...huh?


OK, Here's the story.

I was asked to perform at a fundraiser for the Calgary Zoo.  They were trying to raise money to build larger more animal friendly enclosures.  If you're going to keep animals (and the Calgary Zoo has a pretty good policy of ethical treatment and breeding of endangered species) then it seems like the right idea to give them a decent place to be.

I thought. "sure" and asked if I could get a tour of some of the animals enclosures and visit with the critters.  After all I was going to mimic them in my performance and wanted to do them justice.

 
Between an aged Binturong and a family of pesky raccoons I got up close with many creatures including a couple of Orangutans. 

An older male had been passed around from other zoos and found permanent residence in Calgary and the other came from Hollywood where the big film machine had trained her, used her and was "done" with her.  

The female was very personable and was reaching out to the humans on the other side of her enclosure.  The male stayed off a distance, up in a tree ignoring everyone.

I had made a couple of Orangutan masks for the performance and asked if I might try one on in front of the little girl orang.  The keeper said it would be fine.  So, I turned my back to her and put the mask on and changed my body shape.

When I turned around... all hell broke loose.  She jumped in the air making vocalizations and went running to the male in the tree.  She  pulled him to where I was and he made himself large, ready for a confrontation with this invading primate. 

It was at that point I took the mask off and held it out to them.  The male threw a stick and wandered off to his tree without a backward glance.  The female climbed high above me on an outcropping and snorted.  When I placed the mask in front of my face again, she had a completely different reaction.

This time instead of running for help, she threw sticks and spit water.  Smart monkey.