Many visitors to the San Diego Zoo attend the various entertaining and educational shows the Zoo puts on. If you miss out on experiences like these, you may be missing out on so much more: tiny hedgehogs, fast-soaring birds, and binturongs that smell like buttered popcorn.

The " Wild Ones" show at the San Diego Zoo's Hunte Amphitheater features these creatures and helps show the public some of their unique behaviors and abilities. By exposing the public to the animals, the Zoo is able to promote conservation by inspiring the audience to live responsibly. Animal trainer Britta Wilson-Pastor showed the interns a few of the animals' natural behaviors demonstrated in the shows.

There are three different types of reinforcement that are mainly used with animals: positive, negative, and punishment. Ninety-nine point nine percent (99.9%) of the time the Zoo uses positive reinforcement. This helps keep the animals stimulated and encourages them to do well. Clicker training is a big part of the effectiveness of this process. When an animal does a behavior correctly, they hear a click and receive a reward such as food or praise. After much repetition and accumulating difficulty, an animal is able to perfect its task. As they become more confident with a certain behavior, trainers are able to decrease the amount of food given to the animals relying solely on the confidence that the animal will perform correctly.

The food given to animals when they train comes from their daily diets, the recipe for which was scientifically developed by nutritionist Mark Edwards. He takes great care to match an animal's food intake with their dietary needs. This helps to keep the animals happy and healthy, so they are able to perform during shows. In the end, everyone benefits.

Even animals retired from " show biz" receive strict dietary attention. Desiree, a 20-year-old red-tailed hawk, spent many years soaring over audiences at the Zoo's show. This lucky bird was rescued from the wild when she was very young. Although some people fear these two- to four-pound hawks, they are good for the environment and essential to society because they eat small rodents. In effect, they keep the rodents from overpopulating and causing a lot of trouble.

As Ms. Wilson-Pastor's main goal is to make the animals' lives better in the Zoo, she has already worked her magic with the red-tailed hawks. The animals are now free to fly around their enclosures instead of constantly being tied down. This milestone, for her, is only the beginning of what she hopes to accomplish. I think, however, that by providing the generous time and attention she displayed towards the animals, she is already creating a wonderful environment for them.

Along a wall of the " green room" for the show, there is a section covered with numerous clipboards; one for every animal those keepers look after. Having the records out allows the keepers to see what is happening with the animals at a moment's glance. Three main colors represent different issues noted about certain animals. Orange symbolizes aggression, blue symbolizes behavior, and yellow symbolizes health concerns. It was satisfying to see that most of the charts had few or no highlighted marks. The charts also help keepers to monitor an animal's health. If a recurring problem is noticed, they are able to recognize it quickly and immediately take action.

I was very surprised when the first animal brought out was a common golden retriever dog. Little did I know this was no ordinary pet, but a dog that lives with a cheetah. This retriever is part of the third cheetah-dog pair the Zoo has formed. The animals are placed in side-by-side pens when they are both only a few months old. Later, after they become comfortable around each other, the two are introduced together and hopefully grow to become best friends. Because cheetahs are often skittish animals, a traveling dog companion helps them remain calm and relaxed if they have to be moved. Even though most people would expect the cheetah to be dominant, the dog is the leader of the pair. By having the cheetahs relaxed in different environments, researchers are able to learn more about the species, therefore helping to save the spotted cats.

Overall, my experience at the Hunte Amphitheater was quite valuable. I not only learned the ways of animal training but also got to witness them first hand. I don't think I will forget my close encounters with a binturong named Baprang anytime soon.

Contributed by Shelby - Zoo InternQuest Conservation Team

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