Sharks to be trained to hug
Sharks to be trained over coming months
The traditional image of dolphins performing tricks for fish could soon be banished to memory after it was revealed that sharks are to be trained.
Sea Life Centres across the UK are to use new techniques to train sharks, which could even include them emerging out of the water for a cuddle, as seen in previous tests in the US.
The brave marine keepers will be using coloured boards and sounds as part of an intensive training and tuition schedule.
All the techniques will be similar to the way in which Ivan Pavlov conditionally trained dogs, manipulating stimulation of the animal before the presentation of food, for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1904.
It is hoped the sharks will learn they need to rub their noses against specific coloured boards to be fed, with the US tests suggesting it could take three months for the results to be evident.
Amy McFarlane, an expert from the Scarborough Sea Life Centre, said that a variety of sharks can "quickly learn to respond to a combination of audible and visible signals".
She added: "In time some species like zebra sharks will even roll over to have their tummies scratched or allow themselves to be lifted from the water without any kind of struggle."
It is hoped the training will aid the shark's welfare as measured food quantities could be given and medical treatments applied without having to use traps and anaesthetic.
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