TARGET 110727

Water Skiing Squirrel

Twiggy the water skiing squirrel is a world-famous animal novelty act, featuring a squirrel who skis around a heated pool. The act was begun in 1979 by Chuck and Lou Ann Best, and starting with an appearance on Real People, has been featured on numerous television shows, newspaper articles, and websites.

The Bests are based in Deltona, Florida. They found an orphaned squirrel after Hurricane David and raised it as a family pet who would ride on their shoulders even as they dipped in the pool. Having purchased a remote-controlled boat for his daughter, Chuck demurred handing over the controls, joking that he had to teach Twiggy to water-ski; the joke was soon taken seriously, albeit with no initial intent of publicity.

Twiggy is actually several gray squirrels who have been trained in succession. The retired squirrels live out their lives as family pets. The squirrels are trained to ride on buoyant foam blocks, which are then towed behind a remote-controlled boat.

Because this act is not located in a single place, there is no dowsing or feedback map for this target.

If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, please take a look at the following web sites for more:

Twiggy's web page
Wikipedia
Video: Twiggy competes on the "America's got Talent" show.
Daily Mail: story, pictures and videos

Many thanks to Ray McClure for suggesting and programming this target.