Welcome to ORCA

Organization for Reinforcement
Contingencies with Animals

ORCA’s Mission:
To enhance the lives of animals and their guardians through behavior analytic research and to inform the public about the discoveries.

ORCA is a one-of-a-kind student organization based at the University of North Texas' Department of Behavior Analysis. ORCA members conduct training and research projects with captive animals outside the laboratory in the natural settings where the animals live. All of the research is done for the benefit of the animals and those who care for them. Past and current projects have included teaching a horse to load into a trailer without fear, taming and halter training llamas, examining various clicker training effects with dogs, sheep, goats, ostriches and other species, eliminating self-injurious behaviors in a baboon, target training cotton top tamarin monkeys, treating aggression in dogs, taming feral cats, evaluating the value of enrichment procedures with American Black bears and large cats, and much more.

ORCA is committed to giving back to the community in whatever ways we can. Community activities have included offering free or low-cost dog training classes and teaching low-income children to read and to train dogs: a project that ORCA has undertaken in conjunction with America Reads. In the past, research has been conducted with the children to learn more about effective means of teaching young children.

UNT students from all departments are welcomed to join ORCA and learn more about using behavior analytic teaching methods with animals.