F or example, the Plains Exhibit is home to a herd of greater kudu, the world s second-largest antelope. These animals are notoriously secretive and suspicious. They are easily frightened and can seriously injure themselves, sometimes fatally, by running into barriers if startled. This can be a challenge when you would like the herd to be comfortable in tighter spaces such as the barns and paddocks. Our solution was to handrear all new calves, beginning in 1999 and train them to respond to a clicker.
Handreared animals are usually comfortable around humans and can be more easily managed.
Since greater kudu are herd-oriented, they tend to follow each other from place to place. Our strategy was to use the calves to lead the adults into and out of paddocks and barns on our cues. R ecently, last year s calves were brought off exhibit and introduced to this year s calves in the barns where they were all handreared. Once they were allowed to bond for a week or so, we let the older calves lead the newer calves out into the exhibit to join the adult herd. Now we have five trained calves to influence the behavior of the adults and improve the total management of this herd.