06/04/2026
How do you train a wobbegong shark to come to its dinner? Very patiently! In the wild, these sharks are ambush predators. They lay camouflaged on the sandy sea floor and wait to snap up unsuspecting prey.
To train this behavior, the shark team established a target (a Kong dog toy fastened to a PVC pipe), which is usually the first step in training any behavior. Over time, the sharks began to associate the target with food and keepers did not need to put the food directly next to them. If they could at least see the target, they would go to it to get their reinforcement.
The next step was for keepers to incorporate an acoustic stimulus: tapping metal rods together three times under water. Each time the sharks accepted their food, a keeper gave the acoustic stimulus. This established the association that when they heard that tapping sound, they would get fed. By pairing the target and the acoustic stimulus, they learned to come to the surface to eat when they heard their ‘dinner bell’!” After several YEARS of training, the keepers no longer had to search for the small sharks or maneuver an unwieldy pole in order to make sure they get a balanced diet!
📷: WCS Photographer, Terria Clay
