The markings on the tigers forehead make up the Chinese symbol of Wang, or King.
QBE Free Flight Bird Show - Behind the Scenes
Training
Click on image to enlarge
Before our birds can give their awe inspiring performances they first need to learn what to do. No matter what species of animal, whether it is a bird, seal, elephant or even your dog, they can be trained. At Bird Show we use positive reinforcement when working with our animals to get them ready. This means we ask or ‘cue’ our animals what we’d like them to do and then we reward them with something they like once they do it. It may be food, attention or even a toy! By training our animals this way it is always their choice if they wish to participate and when it comes down to it is simply a whole lot of fun.
Breeding Programs
Training isn’t the only thing the Bird Show crew does. Since ‘Bruce’ has retired he has been part of a breeding program for Andean Condors with his mate ‘Connie’. ‘Bruce’ and ‘Connie’ have successful hatched three offspring: ‘Megan’, ‘Leslie’ and ‘Inti’, the later two being parent-raised. This is the only breeding pair of Andean Condors in the Australasian region.
