Utilização de técnicas de condicionamento operante por reforço positivo como estratégia para socialização de aves

Abstract

It is important to develop and use welfare and socialization tools, as by facilitating the adaptive processes of the birds, we make their quality of life much better. In view of this, the present research was carried out at the Zoo of the Dois Irmãos State Park (PEDI), with four species of birds: three housed in quarantine enclosures (internment) and one in an exhibition enclosure; one of which, the Canindé Macaw, served as a comparative standard for the others, as it was already socialized. The studied animals were called: reference animal, represented by an Ara Ararauna (Canindé Macaw); animal 1, represented by a specimen of Ara mação (Arara canga); animal 2, represented by a specimen of Deroptyus accipitrinus (Anacá); and animal 3, represented by a specimen of Ramphastos toco (Toucano toco), belonging to the PEDI zoo, originating from donations or apprehensions. The training period lasted four months for the toucan toco, the most “antisocial” individual in the project, and three months for the other specimens, between October 2019 and January 2020. A technical sheet was used for each bird throughout the experiment, whose data were statistically analyzed using the R software, version 4.0.1. Six behavioral variables were evaluated, five of them displayed by the birds and one elicited by people from the research team - the variable (e) “Timeout” (reinforcement extinction act). This set included both positive actions (such as: responding immediately and eating in the hand/glove) and negative (such as: pecking and not having a response). The analyzes were carried out in order to monitor the evolution of the birds during the training and to evaluate, at the end of the research, their level of socialization. The duration of training was also analyzed by running data on “response time”, when the bird started to respond, and “stopping time”, when the animal stopped responding. With this, we conclude that, at the end of the experiment, the birds were socialized, as the positive action immediate response reached 75 to 100% recurrence and the negative reaction consisting of pecking was between 0 to 10% with three birds, with the exception of the Toco toucan, whose negative variables have increased in the last month, due to his absence for ophthalmological treatment. We noticed that the average training time reached seven minutes and that the birds under study began to respond normally well and without negative reactions. Comparisons with the already socialized reference bird adequately served as an indication of sociability.