Lemur Grows “Mood Tail”
It has come to the SZ’s attention that a certain lemur in our midst has grown an exceptionally long tail, and that this tail has been doing strange things.
Melvin has been with us for a little over a year now, and while we love having him here, we are still, as with all our exhibits, trying to ultimately place Melvin into a permanent home. But, as he’s become more comfortable here, he’s also gone through some strange changes. Many have heard of “mood rings” that change color based on the wearer’s feelings, but Melvin has a different, more difficult to conceal mood apparatus. It’s his ever-growing tail.
Many of our stuffed monkeys and lemurs exhibit long, luxurious tails, perfect for posing, playing with, and tying onto things. Why, there’s Gordon, whose tail measures an amazing 18 inches; Marvin who also has a long tail; and even Neil the stuffed langur, whose tail is about 13 inches (we carefully screen and document all exhibits’ tails here).
But Melvin’s tail has gone through a growth-spurt, and seems to be, at the moment, several feet in length!
But the most interesting part is its “mood” properties. The tail turns and shapes itself according to Melvin’s mood. When he is scared, it goes straight up. When he is sad, it makes a frown-shape. When he is happy, it makes a smiling mouth-shape. Melvin isn’t sure what’s happening, but he’s a bit self-conscious about it. He doesn’t like the idea of letting the other animals know how he feels (rumors have started that his tail goes into a heart-shape near Sandy’s place). Worse, he isn’t sure how long his new tail will get. He is worried that soon, he’ll have to carry it in front of him in a little lemur wheelbarrrow!
But hope is not lost. For here at the SZ, we have Dr. Parker. If you’ll remember, Dr. Parker helped pioneer the scuba-stuffocation technology that has brought many great stuffed sea-creatures here. But that’s not all he’s good at. He’s an expert in serums and potions as well. Here are some encouraging words from the doctor himself:
“Nothing more than a little case of jumblemalopictovestigigitis is all. That can be cleared up with the right combination of nutmeg, pasta sauce, a little onion powder, and Dr. Parker’s patented purple cure-all hot sauce (patent pending). Yes, a little experimentation with these ingredients, a healthy day of shadow-puppet therapy, and this old boy’ll be good as new.”
As he awaits Dr. Parker’s crazy elixir, Melvin spends his days thinking about the benefits of his new condition. For one, the tail is very cozy to be wrapped up in, which makes it a sort of bed attached to his butt. That’s handy!
We’ll be sure and let everyone know how the elixir works, and don’t worry; this condition causes no physical harm or discomfort. It just sometimes embarrasses this little love-struck lemur.
Melvin sees something perplexing on his walk.
