# 80: Creating Reinforcing and Challenging Environments with Gerry Creighton, Global Elephant Care

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/animal-behavior-conversations-the-podcast-of-the-abma-6055377/80-creating-reinforcing-and-challenging-environments-with-gerry-creighton-global-elephant-care
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/animal-behavior-conversations-the-podcast-of-the-abma-6055377/80-creating-reinforcing-and-challenging-environments-with-gerry-creighton-global-elephant-care.md
Podcast: [Animal Behavior Conversations: The Podcast of The ABMA](https://stenobird.com/podcast/animal-behavior-conversations-the-podcast-of-the-abma-6055377)
Published: 2026-07-31T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theabmapodcast/episodes/80-Creating-Reinforcing-and-Challenging-Environments-with-Gerry-Creighton--Global-Elephant-Care-e3mpbi3
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/d9199a04/podcast/play/123563011/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-6-31%2F4a60a275-38aa-c6e3-6398-6b99e04c0e82.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/animal-behavior-conversations-the-podcast-of-the-abma-6055377/episodes/80-creating-reinforcing-and-challenging-environments-with-gerry-creighton-global-elephant-care
Duration seconds: 4419

## Resource

This episode Gerry Creighton, Global Elephant Care, discusses the importance of and advice for creating reinforcing and challenging environments for animals. Gerry starts the podcast by detailing his journey and the evolution of the Dublin Zoo and then discussing what it means to “borrow animals” for training. He gives advice on creatinine environments where animals aren’t looking to us for reinforcers. Gerry also provides learning on giving animals appropriate, biological challenges and allowing animals to make their own decisions. The podcast ends with advice on how to effectively message to guests, and leadership, when environments are created that may limit the guest view of the animal. Stay tuned in for Gerry’s "Training Tale" about an elephant who learned the joy of positive reinforcement training! For questions or suggestions about the podcast email ⁠ ⁠ abc@theabma.org ⁠ ⁠ and to reach Gerry email ⁠ gerry@globalelephantcare.com To learn more about Global Elephant Care and Gerry’s book “Raised by the Zoo: My Life with Elephants and Other Animals” visit https://globalelephantcare.com/ 5:20 Introduction to Gerry Creighton 21:50 “Borrowing Animals” for training 33:25 How can we give animals appropriate challenges in their life? 40:45 Creating environments where animals aren’t looking to us for reinforcers 50:15 Letting animals make their own decisions and how to listen to those decisions 1:01:40 Effectively messaging to guests and leadership if environments cause an animal to not be readily seen 1:08:40 “Training Tales”

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/animal-behavior-conversations-the-podcast-of-the-abma-6055377/episodes/80-creating-reinforcing-and-challenging-environments-with-gerry-creighton-global-elephant-care/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/animal-behavior-conversations-the-podcast-of-the-abma-6055377/80-creating-reinforcing-and-challenging-environments-with-gerry-creighton-global-elephant-care.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.