A week ago, the time had finally come for me to play Kermit the Frog at the Zoo Action Day as part of the BioFrankfurt Action Week “Experience Biological Diversity”. Back in February, I had the idea of walking around as an oversized animal mascot as part of the public relations work for Tropica Verde. My friend had bought a Kermit costume for carnival and I quickly realized that the costume for Tropica Verde was destined for more than just the Quartier Latin or the local party boat. After all, a frog diversity survey had only recently been carried out on our Finca Curré, so I thought it was a perfect fit.
Thought – done. At the Zoo Action Day, our educational stand focused on the frogs of Costa Rica. Sarah and Janina had created a lovingly thought-out craft, game and guessing station for the stand. What could be better than wearing the brand new frog costume? Suddenly I was standing at the Tropica Verde stand in the shade at 30 degrees and in full costume, wondering how on earth I was going to survive the day under the green fleece top. Who could have guessed that the thermometer would reach 30 degrees in May.
The reactions – frightening!
Full of anticipation, I threw myself into my task of drawing people’s attention to our stand, but I hadn’t expected what happened next. I received such a wide range of reactions that I was amazed: some of the children’s faces literally slipped away at the sight of such an over-dimensioned giant frog, luckily they didn’t start crying straight away. Other children were so delighted that they either told me wildly
Kermit makes a jumping frog together with Sarah and two little frog experts
waved at me or wanted to give me kisses on my wet frog cheeks. I felt like a frog king when I was asked several times, C-list celebrity-like, for a photo… that makes every frog’s heart beat faster. The adults mainly looked at me with pity: “My goodness, the poor thing must be dying of heat” or “will she survive the day, she’ll get heat exhaustion” they could be heard whispering as I walked past. The WhatsApp messages from my friends, who I had told about my planned mission the day before, also had one question in common: “Did you survive?”
Worse is always possible
My conclusion: Of course it’s nice to think about running around in a lined frog costume when it’s 30 degrees, but if I had gone to the swimming pool or lake, I would have missed out in more ways than one: Firstly, I would never have learned how to turn a square piece of paper into a bouncy origami frog.
Pepe the giant otter from the Amazon and Kermit the frog
frog (you can find a video here), secondly, I would never have met Pepe, the giant otter, who shared the suffering of the heat with me and who was certainly worse off than I was with his fed ravenous head, and thirdly, I would never have realized how many children, young people and adults are interested in the conservation of Costa Rica’s frog diversity. Incidentally, it would never have occurred to me that the strawberry frog could simply be called the cherry frog because of its color. I love these refreshing ideas from children!
So it was worth it! THANK YOU Janina, Sarah, Kim and Pepe for the wonderful day with you! I’m already looking forward to the next campaign stand! Thanks also to all the donors who collected money for our Finca Curré on the day. We are grateful for every supporter!
If you are a frog fan just like us, then help preserve Costa Rica’s frog diversity here or get in touch with Janina for future volunteer assignments(short line to the information office).
Your Kermit, alias Jenny
