Among the luxury yachts, the designer boating gear and exhilarating indoor wakeboard performances, one pocket-sized American celebrity is making an almighty splash at the 38th Minneapolis Boat Show.
Twiggy the water-skiing squirrel is the star turn at the five-day event in the U.S., performing for the swooning public on a miniature pair of skis in a custom-made pool. The timid little creature is towed behind a remote-controlled toy powerboat operated by her trainer, Lou Ann Best.
Twiggy, a Florida grey squirrel, was rescued by Lou Ann and her late husband Chuck in 1978 when a hurricane blew the animal from its tree-top nest. It has been performing ever since.
The squirrel has performed in Europe as well as north America and boasts appearances on hit US TV shows ‘Good Morning America’, ‘The Rosie O’Donnell Show’ and ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ as well as three movies.
Twiggy even has its own Florida billboard.
According to his website Twiggy is just one of a number of aquatic animals trained by the Bests. They claim to have taught two miniature horses, two French poodles, a black cat, an armadillo and a toad frog. They have even taught a squirrel named Ollie to jet-ski.
Twiggy has provided an interesting diversion to some of the more extravagant items on display, with one 48ft house boat set to cost approaching three-quarters of a million dollars.
Daily Mail
Vocabulary
exhilarating – szívderít?
wakeboard – wakeboard (sport)
pocket-sized – apró, zsebben elfér
almighty – nagy, mindenható
splash – lubickolás
swooning – ájult, alélt
billboard – hirdet?tábla, plakát
remote-controlled – távirányítású
poodle – uszkár
armadillo – tatu
toad frog – varangyosbéka
diversion – szórakozás, id?töltés
Érdekességek a mókusokról!
Did you know that there are actually over about three hundred varieties of squirrels around the world? What a cool squirrel fact! Of course, in North America there are only about ten, but around the world, the species of the squirrels equal up to about three hundred different ones!
Squirrels have two litters a year, the first between February and April and the second in August or September. After mating the female drives the males away and raises the two to five young by herself. The babies are born naked and helpless and do not venture out of the nest for seven or eight weeks.
Squirrels cause damage by nesting in buildings, digging in lawns, eating ornamental plants and bulbs and stealing food from bird feeders. The most serious problems, however, involve adult females entering buildings through open chimneys or attics through unscreened vents or openings left by loose or rotten boards to establish nests.
