Smart Animals
Ahead
Have you ever seen a chicken jump through a hoop,
or a duck play the piano,
or a parrot ride his own spiffed up motorcycle?
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Jim
Clowers runs the show and created the props at ZOO-IQ, and quite a show
they produce too. THE STAFF are the star performers.
The props they have created, what Jim says and how he says
it magnifies and enhances the acts performed by the animals. The show is so good
that Roadside America ranked it as
America's number 1 roadside attraction in 1999.
One of the things that makes each performance so wonderful is the way Jim involves members of the audience in the acts.
SomeONE picks a number for the raccoon.
SomeONE puts in the quarter for the hen.
SomeONE claps their hands for the chicken to dance.
SomeONE pets the parrot after it hangs by one foot.
The resulting glow on a child's face is bright enough to light up the whole audience.
Human actors often practice for days, I realized, just to get a few lines right, then more time to say them on cue, then more practice to add gestures and work with the props, then even more practice yet to integrate their part into the whole.
For example, when I was
watching the raccoon add, subtract and even multiply, dunking a basketball once
for each integer, I imagined all sorts of tricks that Jim COULD have been using
to tell the raccoon how many dunks to do. However, when Grub Smith, one of
the stars at BBC, was interviewing Jim for an upcoming show in the United
Kingdom, Jim led him through the whole process and the real answer was --- dun
de dum -- "When you want the raccoon to quit dunking just drop your hand
down off your hip."
There it was, simple as that. No matter what mathematical question was asked, just take your hand off your hip when you want the raccoon to quit dunking baskets. Of course, you also have to reward the raccoon for a job well done.
You might think that doesn't take much smarts. No, but it fooled everyone we know, didn't it? I had watched numerous performances and never caught on.
To keep the show live and interesting Jim continues to add new tricks, and retire old ones. Not so long ago there was a chicken playing baseball. The chicken's name was Chicken Mantle. She would bat the ball by clutching a string that swung the bat. Then she would run the bases according to where the ball went, first base, second base, third, or a home run. It was a six step process executed with flawless skill in a non-stop performance, on time, and on cue.
Even after Jim had explained how the baseball plays had been orchestrated, I marveled. First off, if (every time) the chicken bats a home run, a tiny light (we didn't even notice until it was pointed out to us) flashes on at first base. She runs there and another light flashes at second base, then third, and finally home. From there the corn is calling the chicken home to the dugout. She has earned her money and off she flutters.
Okay, so there's a light that shows her where to go, but she STILL had to be trained to go where the light was, and to keep going when the next light comes on. As Jim was showing us how the triggers worked he flicked on the light at first base. and the chicken looked back FIRST at home plate to make sure THAT light was out. Only then did she run to first base. That means the chicken must respond to TWO triggers for each base. That also means that she can stop at any base until she is batted in home! I know some kids in Middle School that have not learned this much yet.
Why are chickens so TEACHABLE? Unlike most other animals in the kingdom, chickens can distinguish basic colors. Out in the open spaces when there are chickens around, the first little chigger that moves -- is history, rammed down the gullet of oblivion.
Chickens are smart, incredibly fast, and their eyes don't miss much. Jim showed us an example by bringing Dixie Chick out to watch him hide a ping pong ball under one of three cups. Then, faster than my eyes could trace, Jim switched the cups rapidly back and forth for a few seconds. I had lost all track of the ball's location, but Dixie challenged him immediately.
"You're sure it is under this cup?" Jim asked, giving Dixie a chance to change her mind. Dixie had kept her eye on the ball though; she was sure. Jim lifted the cup straight up, and there was the ping pong ball. Just to reassure us there was no trickery, Jim lifted the other cups up too. They were empty.
Dixie also has her own band. It plays right outside the Pizza Hen on special occasions. The constant play on words (Pizza Hen, the HenterNet, etc.) is what keeps the grownups interested throughout this show. For example, where Dixie is playing her piano for us, the theater matinee on the left announces that Aust Hen Powers is now playing in the movie GOLDFEATHERS.
Except for the parrots Dixie seems to be the most talented actress on the show. After Jim had bragged to high heaven on how smart she was he told us that Dixie could even jump through hoops. He brought the hoop out and invited her to jump through it. Dixie moved not. "Is it too high for you?" Jim asked anxiously. He lowered the hoop, and Dixie considered it for a moment, then put her head under her wing and stood stock still.
"Sometimes the animals get tired and they can't jump as high as they usually do," Jim made an excuse for her. He put the hoop all the way down so she could simply walk through it. Dixie walked not. Jim thought for a moment and a light bulb glowed over his head. "Sometimes a little change works. I'll put her on the other side here so that her nose is already pointing towards home."
Dixie was plucked up and placed on the left hand side of the hoop then it was raised to its first height. "Jump through the hoop," Jim commanded.
She didn't even hop in that direction.
Jim coaxed her again, then he even pushed her a little. Dixie resisted every suggestion he made. Jim was ready to give up. He glanced my way. "Lin, do you like fried chicken?"
Dixie was galvanized into action by the question. She did not wait for my response. She jumped right through the hoop so fast that I missed the shot, and she scurried for home like her tail feathers were on fire with indignation.
The rest of the show is even better.
This IS a live theater, and the animals are performers, taught to perform professionally, on time, and on cue.
A hen walks a tight rope
A rabbit shoots a cannon
A chicken plays ping pong
A raccoon dunks up to 7 baskets
and a parrot rides across the stage on his own police motorcycle
ALL
ON CUE!
Jim pointed out that it was LOVE that made the animals perform so well. "These animals are happy because they know they are loved. They have never been punished for any reason, and never will. Consequently, they live long and productive lives. One chicken we had lived to be 19 years old. Now that's OLD for a chicken!"
Jim loves to tell stories about their star performers. One story was about installing a coin operated chicken at the race tracks to pick bets for visitors for a quarter per prediction. "Our hen was picking more winners than the top handicappers." The "hen-picked" winning cycle came to an end when the chicken and cage disappeared. Jim is almost certain she was stolen because there were several big wins at the track right after that.
Chickens can play basketball too. When someone puts a quarter in the slot a series of ping pong balls rise up on a buoyant stream of air. The chicken has been trained to strike the balls at just the right time and shoot them off in just the right direction so that the balls go right into the basket.
That takes skill, timing, and training.
Disco Chick, shown performing below,
puts more heart into her act than any other animal at the Zoo-IQ. "She doesn't need a quarter. Any old excuse in the world you give her will put her to dancing," Jim confided. The music was playing. The lights were flashing, and everyone there was clapping their hands. Disco Chick danced up a storm. Jim tried to put her back inside her home but Disco Chick got away from him and went back to dancing. We clapped louder and her steps got wilder. It was quite an end for the show, only it wasn't over. The show went on, with raccoon, parrot, duck, and more chickens. By the time we got back to the front lobby again we were worn out and our minds glowing with memories to take home and talk about for weeks.
The parrot could do a whole
show by herself.
* 
* 
That includes riding a motorcycle, pedaling a bicycle, surfing
on her own scooter, shaking hands with the devil, and producing a message of
peace on earth, goodwill towards men. She also does a mean imitation of
Death in the Afternoon by lying dead still.
There is more, Much More!
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Lin Stone is an author, writer and photographer
living in Mena Arkansas.
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