New kind of employment for fursuiters...Earthquake drills!

[altivo]

Tokyo's Ueno Zoo held a mock earthquake drill on Tuesday, including a staffer in a gorilla fursuit who pretended to be an escaped gorilla that needed to be recaptured. Story and photo here.

Comments

[songdogmi]

That is about the least threatening gorilla I've ever seen. I think I saw him on "BoBoBo-Bo Bo BoBo" once (a kids anime shown on Cartoon Network on Fridays).

[altivo]

I also found an earlier article about a similar drill held there in 2000. That time the escapee was a rhinoceros, played by two people in a rhino suit. Unfortunately, the photo had apparently been expired and removed.

[porsupah]

Ah, would that I could claim such experience on my resumé. ^_^

[altivo]

But how would you describe it in suitably grandiose yupspeak terms? There's the challenge.

[darkhorseman]

In all honesty I could technically put "stallion masturbation technician and animal husbandry" on my resume but I figured it wouldnt apply when I went back into the computer industry

[altivo]

Too obvious. How about "Equine genetic specimen collection technician and estrus tester"? ;P

[lobowolf]

I can only imagine an escaped anime gorilla terrorizing Tokyo ;)

[altivo]

Precisely my reaction.

[chibiabos]

It might seem amusing, but a lot of critters exhibit behavior unbecoming of them during an earthquake (even just minutes before, as documented in several cases), tsunami, etc.

While everyone might laugh, I hope everyone who has a critter companion also takes a minute to consider a plan for your other species during an emergency. If your barn catches fire, is there a way for your horses to escape if you can't get there in time? If you have neighbors, have you ever talked with them about what either of you could do with each others' critters should something happen when you or they aren't home? If you had to evacuate, do you have somewhere you can go and keep your critters with you (and could you evacuate them with just a few hours' notice?)

[altivo]

Yes, I know that earthquakes produce unexpected behaviors in many species, humans included, and that gorillas probably have no instinctive reaction to earthquakes because they evolved where earthquakes are pretty rare. The funny part of this story and photo is the anime-style fursuit being used rather than something more realistic

[chibiabos]

"gorillas probably have no instinctive reaction to earthquakes because they evolved where earthquakes are pretty rare."

It may or may not be true that gorillas have no instinctive reactions to earthquakes, but just because an event is rare, doesn't mean native species are necessarily less likely to pre-emptively act. I have no idea how scientifically verified it is, but as I understand it, quite a variety of animal species seemed to evacuate out of the danger zone when the Sumatra tsunami (eek, say that three times fast!) struck, and significant tsunami are pretty rare events in the Indian ocean.