#35: Seal Show, Krone Circus, Aachen, Germany, 1961

It’s not quite the same as a human freak show, but we’ve always had quite a fascination with animal performers, too, like this German seal balancing a doll on its nose in the circus. I don’t know if the seal is there out of its free will, but it certainly seems to have taken to the task enthusiastically.

Nowadays, we’re far too advanced to make seals balance dolls on their noses, so it’s lucky that we have the pictures to look back on and remind ourselves. It’s a shame we also have photos of many other things that the human race has progressed beyond that maybe we’d rather forget.