Hey Everyone! On Episode 9 of The Behavior Trap Podcast I had the opportunity to talk to Megan Mackellar. Megan is currently a Senior 1 Animal Trainer at SeaWorld Orlando and an RBT with Life Skills Behavioral Services. She has been working in the behavior service delivery field for 20 years. This has given her experience with athletes, students, children with ASD and behavioral struggles, horses, pets, exotic reptiles, birds of prey, sharks, otters, penguins, pinnipeds, small mammals, pilot whales, and killer whales. She received her B.Sc. from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a major in marine biology, minor in chemistry, and concentrated in animal behavior research. There she studied the behavior of snails, freshwater muscles, and even jellyfish! The program sent her to the Dominican Republic for four months where she studied and observed Humpback whales. Megan’s senior research study questioned the correlation between the disposition compared to the learning curve and retention rates in canines. She is a recent graduate from Purdue Global University with a M.Sc. specializing in ABA. Megan took a different path for her thesis and addressed an opportunity for the expansion of ABA within zoos, specifically with marine mammals. Her research established and operationally defined a socially significant behavior with killer whales, used a condensed functional analysis, and paired Behavior Skills Training with Discrete Trial Training. Many might feel that animal behavior studies should automatically be considered basic research, Megan’s study adds to the growing number of investigations demonstrating that applied animal behavior fits firmly within the seven dimensions of ABA. Megan’s goals are to help bring awareness and address the current gap in knowledge of ABA technology within zoos, support the generalization of established behavior treatments within zoological facilities, increase the understanding and ABA technology within zoos, and demonstrate how the science of ABA can be used to operationally define, assess, and quantify animal welfare. Tune In to learn more about Megan! See Ya!