Color is not the only factor that seems to affect the level of attractiveness of a bird toy: size plays a role as well. The pet toy industry tends to categorize bird toys as small, medium, or large in an attempt to direct owners as to toys that are appropriately sized for their birds; however, that level of categorization may be a weak indicator of bird-to-toy compatibility. Orange-winged Amazon parrots were studied to evaluate the effect of three different sizes of wooden blocks, 1 inch, 1.5 inch, and 2 inch cubes, on toy interaction. We found that the size of the toy did indeed affect the amount of time a bird interacted with the toy. The most dramatic discrepancy was seen when the birds were presented with the combination of the largest and the smallest blocks; the birds significantly preferred the smaller blocks over the larger ones (Kim and Millam, in prep).

It is possibly significant that the 2 inch cubes were slightly larger than the Amazon parrots’ heads while the 1 inch cubes were small enough for the birds to wrap their beaks around the block. It appears that the manipulability of toys may be a factor that birds consider when selecting toys. This is definitely something to consider when purchasing a toy for a smaller bird – even though a toy is labeled as small, it may not be small enough for your bird’s beak size!

Bird toys not only come in different colors and sizes, but in different materials as well. It is quite a bittersweet feeling when you toss a thirty dollar toy to your beloved cockatoo, who then takes less than five minutes to destroy it completely. In an attempt to understand whether or not birds have an actual preference for toy material, we compared interaction levels between different materials: rawhide, softwood blocks, and hardwood blocks. The results were dramatic: on average, Orange-winged Amazon parrots preferred to play with the wooden blocks seven times more often than the rawhide toys. In addition, the parrots preferred to play with the softwood blocks four times more than the hardwood blocks. Overall, the softer, more destructible wood appeared to be the most preferred toy material. There also appears to be a connection between the color and material combination of a toy with the level of attractiveness as long wavelength color preferences were not seen in the less preferred materials (Kim and Millam, in prep.).

Providing a parrot with toys is an excellent way to keep these highly intelligent birds entertained and to encourage higher levels of activity throughout the day. In addition, with an increased interest in the psychological well-being of animals and the potential of stress and suffering to compromise scientific research, additional considerations continue to be evaluated to better understand the impact of environmental enrichment on scientific research. Ideally, an animal should be provided with enrichments that complement the animal’s morphology, natural habitat, foraging behaviors, social organization, and other features of its’ natural history. Research has proven that parrots do indeed have preferences for certain qualities of toys, such as color, size, and material. These preferences give insight into the quality of interaction environmental enrichment devices can provide. Additional preferences of parrots need to be further investigated in order to develop that ultimate bird toy!

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Kim, L.C. and J.R. Millam. The effects of color, size, and material on environmental enrichment device interaction in Orange-winged Amazon parrots. (In preparation)

Meehan, C.L., Millam, J.R., and J.A. Mench. 2003. Foraging opportunity and increased physical complexity both prevent and reduce psychogenic feather picking by young Amazon parrots. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 80(1): 71-85.

Pepperberg, I.M. 2004. Cognitive and communicative capacities of Grey parrots - implications for the enrichment of many species. Animal Welfare. 13(Supplement): S203-S208.

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Lilian C. Kim is currently a second year Masters student in the Animal Biology program at the University of California, Davis. Her research interests include avian behavior and environmental enrichment for captive species. She hopes to continue her research evaluating enrichment preferences and behavior with parrots in the future.