van Twente herschreven. Ondanks het zware onderwerp heb ik dit boek in een dag uitgelezen. Door de geëngageerde en persoonlijke manier van schrijven over Henk ten Napel, inclusief zijn correspondentie met de dierenbeul, wordt je meegenomen in de speurtocht en de missie voor rechtvaardigheid.

Op 12 juli 2001 hoort Henk ten Napel over de verschrikkelijke toetakeling van zijn merrie Twenga: ze is met een scherp voorwerp in haar schede gestoken. Gelukkig overleeft Twenga de afschuwelijke daad maar Henk laat het hier niet bij zitten. Dierenmishandelingen zijn niet vreemd in Nederland, maar doorgaans zeer moeilijk op...

I watched an episode of Royal Pains, an easy-going and fun series about a concierge doctor’s practice called HankMed in the Hamptons. When answering the phone they say: “How can we make you feel better today?”.

In the past when I was working full-time in a zoo or aquarium I did not always pay attention to all the details, because I was so swamped with work and full filing the needs of our visiting public, safety etc. or because I did not know otherwise. For example, I did not always notice that the bedding material was less in quantity or not of good quality and the nest building of our small rodents was OK but not ideal.

With the marine mammals like dolphins, seals, sea lions and walruses we used some enrichment devices but most objects would only float and were hard to take to the bottom or to interact within the water column. By paying more attention to details, to the quality of e.g., interactions, relationships or sleep, as well as the number of opportunities,...