Jessi: Hi guys, welcome back to Animal Wonders. We have something fun planned for this episode. A few weeks ago, we introduced Joy and Zapper to their new enclosures and we asked you all if you wanted to buy them housewarming gifts. This is how you responded.

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Look at all these toys guys, this is so great. Now for those of you that think we're spoiling or being frivolous by giving the birds so many toys... this one! You might not know why toys are so important. Toys are part of a larger category: behavioral enrichment, BE for short.

We've talked about BE before, so to quickly define it, BE is something that stimulates one or more senses in an animal. In the case of these toys for birds, they will illicit natural foraging behaviors. In the wild, parrot-type birds are going to be foraging all day long, chewing and shredding leaves and branches, breaking open cases of nuts and berries and constantly coming into contact with different textures. The bright colors and different materials of these toys will help stimulate their mind and body to enhance their mental and physical well-being.

Joy and Zapper have both been through really stressful things in their past and they're prone to stress out easily, by providing BE that keeps them focused on the task instead of stressful or destructive behaviors, they're much happier and healthier. So these toys are gonna be so appreciated!

And look at all these boxes! Can I let you in on a little secret? Boxes are also BE. Cas, Seraphina, Kemosabe, Rook and Chile Pepper are all huge fans of cardboard boxes. And I'll leave you with one last secret: any of the boxes that are left over will be used as substrate and then composted. Yep, we shred the cardboard and then reuse it as bedding for the animals, and then we put the soil into our compost pile year later we use the decomposed matter to fertilize our garden which then grows food to feed the animals. We're recycling.

So thanks to all of you who sent presents to the animals, your gifts keep on giving and giving and giving. And if you'd like to go on an adventure with us every week, subscribe to our YouTube channel Animal Wonders Montana. If you have questions for me throughout the week, you can find me on Tumblr, twitter, and Facebook. Thanks guys.

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Some people may think it's unnatural, but I think we should always leave room for an animal's individual personal preference when it comes to ideas about how an animal should behave. We're always looking for ways to make sure that our social...