Nadya
Vessey lost both legs and had a 'mermaid' tail designed for her that
allowed her to flow quickly through the water (AlamyCelebrity/Alamy)
By augmenting their bodies and minds to acquire animal-like abilities,
some people are trying to sense a world that most humans cannot
experience, says Frank Swain.
At the end of World War I, the aristocratic Horace Ridler returned to
Britain from Mesopotamia a changed man. Turning his back on his
privileged upbringing, Ridler tattooed his face and body in swirling
patterns, took to wearing a large nose ring and stretched out his
earlobes. Donning a costume of jewelled robes, he reinvented himself as
Omi the Zebra Man and toured with circuses such as Barnum and Bailey,
and Ripley’s Odditorium.Ridler was just one in a long line of people who devoted themselves to taking on animal-like appeareances. The American Dennis Avner, better known as Stalking Cat or simply Cat Man, underwent over 14 surgical procedures to transform his face into a feline appearance, sculpting his cheeks, lips and eyes, and adding striped tattoos, whiskers and a set of needle-like teeth.
And for 20 years, the Leopard Man of Skye could be glimpsed living in a derelict stone cottage in the far north of Scotland, recognisable for his head-to-toe tattooed spots. Tom Leppard, as he is known to his friends, moved five years ago into a more comfortable home on the mainland at 73 years of age – not bad for a cat.
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