SERVICES

With over 20 animal behavior experts on staff, our team offers a wide variety of services to the zoological community. From creating educational programs, to team building, to training animals and staff, our diverse team of experts is simply the best in the business.

ANIMAL TRAINING

When some people think of animal training they visualize a person forcing an animal to comply with their commands. This is the antithesis of our training goals. We work to create situations where animals want to perform behaviors. Our training is based on the most positive, least intrusive methods available. We empower animals with the ability to make good decisions that earn them positive reinforcement rather than force them to perform out of fear of punishment or the need to escape aversive stimuli. Key animal training components include:

• Behavior Management Program Development
• Husbandry
• Medical Care

• Staff role
• identification and expectations
• Training plan approval form
• Training session documentation form
• Behavior status and tracking report form

NEI will work with your staff to develop a behavior management program that addresses the specific needs and objectives of your zoo. Since no two facilities are alike, our consulting services are tailored to your facility’s goals. We offer a wide variety of program packages and individual services, so facilities can custom-design the package that best pursues their objectives.

HUSBANDRY

Positive Reinforcement training has an enormous impact on how animal caregivers work with and provide for their animals. Through training, animals can learn to accept a wide variety of different food items, cooperatively feed and decrease aggression with others in their group or exhibit, make better use of exhibits and increase their visibility, learn new motor skills, and increase their confidence with novel objects and situations. A training program can eliminate many if not all of the problems keepers often encounter when shifting their animals. In these, and many other ways, training is a timesaver and cost saver.
        
MEDICAL CARE

Teaching animals to participate in medical exams is one of the most dramatic benefits of positive reinforcement training. Animals can be trained with positive reinforcement to participate in such things as full body inspections, weighing, ultrasounds, x-rays, urine collection, injections, and blood draws. Training has been incredibly important in the reduction in physical and mental stress for animals taught to willingly participate in these necessary exams.

ENRICHMENT

Enrichment is far more than tossing a toy or a plastic ball into an animal’s enclosure. Enrichment is creating opportunities for animals to use their senses and adaptations to “earn” a living, something sorely missing in most static zoological environments. Enrichment is providing animals mental as well as physical challenges and opportunities. It is giving animals power to make decisions and experience the consequence of those decisions. Enrichment should be about a program not a particular experience that an animal might tire of in a few seconds. Enrichment program services include:

• Development of formal program infrastructure
• Guidance in application
• Assessment of exhibits
• Development of customized forms and documents, including but not limited to:
• Staff role identification and expectations
• Enrichment item/idea approval form
• Enrichment calendars/documentation
• Interpretive opportunities with enrichment experiences

STAFF TRAINING

The significance of staff training cannot be overstated; it is simply the most important component in the growth and development of a successful animal management program. We are committed to helping staff members learn the skills required to lead the zoological industry in animal care and management. We are also committed to creating effective teams that operate as a single unit pursuing a common goal. Our staff training programs include:

• Workshop lecture series, including but not limited to:
• The Art and Science of Animal Training
• Problem-solving
• Show and education program design and development
• Communication and team building
• Manager training, including but not limited to:
• Behavior and Enrichment Program development and support
• Communication and team building
• Problem-solving facilitation
• Individualized coaching and feedback
• Team building and effective communication

INTERPRETIVE PROGRAMS

Engage, Inspire, Empower!
Some people hear the words “animal show,” and they think of parrots on bicycles and cigarette-smoking chimpanzees. Some say it is demeaning and unkind to force animals to perform unnatural behavior for entertainment. We completely agree. The shows we produce are guided by our commitment to education and positive interactions with animals.

Education is a very important aspect of conservation. Over six hundred million people visit zoos and aquariums each year. How many millions of them leave without learning anything about the animals they have just viewed? Interpretive programs involving live animals may just be the best, possibly the only, educational message most guests receive while on their visit.

Information does not equal education. Interpretive programs should encompass more than reciting natural history facts and figures. Rather than imparting knowledge, our goals are to adjust attitudes and “Engage, Inspire, and Empower” our audiences toward specific conservation goals.

A close encounter with a live animal demonstrating species-appropriate behavior can leave a lasting impression in the minds of zoo visitors. This experience can be far more powerful than any book, television show, teacher, or graphic. Formal educational animal shows achieve this goal at the highest level; however, we have also realized great value in training exhibit animals to perform natural behaviors on cue.

Not only is this type of training very enriching to the animal, it is exciting and educational for the visitor as well. There is no limit to what exhibit animals can learn. Even fish can be trained to demonstrate natural behaviors in your aquarium. When the exhibit achieves “show” status, its attractive value increases immensely. The future of zoos may very likely involve exhibits where animals are naturally motivated to demonstrate species-appropriate behavior in exciting and educational public presentations. Interpretive program services include:

• Production and presentation of turnkey shows
• Staff and animal training for in-house shows
• Development of scripts/narrations/presentations
• Evaluation and improvement of current shows
• Evaluation and improvement of education programs
• Animal handling and training for educators

EXHIBIT DESIGN ASSISTANCE

Even the most naturalistic zoological environments can be relatively static and unresponsive to the behavior of the animals that inhabit them. By partnering with zoo staff and architects we help create exhibits that address animal husbandry and management goals and encourage animals to perform species-appropriate behavior which leads to enhanced viewer experience. We view each exhibit as a stage where we can facilitate the performance of an animal’s most unique and incredible natural abilities for all to see. Our exhibit design services include:

• Assist Zoo staff and Architectural team with exhibit design
• Animal exhibit plans
• Animal management plans
• Behavior and enrichment opportunities
• Interpretive opportunities

• Animal Training for Zoo Professionals
• Bird Training and Show Production for Professionals
• Advanced Bird Training and Show Production for Professionals
• Animal Behavior and Training for Veterinarians
• Companion Parrot Behavior, Foundation Skills
• Companion Parrot Behavior, Advanced Skills

EXPERIENCE SETS US APART

NEI is proud to have worked with over 40 zoos and aquariums.
Below are some of the facilities that have benefited from NEI’s services.

HOW NEI CAN HELP YOU:

• Animal behavior and training
• Medical procedures
• Husbandry behaviors
• Shifting
• Behavior challenges
• Behavior management program development
• Enrichment program development
• Help meet AZA behavior management and enrichment accreditation requirements
• Educational animal program development
• Animal show evaluation, development, and production
• Exhibit design assistance
• Staff training
• Art and Science of animal behavior and training
• Problem solving skills
• Team work

HOW TO GET STARTED:

Top