Habituation and Training

Animals that are to spend time in the laboratory need to be able to relate well to humans.

To this end, a great deal of time is spent interacting with the animals. Small food rewards are a part of the habituation and early training process. The use of reward to encourage animals to behave in a desired way is known as positive reinforcement training. Teaching the animals to move to specific locations within the enclosure at the direction of a researchers technician is the first training objective.