SAM: Okay guys. Today, I’m doing flight training with hornbills.
And this is Klaus.
And he’s going to eat my mouth.
Oooh!
Welcome to the party!
There’s two! Oh!
Come on. Woah!
So cute!
Okay Everybody!
We’re here at the Maryland Zoo with Lindsey and Sarah and
we’re about to do flight training with hornbills, right?
LINDSEY: Yes, Von der Decken’s hornbills.
SAM: And what are their names?
SARAH: Klaus and Clara.
SAM: You guys ready?
SARAH: -Yes.
SAM: Let’s do it.Why do you have that mesh over?
SARAH: Uhm so they are normally cavity nesters…
LINDSEY: They are probably going to fly off so just to warn you.
SARAH: If they do land on a head, just don’t move.So we thought that it would be comforting to have an enclosed cavity.
SAM: Wow. So cool. Are they fully grown?
LINDSEY: Yes.
SARAH: Klaus…there we go.
SAM: That was so cool.
LINDSEY: They are. hornbills are full size.They reach their full size in just a couple of months. Klaus?
SAM: So he has an orange beak and she has a black beak.
That’s really the only way to tell them apart?
LINDSEY: Yeah. He’s a little bit bigger than she is.
SAM: Okay.
LINDSEY: But that’s the quickest way to tell who’s who.
SARAH: You want to call him to you before he flies off?
LINDSEY: Klaus? Good.
SAM: So cool.
SARAH: So Sam if you want to stand next to me? Uhm…and you’ll just want to out your hand out like this. And then I’ll start you off. Klaus? Good. And so…
SAM: That was so cool.
SARAH: You can actually give him the food next time he comes. So Lindsey will call him back.
SAM: Okay. LINDSEY: Klaus.
SARAH: And I will give you some snacks.
SAM: Dead grasshopper, yum.
LINDSEY: Do you want to show what they’re eating?
SARAH: Yeah. Want a close-up.Some cricket…very delicious for a hornbill.And then you can say his name.
SAM: Klaus. Come on.Oooh! So cool!
SARAH: Very good. And give him a cricket.
SAM: They look like the bird Zazu from Lion King.
SARAH: That is also a hornbill.
SAM: Oh, okay!
SARAH: There are many different hornbills throughout Africa.And they just have different like colorations.
SARAH: You can call him again.
SAM: Klaus. So cool.
SARAH: You just have to hide it because he’s a thief.
LINDSEY: And you can tell as soon as he lands he’s expecting his snack of his.
SAM: Yeah.
SARAH: Lindsey and I have to be very consistent.
SAM: So cool.
LINDSEY: Klaus.
SAM: He’s so tiny and cute.
SARAH: We can probably put him back soon and then do hand-hopping with Clara.
SAM: With Clara? Okay.
LINDSEY: So this is another one of those behaviors that we kind of trained for fun
to include our guests in their training.
SAM: The hand-hopping….
LINDSEY: Yeah. Up about six inches apart. So perfect.
SAM: Here?
LINDSEY: Clara, hop.
SAM: Awe. Keep going. She’s so cute.She’s like boop, boom, boom…
LINDSEY: So this is a good way for people to see them up close.
SAM: She’s so vocal She’s so cute.Come on.
LINDSEY: And they definitely don’t do it perfect every time so…it’s a good way to tell people kind of what the training process is and that mistakes are okay too. We train using all positive reinforcement here so if they do what we ask then always a uhm treat in it for them. And if they don’t do the right thing, then that’s okay. They’re allowed to not participate or to mess up and there are no negative consequences.Hop.
SAM: Uh…poop.
SARAH: Clara. LINDSEY: Yes, that happens…
SAM: Too bad that wasn’t on one of you guys.
SARAH: No thanks. Too bad.
Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.
