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]