Robert Fuller who built a jungle gym with a trampoline in his yard didn’t know that someone was using his gym secretly. Surprisingly, that creature was not a human! He is a wildlife artist based in Thixendale, North Yorkshire used to share his property with many wild animals including hedgehogs, owls, foxes, badgers, and a family of stoats.
The little stoats usually kept to themselves, avoiding spending more time out in the open. But, for the playful animals, the trampoline was too enticing to pass up. He found the very first stoat playing with the trampoline in 2015.it had been snowing at the moment and he had followed the stoat’s paw prints all the way up to the trampoline and all over it too.
He set up a network of over 80 remote cameras in his garden to follow the little creatures’ lives and then he was eventually able to catch a glimpse of the stoats enjoying his trampoline. When he developed his camera setup a few years later the trampoline was a prime contender for a camera and sooner he got exciting clips of stoats bouncing and having fun. It seems that they like the texture of the material and use it for particularly bouncy play fights and stretching.
But the trampoline doesn’t only bring them joy, it is also used by the small animals as a kind of training ground to practice skills they will need as adults.
The stoats have already owned the entire jungle gym. But occasionally they share it with owls, badgers, and other animals too. Fuller doesn’t mind sharing his gym either. He is just happy about creating the perfect habitat for his wild neighbors.
