Girl plays music to lonely animals to beat stage fright

Performing in front of an audience can be nerve-wracking but one 11-year-old girl in Thailand has found a great way to overcome it - and help animals at the same time.

Due to coronavirus, fewer people in Thailand have been visiting the Khao Kheow Open Zoo near to the country's capital city of Bangkok. It's meant that the animals are getting a bit lonely.

Luckily school girl Seenlada is part of a volunteer group that visits zoos to spread cheer among lonely animals. So she's been dressing up and taking her keyboard to the zoo once a week to play popular tunes to the animals.

For Seenlada, her performances also give her a chance to practise before a live audience and help her overcome her stage fright.

"I'm playing music to soothe the animals to help them feel relaxed and accompany them so that they are not too lonely," says Seenlada.

These meerkats seem to be very interested in the performance!

And the animals seem to be loving it. "After the volunteer students came over to play music, we noticed that the animals were reacting towards that - they became curious while others appear to be enjoying the music," said zoo director, Tawin Rattanawongsawat.

The animals at the zoo react in different ways. The ring-tailed lemurs hop onto her instrument and even press buttons. They ride around on the back of her alligator costume while others sway to the music.

Here's a young hippo listening to Seenlada's tunes