LONDON - A new research has determined that sharks can be trained like dolphins to feed from keepers, roll over and enjoy cuddles.
According to a report in the Telegraph, in experiments carried out in the US, some varieties of shark allowed themselves to be picked from the water and cuddled.
Keepers at the UK’s Sea Life Centres will now use the training techniques in the hope that they will end up with hundreds of trained sharks.
The experts at the aquariums are to begin a period of intensive tuition by using coloured boards and sounds to train the sharks in a similar way to that used by the scientist Ivan Pavlov in training dogs.
It will mean that feeding becomes easier because each shark in a tank will know when it is their turn to feed.
The Sea Life centres have many different types of shark and within just three months, the brightest ones should be responding to commands.
Sharks learn the signals then, when they see or hear them, they approach the keeper who holds a “target stick”.
The sharks then rub their noses against the stick and wait until they are fed.
No one had attempted to train sharks in this way before, but it could now teach experts a great deal about the creatures.
According to Carey Duckhouse, of Sea Life, “The US team has shown that many varieties of sharks can quickly learn to respond to a combination of audible and visual signals.”
“A shark answers its own sound and colour signal by putting its nose on a target-stick held by the trainer, and keeping it there until it receives food,” he said.
“Some species, such as zebra sharks, will even roll over to have their tummies scratched or allow themselves to be lifted from the water without any kind of struggle,” he added.
“The implications for improving shark welfare are enormous. It means when we have to move them, we can get the sharks to swim to a certain spot rather than have to chase them around,” he explained. (ANI)
Filed under Dolphin, News | Tags: Chase, London | Comment Below
Related?
Dolphins can maintain round-the-clock auditory and visual vigilanceMay 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists have found that dolphins are able to remain continually vigilant for sounds and visuals for days on end. The research was done by scientist Sam Ridgway from the US Navy Marine Mammal Program and his colleagues from San Diego and Tel Aviv.
Dolphins vigilant round-the-clock, even while asleepMay 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Dolphins have a clever way of remaining vigilant round-the-clock, by sending half their brain to sleep, while keeping the other half awake. Sam Ridgway from the US Navy Marine Mammal Program and colleagues from San Diego and Tel Aviv wondered whether the dolphins' unrelenting vigilance tired them or weakened their senses.
Over 100 dolphins washed ashore in northern PhilippinesFebruary 9th, 2009 MANILA - More than 100 dolphins were found stranded at the coast of a northern Philippine town early Tuesday, the local media reported. Bataan provincial governor Enrique Garcia Jr.
Conservation group says about 20 dead Fraser's dolphins wash up on beach in UruguayAugust 19th, 2009 About 20 dead dolphins appear on Uruguay beachMONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — An environmental group says about 20 dead Fraser's dolphins have turned up on a beach in Uruguay. Richard Tessore of SOS-Marine Life Rescue says it isn't clear why the tropical dolphins died in the colder waters off South America's southern Atlantic coast, but some experts theorize they became disoriented or were carried there by changing water currents.
Dolphins found using toolsJanuary 11th, 2009 SYDNEY - After monkeys were spotted cracking nuts with stones and birds were seen using sticks to trick termites out of their mounds, dolphins are the latest to join the ranks of tool using animals. Janet Mann, a biologist at Georgetown University in the US, has catalogued the antics of the bottle nosed dolphin colony at Shark Bay on Australia's west coast.
Clarification: Fighting Flipper storyJune 29th, 2009 Clarification: Fighting Flipper storyPANAMA CITY, Fla. — In a story June 26, The Associated Press reported that frustrated fishermen are firing guns at bottlenose dolphins that have become increasingly aggressive in taking fish off hooks, and some dolphins have been wounded or killed.
Return our dolphins, Russian owners tell Egypt aquariumFebruary 15th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russian owners of three dolphins have appealed to the Egyptian Justice Ministry seeking the return of the marine mammals, which they say are being kept in Egypt illegally, a Russian daily said Monday. Vremya Novostei said the contract for shows involving the three Black Sea dolphins - Stesha, Masha and Styopa - at an aquatic centre in Sharm-el-Sheikh expired last March.
Thousands of rare dolphins sighted in Bay of BengalApril 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Thousands of rare dolphins have been sighted in the fresh waters off the Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal, according to Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). WCS researchers estimated that nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins, related to orcas or killer whales, were found living in freshwater regions of Bangladeshi Sundarbans and adjacent waters of the Bay of Bengal - an area where little marine mammal research has taken place up to this point.
