Year 2000:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrDDESCS7m0
Year 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB0jml3iLBc

The longer video is from the year 2000, which is actually even right
above the stage in a big banner and then there were two flaps used when
you use the large version of the video and stop action, so the longer
drop was from the middle of her back. That was different 8 years later.

We do not know how tall the people are. For example, if they are my
sister's height even a middle of back drop would be much shorter than
for many here, though I think they are perhaps a few inches taller than
my sister. In the more recent video you will see that the two people
are a similar height, that he came up about the same as a seated man
behind (who was one step up) and that she has some drop with the final
step down to the stage area. In the later video if you stop at 3:54 you
will see that even starting to get up she is a decent bit shorter than
the women around her and the other seated women's heads come up to his
chest. So, height is a factor and these appear to be shorter than
average people.

The coat changed in obvious ways in 8 years as well as in other ways.
The earlier version of the coat also had "tails" at the bottom as well
as two flaps with most ferrets in the lower flap, while the later coat
had only the bottom flap holding ferrets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrDDESCS7m0

BTW. I saw only one ferret make the longer drop and have to wonder if
one got out of the lower flap and went climbing inside the coat, that
perhaps even then there were not supposed to be any ferrets higher up.

DO use the four outward pointing arrows to get the full screen version
and DO use the two bars to pause and scroll the bar to stop at
different second marks. That way it is easier to tell the flaps from
the animals because the falling tops of the flaps can look like animals
descending if you don't do that.

If you stop at mark 54 seconds using the four outward pointing arrow
selection to see clearly you will see that by 2008 the ferrets were
only in the lower flap so they had changed the coat, perhaps because
they worried after the 2000 sneezing one, or maybe the earlier video
was a case of an escaped ferret climbing inside the coat compared to
better designed flaps used later:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB0jml3iLBc

I don't know if they used artificial or natural fur but artificial
makes sense for several reasons:
1. Artificial is easier to clean -- kind of important with all the
animals.
2. The flaps would behave better if quality artificial was used and
props are worth investment. Skin (which is what real fur in attached
to) can not be folded very flat, especially with the bulk of fur. Many
artificial furs can be folded quite flat so the flaps would not look
faked, and today's artificial furs look very natural.

Using just the lower flap for the ferret also makes sense because
people are looking at her face and her smile, then at the "collar"
jumping off, not at the bottom of the coat. Having ferrets in a higher
flap could make the coat appear too bulky to pull off the act.

(BTW, currently artificial furs are more expensive than some natural
furs like Japanese Raccoon Dog and on inexpensive coats sold in the
U.S. with furry collars -- even some marked "artificial -- a recent
investigation found that the collars were natural, and the easiest way
you can check that is to see if it is skin or fabric beneath the
hairs.)

It seems like a lot of people are making a lot of assumptions, and many
of them are at either extreme. I love something Anne Ryan taught here
on the FML many years ago:
"Assume 
makes an
ASS of U and ME"

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump
off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 7018]