Meerkats Can Actually Learn New Tricks and It’s a Pretty Amazing Thing To See

How zookeepers target train animals and what it's used for.

Transcript

00:00Hey guys, today we're Target-training meerkats.

00:30So in Target-training, basically the Target acts as a follow me, and then we're able to

00:35tell them that they did a good job with the clicker, Target.

00:41Once they touch the tip of their nose to the Target, that's when I'll give them a click,

00:45and that's when they know that they've performed the right behavior, and then they'll get a

00:50treat.

01:08So with Target-training, we can have them station on a certain area so that we can make sure

01:14that they all get the proper amount of food.

01:17We can also use it to have them stand on a scale so we can get a weight on them because

01:22that's a good indicator of health.

01:30Now we're going to weigh our meerkats.

01:38So this is Moshi, our alpha female, and she weighs just over one kilogram.

01:45Meerkats are actually really smart.

01:51They need a lot of stimulation, and they can figure out a lot of different puzzles pretty

01:54quickly.

01:55So Target-training is one of the different ways that we're able to enrich them on a day-to-day

01:58basis.

01:59.