If you look at a cat with their furry bodies and 4 legs, then look at snakes with their scaly bodies and lack of legs, at first glance they seem very different. But, look a little closer, and you'll see similarities - like they both have slitted pupils in their eyes and both make hissing noises! So, what's the deal with cats and snakes? Why do cats have reptile eyes? Starting with those cat snake eyes, this is an example of convergent evolution. Convergent evolution is when 2 animals that aren't closely related have similar characteristics. Cats and snakes both hunt similar prey, like small mammals and birds, and both use similar hunting techniques. According to Petshun.com, both snakes and cats...
As you may know from many of the other articles on this site, I live with 2 cats. One of them seems to be dominant over the other, with the other often taking their cues from the dominant one. That got me thinking about cat hierarchy. What is the cat social structure and how is it established? Catster.com says that most wild cats (except lions) are solitary predators. They find a large enough territory to supply enough prey to feed themselves and stick to it, except for mating or if they get in a dispute with another cat about where the boundaries of the territory are. However, domestic cats have adapted to living in groups when there are enough resources...
Last week was St. Patrick's day, but did you there is another Saint's day that falls on March 17th? St. Gertrude of Nivelles is also honored on March 17th, and I bring her up here because she is sometimes called the patron saint of cats! Acccording to U.S. Catholic, Gertrude of Nivelles was born in 626 and was the youngest of 4 children in the family. During that time, families would often look to increase their prestige by looking for stragetic marriages with noble families. Her father had arranged a match between her sister and the son of a powerful bishop, and he seemed to have the same idea for Gertrude. When Gertrude was 10 years old, her father hosted...
Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, and that got me thinking about green cats, so I went online to find out if there was ever a green cat. Are green cats real? The first thing I found was a green cat who mysteriously appeared in Bulgaria. I even found this video where you can see the green cat, along with a more traditionally colored orange friend! According to UK's Daily mail, people originally thought that the cat was dyed green as part of a joke, but it was later discovered that she liked to sleep at a construction yard and was picking up the green coloring from paint there. She then disappeared for a few days, and people started worrying that...
Sometimes when I go to bed at night one of my cats will lay beside me with his tail toward my face, and then whack me in the face with his tail, usually in the mouth. I then purse my lips and blow to try to blow the fur off my lips, and I swear he does it on purpose because he thinks it's funny. But is it true? Can cats laugh? Let's see what the experts think! Do cats have a sense of humor? A few weeks ago, I was looking into whether cats get embarrassed and learned that cats do experience emotions like fear and joy. Do they also have a sense of humor? Cats.com says when cats...
