Twiggy the Squirrel skis again at Mall of America
It was Rocky the Flying Squirrel that won the adulation of cartoon fans back in the Sixties. But could Rocky water-ski? Live?
Twiggy the Waterskiing Squirrel can, and she ain’t no cartoon.
The real-life rodent will be making her third appearance at Mall of America with six shows this coming weekend, once again proving to thousands of homo sapien fans that squirrels are athletes capable of much more than climbing trees real fast.
This furry phenomenon was born in 1978 in Sanford, Fla., when Chuck and Lou Ann Best rescued a baby squirrel that had strayed from her nest. The Bests adopted her as a pet and named her ”Twiggy" since she chewed the leaves off of Lou Ann’s house plants, leaving nothing but twigs behind.
Twiggy would accompany the family on its camping and water-skiing excursions and would cool herself with a dip in the river on occasion. During one trip, Chuck bought his daughter a remote-controlled boat for her birthday. Other campers kidded him that he played with the toy more than his daughter did.
“I have to learn to drive the boat so I can teach my squirrel to water-ski," he told them.
And so he did. Word of Twiggy got out to ABC News in Orlando, which filmed the first clip of the skiing squirrel and won an Emmy award for the story. The Bests were subsequently stormed with requests from organizations wanting to book Twiggy for shows.
A squirrel star was born.
In 1997, Chuck Best had a heart attack and drowned while saving the life of his stepfather. Lou Ann then cancelled all of Twiggy’s bookings through the winter of 1998. One afternoon, not long thereafter, Lou Ann was sitting in her dining room when a squirrel showed up at her sliding glass door. She let the squirrel in.
Within days, the new Twiggy began training in the pool and the legend skis on to this day.
(Editor's Notes: There have been several Twiggys. The squirrel’s average lifespan is 6 years.)
