Every decision, right or wrong, is an opportunity for the animal to learn something about its environment. When an animal decides to take an action, it is the consequence of the action that determines if the action will be repeated. If something good happens in association with an action the chance of that action being repeated increases. For example, if a lion successfully stalks and catches a wildebeest in the tall grass near a certain water hole, that particular hunting strategy may be repeated. Decisions, actions, and consequences are the forces that shape behavior in the wild and are also the basis of operant conditioning training in captive animals.
Operant conditioning is a training strategy in which the subject is the operator.
That is, the subject can choose to participate in the activity or not. Operant conditioning is also a type of learning based on positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is something desirable, produced in association with an action, that will increase the likelihood the action will occur again. Negative reinforcement is something the subject does not like, or will work to avoid, and also increases the likelihood an action will occur again. To illustrate how positive and negative reinforcement act upon animals, consider the behavior of certain lions in Africa.