Zoo Atlanta
July 5, 2023
Hello my name is Roxanne. I am an Ambassador Animal Keeper at the Atlanta Zoo. Have you ever heard the term “lizard brain”? Well, maybe you should rethink that. His one of our newest ambassador animals is Kannoli, a savanna monitor lizard. The monitor lizard is a type of lizard (Varanus), which also includes Komodo dragons, all of which share some very interesting traits. Monitor lizards have the highest metabolic rate of any reptile, allowing them to be aggressive hunters and maintain large territories. They also have forked tongues, like snakes, to allow them to more accurately detect the direction of their prey. Cannoli-like savannah monitor lizards are carnivorous, feeding mainly on insects and mollusks. Their powerful jaws are especially used to crush snail-like shells. You can even eat scorpions! But one of my favorite monitor traits is that they are smart lizards and can learn different behaviors. This makes them excellent ambassadors as we can work closely and safely with them and feature them in our animal presentations and programs.
Cannoli is young and relatively new to the Atlanta Zoo, but he is a fast learner. I started his positive reinforcement training by teaching him basic target behaviors. I introduced Target. In Cannoli’s case it was a Kong on a stick. When he admits it, it’s enhanced with one of his favorite snacks: mouse scraps. From there, he learned to associate the target with the mouthpiece, and I was able to construct the motion of him walking toward the target and flicking it with his tongue. Gradually building up basic behaviors to train them in the behavior they want to see is called “approximation” and is a great way to train animals using positive reinforcement. After he targeted, we voluntarily moved to the kennel. We used the target to bring him to an open kennel, where he received a mouse part enhancement. He soon realized that if he entered the kennel he would get a treat and he didn’t need a target anymore. As Cannoli masters kenneling, he will be taught more behaviors that will help us care for him and help more people learn about this interesting and intelligent species. .
(Photo: Roxanne B.)
Roxanne B.
Keeper I, Animal Ambassador