Abstract
Large pythons and boas comprise a group of animals whose anatomy and physiology are very different from traditional mammalian, avian and other reptilian models typically used in operant conditioning. In the current study, investigators used a modified shaping procedure involving successive approximations to train wild Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivitattus) to approach and depress an illuminated push button in order to gain access to a food reward. Results show that these large, wild snakes can be trained to accept extremely small food items, associate a stimulus with such rewards via operant conditioning and perform a contingent operant response to gain access to a food reward. The shaping procedure produced robust responses and provides a mechanism for investigating complex behavioral phenomena in massive snakes that are rarely studied in learning research.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the National Science Foundation (grant IOS 1052200 to MSG), Animal Behavior Society, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Herpetologists’ League and Sigma Xi for financial support. Thanks to J. Fobb and R. Snow for supplying pythons, L. Buist, G. Emer and D. Emer for mechanical support in designing a prototype apparatus, H. DeMarr for training support and C. Stewart for animal care.
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10071_2014_797_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Supplementary material Online Resource 1. A Burmese python performs the operant behavior chain. It assumes an observation position, waits for light illumination, pushes a button and is rewarded with access to the food reservoir where it retrieves the prey item. (PDF 225 kb)
10071_2014_797_MOESM2_ESM.pdf
Supplementary material Online Resource 2. Individual mean response latencies (±SE) during pre-training, shaping and discriminated operant (D.O.) training phases performed by five sub-adult pythons (SA, S4, S6, S11, S12). There were no significant differences in mean response latency between individual pythons (P>0.05). (PDF 36 kb)
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Emer, S.A., Mora, C.V., Harvey, M.T. et al. Predators in training: operant conditioning of novel behavior in wild Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivitattus). Anim Cogn 18, 269–278 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-014-0797-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-014-0797-1