"Sign, sign, everywhere a sign. Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind. Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign." After over thirty years of displaying animals I find that people have a thing about reading signs. I have had students standing and looking at a cage then turn and ask me to identify the animal. The sign on the cage sticks out like a sore thumb.

    Here at the Living Materials Center I have had some success with adding a little humor to the place card. At the entry on an easel the sign says, "Sorry, the odor is really strong at the door. Once you get inside, it really stinks!" I have a red box on the monkey cage that has a glass front and a small hammer hanging on a chain. The sign says, "In Case of Escape, Break Glass." The box contains a banana. On a table in front of the monkeys sits a small plastic aquarium. The sign reads, "CUBAN DEVIL MONSTER, Eats eyeballs and flesh under fingernails! (HE IS INVISIBLE!)." That one gets a lot of stares. Then on to the rabbit hutches the sign says, "ADOPT A RABBIT, Multi-lingual, can be trained to do home work!"

    My theory is that if the observer reads a sign that is humorous, it is likely that more signs will be read. My favorite display is a thirty-gallon aquarium containing thousands of giant hissing cockroaches. The sign says, "Properly roasted they taste like avocado. Roach guacamole!" On the cage containing an African fennec fox the sign reads, "If you put your finger in here, YOU WILL BLEED and GET YELLED AT!"