Natural Encounters, Inc.

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Natural Encounters, Inc. Natural Encounters, Inc. Engage, Inspire, Empower! Steve Martin is one of the best-known animal trainers in the world. In 1991, The World Of Birds Show, Inc.

has served more than 130 facilities in over 25 countries, offering expertise in animal training, staff training, educational program production and presentation, exhibit design, and enrichment. In 1976 he set up the first bird show of its kind at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. His use of non-traditional, free flight birds combined with an inspiring conservation message set this show apart from al

l other animal shows. Four years later, Steve left the Wild Animal Park to establish “The World of Birds Show, Inc.” and present his programs at zoos across the United States. was renamed Natural Encounters, Inc. (NEI). This new name better defined the direction and goals of the company, which are to Engage, Inspire, and Empower people at their shows through the exhibition of animals demonstrating natural behaviors, carefully designed dialogue, and entertaining choreography. These shows now entertain and educate millions of people each year. NEI’s animal training expertise has grown far beyond birds. Steve’s history of training free-flight birds had a profound effect on preparing him for training other species in zoos and aquariums. Perhaps the most important influence on his training ability was knowing that the consequence of a poor training decision could result in the loss of his animal ... it could just fly away! This unique liability forced him to develop insights, skills and scientifically sound training strategies that might not have been as important if he were training animals confined in enclosures. quickly grew from a bird show provider to a company specializing in animal behavior and visitor experience. In 1988 NEI began consulting on zoo-wide animal behavior issues and teaching keepers the art and science of animal training. Steve and his staff at NEI have now trained hundreds of species from marmosets to elephants and even reptiles and fish. Plus, they have taught their animal training techniques to over 600 people in nine countries. Throughout the zoological community, demand for establishing behavior management programs has increased. In response, NEI has brought together the most experienced, cross-disciplinary behavior management training and program development team available. These professionals come from the fields of animal training, biology, psychology, behavior analysis, theater, and show production. Their expertise encompasses a wide breadth of taxa found in zoological collections. In addition to the project leaders and consulting staff, NEI also employs over twenty full-time animal trainers.

Another bird species we love to give our dig box enrichment item to!  We have observed our Trumpeter hornbills going bac...
24/09/2025

Another bird species we love to give our dig box enrichment item to! We have observed our Trumpeter hornbills going back hours later to double check they found everything!

Which animal under your care do you think would interact with a dig box?📦🔎

Kirk, the Kea, found some stairs on his stroll!🥹😍. Swipe to the end to see the stairs!🪜Keas have been seen in New Zealan...
22/09/2025

Kirk, the Kea, found some stairs on his stroll!🥹😍. Swipe to the end to see the stairs!🪜

Keas have been seen in New Zealand getting into hikers’ backpacks and even moving around traffic cones for fun. So stairs are right up Kirk’s alley!



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Pumpernickel, the Red-legged seriema, doing his best to help out with husbandry!🧼🧹🧽. What animals do you work with that ...
21/09/2025

Pumpernickel, the Red-legged seriema, doing his best to help out with husbandry!🧼🧹🧽. What animals do you work with that are intrigued by your husbandry tools?

Did you know Trumpeter hornbills eat the original fast food?🍟🍔. They can catch flying insects right out of the air!!!!  ...
20/09/2025

Did you know Trumpeter hornbills eat the original fast food?🍟🍔. They can catch flying insects right out of the air!!!! We love to utilize natural behaviors in our shows, so we like to toss a grape up into the sky for the Trumpeter hornbills to catch mid air! It’s quite impressive to watch how agile they truly are!🪰

19/09/2025

Grouper, the Crowned crane, coming in hot for a landing!🔥😎

Looking for a fun enrichment item that can work for lots of different animals?  We love to use dig boxes!  We’ve used th...
18/09/2025

Looking for a fun enrichment item that can work for lots of different animals? We love to use dig boxes! We’ve used them with parrots, hornbills, and corvids. It’s a great way to keep them busy for hours! We’ve observed some birds going back hours later just to double check that they got everything. It’s Kiwi (African grey parrot) approved!✅

Typically for nail trims we use a dremel and birds will approach the dremel, protected contact, and present their foot o...
17/09/2025

Typically for nail trims we use a dremel and birds will approach the dremel, protected contact, and present their foot on the wire mesh. However, sometimes not all birds are comfortable with that. We love coming up with new ways to get the same outcome! One of our alumni’s came up with this different nail trim technique. How cool!?!? What’s a behavior you adjusted your typical antecedents to make it easier for the animal to choose to participate?

Oh…hey there….what ya doin?👀. One of our Great green macaws really wants to know what you’ve been up to so far today!😎  ...
16/09/2025

Oh…hey there….what ya doin?👀. One of our Great green macaws really wants to know what you’ve been up to so far today!😎

Skeeter, the Southern ground hornbill, getting ready to bring on the week!💪🏼  What are you looking most forward to this ...
15/09/2025

Skeeter, the Southern ground hornbill, getting ready to bring on the week!💪🏼 What are you looking most forward to this week?

14/09/2025

Mulder, the Black vulture, showing off her amazing flight skills!👌🏼

Arlo, the Verreaux’s eagle-owl, showing off her super useful face feathers!  You can see how her face feathers form a “f...
12/09/2025

Arlo, the Verreaux’s eagle-owl, showing off her super useful face feathers! You can see how her face feathers form a “facial disc”, which helps aim noise towards their ears. This helps make them such successful nighttime predators!🦉

Ru, the Knobbed hornbill, coming in hot!🔥  Did you know this species of hornbill is sexually dimorphic?  This means that...
11/09/2025

Ru, the Knobbed hornbill, coming in hot!🔥 Did you know this species of hornbill is sexually dimorphic? This means that the males and females look pretty different. Ru is a male, you can tell because of his golden like head feathers and red casque on top of his head. The females have black head feathers and a yellow casque on top of their heads.🌈

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