This episode kicks off Behavior Month 2023 and we are joined once again by special guest, Wouter Stellaard from Behavior 360 and The Kuzo Group, to discuss this week's theme for Behavior Month 2023: Cooperative Care. Wouter discusses what it means for animals to participate in cooperative care and the element of empowering animals to participate and giving them the voice to say yes or no. Wouter also offers advice on times where behavior is needed in a timely manner. To wrap up the conversation, Wouter talks about the importance of cooperative care in a modern zoo and showing that in action to guests. Behavior bird brainiacs (that will make sense after you listen to this episode) will be excited for Wouter's "Training Tales" about a short-billed corella and a beautiful, boisterous black-breasted buzzard! For questions or suggestions about the podcast email abc@theabma.org and to reach Wouter contact him on his website behavior360.com  Let's talk some training!

2:15 Information about Behavior Month 2023

3:50 Introduction to Wouter Stellaard

11:05 What does Cooperative Care look like in practice? 

13:55 Giving animals the ability to say yes or no

18:55 How can we tell if a behavior is truly voluntary? Is there anything that is truly voluntary?

24:55 What is the difference between an operant learning strategy and “distracted” feeding in terms of cooperative care? 

 31:20 When medical diagnostics/information are needed in a timely manner 

36:50 The shift in moving away from the word “husbandry” and to “cooperative care” 

40:00 Effectively communicating to the public about the role cooperative care plays in a modern zoo 

44:40 How cooperative care can improve welfare 

49:10 “Training Tales”