Photo by Annalisa Meyer, Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
Panda cub Bao Bao was recently gifted with a box of “toys,” according to the National Zoo, so she can “work on target training” and play with “varied enrichment items.”
Target training, for the non-zoo experts out there, begins with teaching an animal to touch their nose to the tip of an item, like a ball on the end of a stick. The animal is rewarded with a treat. This builds desirable behavior in animals.
The almost five-month-old panda will go on display to the public this weekend.
Photo by Annalisa Meyer, Smithsonian’s National Zoo.