Heidi (opossum)

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Heidi (* 2008 in North Carolina , United States ; † September 28, 2011 in Leipzig ) was a female opossum who lived in the Gondwanaland tropical hall at Leipzig Zoo and who received media attention due to her striking appearance (strong squint and protruding eyes ).

Life

Heidi was of the Virginia opossum species . She was born in the wild with sister Naira and raised in an animal sanctuary after the two were found motherless by game rangers. After Heidi first at a zoo in the Danish Odense had been sold, she came to Germany in May 2010 in Leipzig Zoo. Due to quarantine regulations and a settling-in period, Heidi was not seen in the public area of ​​the zoo for a long time. The reason for their squint is unknown. One hypothesis for the development of the " googly eyes " is the overweight with which the animal arrived in Germany. Fat deposits in the eye sockets are said to have been the cause of Heidi's unusual appearance. The misalignment of the eyes should be cured by a diet with vegetables and lean meat.

Due to old age, the opossum was on September 28, 2011 07:30 by Klaus Eulenberger euthanized .

Media coverage

Rise to media star

The first presentation of the animal in December 2010 met with nationwide media coverage and quickly expanded into a worldwide media topic and internet phenomenon. The Time Magazine wrote about: "Not content with Knut the polar bear, Paul the octopus and David Hasselhoff, Germans now have a brand new fascination" (dt Not enough with. Knut, the polar bear , Paul, the octopus and David Hasselhoff have the Germans now a brand new attraction) . In January the MDR announced that it would dedicate a telenovela with 20 episodes to Heidi as part of her show Elefant, Tiger & Co. The format runs under the title Heidi - cross-eyed into happiness. The Heidinovela . A fan page on Facebook already had more members at the beginning of January 2011 than the page of Chancellor Angela Merkel . The animal was also featured on the cover of the February 2011 issue of the satirical magazine Titanic . The Danish actor Morten Grunwald ("Benny" from the Olsen Gang ), who, like Heidi, also comes from Odense, was supposed to sponsor the cross-eyed opossum. A special visit to the Leipzig Zoo was already planned.

In February 2011, Heidi was on several shows on the US late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! to see. Similar to the octopus oracle Paul, it was supposed to predict the results of the 2011 Academy Awards . For this purpose, recordings were made in their enclosure. While she was correct in the two categories of Best Actor and Best Actress with Colin Firth (for his role in The King's Speech ) and Natalie Portman (for Black Swan ), the drama 127 Hours , which she selected as Best Film , received no award. Instead, The King's Speech was awarded at the award ceremony on February 27, 2011.

marketing

Even before Heidi could even be visited - the new Gondwanaland tropical plant could only be viewed since July 1, 2011 - marketing experts estimated that millions of euros can be earned with advertising contracts. Leipzig Zoo has secured the marketing rights and has declared that it will make the money from the “Heidi Hype” available for the “ Sabah Rhinoceros on Borneo ” species protection program run by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research . In February 2011, the Bad Kösener toy manufacturer launched a plush toy from the Heidi opossum. A Leipzig company also developed a game app for the cell phone in which Heidi is the leading actress.

According to Günter Bentele , Heidi used a combination of sympathy and absurdity to serve two essential points of today's logic of attention.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Opossum Heidi is dead , Zoo Leipzig from September 28, 2011
  2. ↑ a b Cross-eyed opossum Heidi is dead Newsticker
  3. ↑ Now Opossum Heidi is becoming a soap star, Rheinische Post from January 11, 2011 ( Memento from January 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Cross-eyed opossum is an absolute rarity in: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of December 14, 2010
  5. ↑ Opossum Heidi: An oblique view is in danger in Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from January 12, 2011
  6. ↑ Video today: Heidi - Das Schielende Opossum (December 17, 2010)  in the ZDFmediathek , accessed on January 27, 2014. (offline)
  7. ^ Heidi, the Cross-Eyed Opossum, Becomes a Star in Germany , CBS News from January 7, 2011
  8. ↑ Where's looking at you, kid ?, New Zealand Herold, January 13, 2011
  9. ↑ STAR SYSTEM - Heidi l'opossum détrône l'ours Knut , Le Monde, 11 January 2011
  10. ↑ Crossed-eyed opossum becomes German media star , BBC News of January 11, 2011
  11. ^ Hype about Leipzig opossum, Spiegel Online from January 8, 2011
  12. ↑ Heidi in Gondwanaland , FAZ from January 11, 2011
  13. ↑ Time NewsFeed: Heidi the Cross-Eyed Opossum: Germany's Newest Star
  14. ↑ Media phenomenon: Heidi, the cross-eyed opossum , Stuttgarter Zeitung of January 12, 2011
  15. ↑ Notebook archive
  16. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from July 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ↑ http://www.bild.de/regional/leipzig/leipzig-regional/olsenbanden-benny-will-patenschaft-fuers-schielende-opossum-15133240.bild.html
  18. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from August 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ^ Cross-eyed opossum becomes Oscar oracle , Süddeutsche from February 11th
  20. ↑ How accurate was Opossum Heidi? ( Memento from March 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Hamburger Morgenpost from February 28, 2011
  21. ↑ Cross-eyed opossum becomes a media star ( memento from January 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) in Rheinische Post , Düsseldorf from January 11, 2011
  22. ^ Opossum lady Heidi is the secret star ( memento from January 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on mdr.de from January 12, 2011
  23. ↑ Asked about Heidi as a soft toy , accessed on April 4, 2011
  24. ↑ Opossum Heidi is available as a mobile phone app , accessed on April 4, 2011
  25. ↑ A professor explains the Heidi hype  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) January 23, 2011 Mopo@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.mopo.de