New reality show brings out animal in people

NEWSDAY
Extreme makeovers are all the rage on TV these days, the latest manifestation being Fox's "The Swan," in which women identified as "ugly ducklings" get reconfigured through a sort of surgical origami into graceful birds.
But what about the duckling who wants to become not a swan but, oh, a gecko or a goat?
For that we'll soon have "Humanimals: Wild Makeovers," scheduled to air May 6 on the Discovery Channel. Like the Travel Channel's recent "Eye of the Beholder," which looks at radical tattooing and body piercing, "Humanimals" examines another trend in extreme body modification -- people who go to great lengths to make themselves resemble animals.
The Lizard Man is one of the tamer examples. It's no big surgical deal to have one's tongue "forked." But what about the guy who calls himself Enigma and has grafted horns to his forehead? Or Cat Man, who not only has his body tattooed with stripes from head to toe, but also has latex whisker implants, filed teeth and a surgically snarled lip?
On MTV's "I Want a Famous Face," we saw a young woman customized into a Britney Spears look-alike. Who knows? On "Humanimals," we may see someone like her transformed into a hot Lassie.