BIAZA Newsletter | Winter 2017 | Issue 13

Certified Training This year has seen BIAZA’s certified training scheme go from strength to strength, with nearly 50 events offered since its creation in 2015.

Photo: Michelle Pywell - Welsh Mountain Zoo

This scheme focuses on promoting high quality, practical training events and opportunities for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for BIAZA member staff. BIAZA’s expert committees are responsible for assessing the quality of proposed events, and supporting their evaluation and development. Events which are successful in their application are highlighted to our members using the BIAZA Certified Training logo and delegates who attend are provided with certificates of attendance. Here we profile two training events that have recently been awarded BIAZA certification. Nocturnal primate workshop By David Waite, ZSL London Zoo As the day drew to a close, I could not help but feel more inspired and motivated than ever! There were so many people in one room talking about a subject that is so niche in the zoo world; it was an absolute joy to see. Attracting almost 40 delegates from as far as New York and Bangkok (not to mention various zoos across Europe), the workshop consisted of talks ranging from nutrition and lighting in nocturnal houses, to animal training and enclosure design for prosimians generally. Other presentations were more species-specific with talks on aye-ayes, slender loris, bushbabies and tarsiers.

With evidence gained from research in the wild, we learned how diets vary between different species of lorises such as the grey slender loris and the pygmy slow loris. Other key take-home messages included the importance of UVB for vitamin D synthesis in nocturnal primates and which types of lightbulb can best be used for both daytime and night time lighting. The delegates were taught how to plan and implement a training programme for a nocturnal primate species and with the use of basic equipment, they were shown how to utilise space within an enclosure to best effect to suit the needs of grey slender loris. Delegates were given a guided tour of ZSL’s ‘Nightlife’ and viewed a couple of the training programmes currently in progress. Demonstrations were also given of the Moholi bushbaby weigh and box training and the grey slender loris weigh training, both of which went very well indeed – I knew they would not let us down! At the end of the day the winners of the poster competition were announced, with Apenheul, Bristol and Chester Zoo taking home prizes. The proceeds from the day will go towards the Animal Training Focus Group’s (ATFG) behaviour management grant, which any BIAZA or EAZA collection can apply for. (If you are interested in applying for this grant then please email Chair of ATFG Jim Mackie, jim.mackie@zsl.org.) As a one-day event, we were unfortunately unable to include more species into the agenda, such as pottos and mouse lemurs. In fact, a few of the delegates were disappointed it was not held over two days. However, this gives us plenty of scope for future nocturnal primate workshops. The overall feedback for the day was very positive, with a whopping 100% of delegates stating in their forms that they would either likely or definitely recommend the workshop to a friend. It would not have been possible however, without the help of Kelly-Anne Kelleher, Jim Mackie, Luke Harding and Annette Gunn, and of course ZSL – thanks to all who were involved!

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Photo: David Harling - Duke Lemur Center

Photo: ZSL