Jessi: hi guys, I'm Jessi and we're not at Animal Wonders. You've seen and heard a lot about our animals and what Animal Wonders does at our facility, but I thought it was about time we show you out and about in the world.

We're here at the Bitterroot Public Library getting ready for a presentation. The library has asked us to be part of their summer program for the third year in a row.

This year's theme is Heroes. I think that's a perfect fit because all of our animals our heroes. They might have had a rough past but they're here now as ambassadors for their species to teach us how incredibly amazing each animal is in our world.

And that's why we work so hard to teach our animals to be ambassadors. We want people to see what wonder and respect for animals looks like and we want them to want to be a part of it.

So far you've heard the rescue stories, you've seen how we take care of them, and you've learned how we're constantly trying to improve their quality of life, so I'm really excited to be able to share this half of Animal Wonders with you: live public education.

(intro plays)

Jessi: My name is Jessi and this is Augusto, but you can call him Goose. Everyone say hi Goose.

Kids: Hi Goose!

Augusto: Hi boys and girls!

Jessi: We're the co-founders of Animal Wonders. What we do is we rescue and adopt displaced exotic animals. We take them in, we give them a lifelong home, and we give them the very important job of becoming ambassadors or teacher for their species. Animal Wonders is kind of like a zoo, but instead of you going to the animals, we brought the animals to you.

Kids: (ooohing noises)

Jessi: Alright guys, everyone say hi Cheeks.

Kids: Hi Cheeks!

Jessi: What is Cheeks?

Kids: A bunny! (some say rabbit)

Jessi: A bunny-rabbit. He's a Netherland dwarf rabbit. So when I brought him out, you guys said "He's a bunny-rabbit, how did you know he was a rabbit?

boy: He has a white bushy tail.

Jessi: He has a lil  bushy tail, white yes. What else?

He does, he has tall ears right on top of his head! If you're gonna put bunny ears on someone, what would you do?

If he didn't have any fur would you know he was a rabbit?

Kids: No (some say yes)

Jessi: Probably not.

He has these things on his body, these are called characteristics. These characteristics on his body help him survive in the wild.

I have a saying for you. Are you guys ready? Repeat after me. "Eyes on the side, meant to hide. Eyes on the from, meant to hunt."

I would like two volunteers to come up here to give Cheeks his reward for being so awesome. Alright, come on up.

He won't bite you, he'll just go after the-- there you go. (laughs) Good job!

Cheeks was covered in what?

Kids: Fur!

Jessi: Fur. This next animal is covered in a completely different body covering.

Jessi: What is Zapper covered in?

Kids: Feathers.

Jessi: Feathers, there we go. What color is he mostly?

Kids: Green!

Jessi: Green. Why would that be important for him? Why does he need to be green?

Kid: Camouflage.

Jessi: Camouflage. Do you think he lives on the dark brown floor of the forest?

Kids: No!

Jessi: Where?

Kids: Up in the trees.

Jessi. Up in the trees, up in those green leaves.

What is this? It's a nut. Anyone know what kind of nut it is?

Kid: Almond.

Jessi: It's an almond. I need a volunteer, a very strong volunteer. I want you to crack this nut open.

What else could you use besides your hands?

Kids: Teeth.

Girl: Shoe.

Jessi: You could use a shoe.

Kid: Teeth.

Jessi: Alright, let's see if you can crack this open. Now she stomped on it with her foot, she squeezed it as hard as she could with her hands. There we go, he got into it. Finally, good job Zapper. Alright, give our volunteer a round of applause. Nice work.

If you strapped all these feathers on your arms, and you ran really fast and you flapped really really hard, could you fly?

Kids: NO!

Jessi: Why?

Girl: We weigh too much.

Jessi: We weigh too much? Their bones are so light that they can fly. Now, here's a riddle for you: if we took all of his bones and put them in one pile and all of his feathers put them in another pile, which would weigh more, bones or feathers?

kids: Bones. (some say feathers)

Jessi: The feathers will weigh more than his bones. Isn't that incredible?

Jessi: This is Puzzle. Puzzle is a ball python. She's gonna come and lay across your arms. Are you guys ready?

Girl: Yes. (others giggle)

(montage with no sound)

(4:56)
Jessi: And this animal is our last one, is our biggest, but is also our most shy animal.

(whispering) Quiet.

Kids: (Wow's and stuff)

Jessi: Shhhh. So he's not a capybara, he's not a kangaroo, he's not a rabbit, he's not a deer, he's not a dog. This is a Patagonia Cavy, his closest relative is the guinea pig. Now, these guys are amazing not just because they're the third largest rodent in the world, but look at their body. What do you think they can do really really well?

Jump, run, what else? Hear, what else?

Kids: Smell.

Jessi: Smell, what else?

Kid: See!

Jessi: See. A lot of things like to eat Cavies, so he has to be on guard, his eyes are on the...

Kids: Sides.

Jessi: Side, so he's meant to...

Kids: Hide.

Jessi: Hide. Put it right in front of his nose, there you go. Good job. Yum yum yum, give him a pet. Alright, I'm gonna put Chili Pepper back.
Did you guys have fun today?

Kids: YEAH!

Jessi: Whoo. Alright, he's sheddy, very sheddy. I want you guys-- you might not remember everything that you learned today but I want you guys to go out and when you see a new animal, in a book, on TV, maybe even right here out in the wild, I want you to remember that sure they might be cute like our squirrels, but there's always something more to learn about an animal. So that's my challenge to you this summer. I want you guys to learn something new about an animal that you see.

(montage)

That was an awesome show! I loved it so much! Those kids were amazing, I loved how engaged they were with the animals. They're really gentle and they had some great questions, too. That was just great, and thank you for coming on an adventure with us this week 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 any question or comments throughout the week you can find me on twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. Thanks, guys!