cats

"... Why can't people figure out what a cat's trying to say? The answer was revealed in a study conducted in England in 2015. Using an approach similar to 's, the researchers went to people's homes and recorded cats meowing in four different contexts.* Then they played the calls back to listeners to see if they could correctly identify the context of each call. An important difference from Nicastro's study, however, was that people who lived with each cat were included among the listeners. Participants were reasonably proficient when listening to the cat with whom they shared a home, correctly identifying the context sixty percent of the time. By contrast, when hearing an unfamiliar cat, they picked the correct context a paltry twenty-five percent of the time, no better than guessing randomly. These results suggest that each cat has her own specific meows that she uses in different situations, and that people who live with these cats learn to recognize what each meow means. However, these call are cat-specific; there is no universal cat language, with one type of meow proclaiming "I'm hungry" and another indicating "I'm scared." ..."

"... Once cats have used the meow to gain a person's attention, they generally use additional visual or tactile techniques for explaining what is so urgently needed, such as rubbing their head and flanks around our legs and then against the food cupboard, or sitting looking pointedly at the back door."

"Meow. We know this is the sound a cat makes. Five thousand years ago, so did the s. They just pronounced it “miw,” according to Sir , the deceased expert on Egyptian grammar. This is very close to how Mandarin Chinese speakers currently pronounce the word for “cat:” māo … … The consonant-vowel pattern meow may not seem important in our language—it’s just the sound a cat makes—but in Chinese, this sound pattern—spelled “miao”—occurs 16 times by itself, and at least 78 times in conjunction with other characters, according to http://www.mandarintools.com/. The Miao of China—one of the meanings of “miao”—is an ancient people known for their farming and embroidery; the word also means “family, progeny, sprout.” The ' does not include a listing for “miao” or “meow.” The closest word is “miaow,” and it means, “Imitative. Similar representations of the cry of a cat (and corresponding nouns and verbs) are very widespread in numerous languages: compare, e.g., German miau, Spanish miau, Russian mjau, Turkish miyav, Finnish miau, Chinese miāo, etc.” Even though OED claims the word is widespread, the earliest date given is 1288. Ancient Egyptian isn’t mentioned. Under “cat” however, OED offers, “History points to Egypt as the earliest home of the domestic cat, and the name is generally sought in the same quarter.” Not discussed is the fact that the Egyptians used the word “miw,” even though Gardiner’s book was published in 1927."

"... Will you meow?' "Yes—and you meow back, if you get a chance. Last time, you keep' me a-meowing around till old Hays went to throwing rocks at me and says 'Dern that cat!' and so I hove a brick through his window—but don't you tell." "I won't. I couldn't meow that night, becuz auntie was watching me, but I'll meow this time. ..."

"The snow leopard is usually found above 5000 feet and occurs as high as 18,000 feet. Though nowhere common, it has a wide range in the mountains of central Asia, from the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan eastward along the Himalaya and across Tibet into southern China, and also northward in the mountains of the U.S.S.R. and of west China to the , on the southern border of Mongolia: the few specimens caught in the wild come mostly from the of the U.S.S.R., where trapping is limited and the animal is otherwise protected. The typical snow leopard has pale frosty eyes and a coat of pale misty gray, with black rosettes that are clouded by the depth of the rich fur. An adult rarely weighs more than a hundred pounds or exceeds six feet in length, including the remarkable long tail, thick to the tip, used presumably, for balance and for warmth, but it kills creatures three times its own size without much difficulty. It has enormous paws and a short-faced ; it is bold and agile in the hunt, and capable of terrific leaps ..."

"The snow leopard (Panthera uncial) is a flagship and keystone species in much of the alpine ecosystems of Central Asia, with only 4500–7500 individuals left in the world (McCarthy and Chapron, 2003). It has been listed as endangered by the (IUCN) since 1972 (Goodwin and Holloway, 1972), and included in Appendix I of the since 1975 (McCarthy and Chapron, 2003). They are also legally protected at the national level in every range country (McCarthy and Chapron, 2003). However, poaching for the exquisite fur and highly valued bones remains a significant and mostly increasing threat to snow leopards range-wide (McCarthy and Chapron, 2003). China is estimated to contain roughly 60% of snow leopard habitat and population, distributed primarily in and the and Autonomous Regions, bus also occurring in , and Provinces, and the (McCarthy and Chapron, 2003). At the same time, China likely owns the largest potential market, with a billion people of increasing economic stature and traditions of utilizing wildlife for traditional purposes. As such, the combination of China’s importance for the species and its threat through the poaching and trade of snow leopards makes China a determinant player in the species’ survival."

"The primary prey of snow leopards is and s whose typical habitat is the rugged terrain of mountainous regions. Smaller mammalian species (e.g. s, Marmota spp.; s Lepus spp.; s, Ochotona spp.) and various birds have been reported in snow leopard diet. Domestic livestock, primarily sheep and goats, comprise a significant component of snow leopard diet in many areas, and occasionally horses, s, and cattle are also taken."

"Puma concolor, a large American cat species, occupies the most extensive range of any New World terrestrial mammal, spanning 100 degrees of latitude from the to the . ... Genomic DNA specimens from 315 pumas of specified geographic origin (261 contemporary and 54 museum specimens) were collected for molecular genetic and phylogenetic analyses of three mitochondrial gene sequences (16S rRNA, ATPase-8, and NADH-5) plus composite microsatellite genotypes (10 feline loci). ... The marked uniformity of mtDNA and a reduction in microsatellite allele size expansion indicates that North American pumas derive from a recent ( circa 10,000 years ago) replacement and recolonization by a small number of founders who themselves originated from a centrum of puma genetic diversity in eastern South America 200,000-300,000 years ago. The recolonization of North American pumas was coincident with a massive late Pleistocene extinction event that eliminated 80% of large vertebrates in North America and may have extirpated pumas from that continent as well."

"Due to the cheetah’s specialisation for speed, it has developed many morphological and physiological adaptations. For , it has a small head, lightweight and thinly-boned skull, flat face, and a reduced length of muzzle that allows the large eyes to be positioned for maximum binocular vision, enlarged nostrils, and extensive air-filled sinuses (Ewer 1973). Its body is narrow and lightweight with long, slender feet and legs and specialised muscles, which act, simultaneously, for high acceleration and allow for greater swing to the limbs (Hildebrand 1959, Hildebrand 1961, Neff 1983). The cheetah is the only cat with short, blunt claws, which lack skin sheaths, making the claws semi-retractable, thus providing added traction like a sprinter’s cleats (Ewer 1973)."

"... After the near elimination of mountain lions from the United States in the first half of the 20th century, protective laws beginning in the mid-1960s allowed them to reestablish or increase their populations across the West. Mountain lions typically occur in topographically varied s. Their rugged habitat is one of the main reasons that lions are seldom seen. They live in areas with high prey densities and enough vegetation and topography for good hunting cover. Maternal females usually select dens in rock outcrops, dense shrubs, or under conifers well out of sight of people."

"With illegal trade in elephant and rhino 'products' dominating the headlines, the trade in live cheetahs seem to have slipped under the radar. It is only recently that the general public has been alerted to the scandalous and illegal trade in cheetah cubs to the Middle East, where they are prized as exotic pets. Typically cubs are capture in East Africa and shipped to Yemen for onward travel. Less than 50 per cent of the cubs survive the journey."

"At the scale of their entire distribution, cougars inhabit a wide variety of habitats including foothills woodlands, high mountain forests, boreal forests, deserts, riparian woodlands, and tropical forests. Cougars occur in the xerophytic woodlands of central Argentina, tropical semi-deciduous and secondary forests of South and Central America, and the and s of ..."

"During his 49-year reign as an Indian in the 16th century, Akbar the Great had more than 39,000 cheetahs in total, which were called Khasa or the Imperial Cheetahs, and he kept detailed records of them (Caro 1994, Guggisberg 1975). However, all the cheetahs kept for hunting and coursing purposes were taken out of the wild from free-ranging populations. Because of this continuous drain on the wild populations, the numbers of cheetahs declined throughout Asia. In the early 1900s, India and Iran began to import cheetahs from Africa for hunting purposes (Pocock 1939). In Africa, the cheetah was important to many local ethnic groups: the ate cheetah meat for speed; traditional healers used cheetah foot bones for fleet-footedness; and kings wore cheetah skins for dignity (Nowell and Jackson 1996, Wrogemann 1975). These practices, combined with exportation to other countries, contributed to the beginning of the cheetah’s decline in Africa."

"The mountain lion is large and slender and has short, muscular limbs ... The pelage is of medium texture, characteristically short year-round in tropical forms, but growing longer and thicker in the winter in temperate forms. The young are black-spotted in three irregular dorsal lines and transverse rows These spots are vivid up to the animal's third or fourth month of life. The eye color is blue in young kittens and turns greyish brown to golden in adults. The pupils are round."

"Cheetah numbers throughout their ranges are declining due to loss and , and a declining prey base (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Intra-guild competition from more aggressive predators decrease cheetah survivability in protected game reserves, causing larger numbers of cheetahs to live outside protected areas and therefore coming into conflict with humans (Caro 1994, Marker 1998, Nowell and Jackson 1996). As human populations change the landscape of Africa by increasing the numbers of livestock and fenced game farms throughout the cheetah’s range, addressing this conflict may become the most important factor in their conservation."

"The cheetah is considered one of the earliest divergences in felid evolution, about 8.5 million years ago, compared to the large cats of the ' group, which still shared a common ancestor about 6 million years ago (Adams 1979, Hemmer 1978, Johnson and O'Brien 1997, Neff 1983, Pecon-Slattery and O'Brien 1998, van Valkenburgh et al. 1990). The species known as Acinonyx pardinensis (Adams 1979), which is larger than the modern species, migrated from North America to Asia, India, Europe, and Africa. The modern cheetah evolved into its present form about 200,000 years ago. Genetic research has shown that today’s cheetah populations are descendants of but a few animals that remained after the Pleistocene era about 10,000 years ago, at which point the population experienced a founder event generally referred to as a population bottleneck (Menotti-Raymond and O'Brien 1993, O'Brien et al. 1985, O'Brien et al. 1983). The cheetah somehow survived this time of mass extinction and the population gradually increased."

"After a stalk of a few minutes across a , puma crouched behind bush and waited until nearest deer came within 5 ft. Puma caught its hindquarters with its front paws probably because tall brush prevented a leap. The deer was forced to its haunches and after struggling downhill for about 70 ft. stumbled; and deer and puma rolled over and over out of sight into clump of shrubs where it was killed. Puma carried deer for about 50 yds., dragged it at least another 80 yds. Liver eaten and uneaten stomach and intestines removed from hole in deer's side next to ribs. Buried carcass under leaves and weeds."

"I have seen a chased by a cheetah suddenly turn round and face its pursuer uttering a series of blood-curdling snarls. The cheetah came to a a sudden halt, backed, and then bounded away, with the little fox following for about 10 to 15 m (avg. 43 ft) before it turned and ran in the opposite direction."

"... The cheeta, after felling the , seizes it by the throat, and when the keeper comes up, he cuts its throat and collects some of the blood in the wooden ladle from which it is always fed: this is offered to the cheeta, who drops his hold, and laps it up eagerly, during which the hood is cleverly slipped on again. My tame cheeta, when hungry or left alone (for it appeared unhappy when away from the dogs and with no one near it), had a plaintive cry, which appropriately calls a "bleat-like mew." Shikarees always assert that if taken as cubs they are useless for training, till they have been taught by their parents how to pull down their prey. This opinion is corroborated, in part at least, by my experience with the tame one mentioned above."

"Mountain lions (Puma concolor) were previously endemic across Pennsylvania. The species was officially declared regionally extinct in 2011 by the , although the last time that a mountain lion was observed east of the was in Maine in 1938, excluding the current population that resides in Florida. The Northeastern population of P. concolor has been almost nonexistent since the early 1800s, most likely due to targeted hunting depredation by farmers to protect livestock, along with habitat destruction and fragmentation. The last documented observation of P. concolor in Pennsylvania specifically was in 1874."

"... any one may have a fancy, and a squirrel has a right to make up his mind touching a catamount."

"Small mammals are the dominant ocelot prey in Central and South America ... In Venezuela, rodents occur >80% of the s with and included as prey (Ludlow and Sunquist). s (' sp.) are a common part of ocelot diet in Peru and Venezuela Opossums (' and ') are the most common prey in Belize (Konecny 1989)."

"As top predators, wild cats play a key ecological role in s, but little is known about the factors that regulate their abundance. This study looked for correlates of ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) abundance at two spatial scales. ... The frequency of records, number of individuals recorded per station, and density estimates were 2–3 times higher in areas with relatively low levels of logging and poaching. At a continental scale, ocelot densities decrease with latitude and increase with rainfall. Primary productivity seems to determine the abundance of wild cats across their range, but at a local scale their abundance may be affected by logging and poaching or by competition with other species."

"Ocelots were the pet of choice for the well-heeled celebrity or adventurous types in the mid-20th century. Apparently if they are raised by hand from a young age they become relatively docile. It’s clear that the cats were sourced from all over the Americas–not just Texas. However, I found more want ads in the Rio Grande Valley than elsewhere in the state, which leads me to believe that Texas ocelots didn’t escape the trade. ... With an abundance of ocelots living in cities, it’s not surprising that some of the cats escaped. The first article from Fort Worth does not confirm the ocelot was the marauder, but it does report on the escape of two cats. And finally, a reminder that these cats were still wild animals is the shocking headline, “Pet Ocelot Chews Off Baby’s Toes.” I’ve included it from the ' here, but the story was featured in newspapers nationwide in 1956."

"In the USA, the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is a highly endangered felid found only in a few remaining vestiges of native thornshrub brushland in the (LRGV) of extreme southern Texas. From 1987–1998, carcasses of 15 adult ocelots that died of vehicular accidents or natural causes were examined for s. All cats had 1–8 (mean=3) helminth species. ... Although a single heartworm infection may have contributed to the death of one ocelot, helminth infections in general seemed to be of no great consequence to this endangered ocelot population. The helminth fauna of ocelots in the LRGV is reflective of that from wild felids in general; all have been reported previously from the (Lynx rufus) and (Puma concolor) elsewhere in Texas."

"Dalí acquired his ocelot in the 1960s (allegedly from the ), and for a time it was seen to accompany him, on a leash and stone studded collar, almost everywhere he went. One of the most popular accounts of Dalí and is that of the painter bringing the wild cat into a Manhattan restaurant and tethering it to his table, causing great alarm to a fellow diner. To appease the woman’s fear, Dalí told her that Babou was nothing more than a normal cat which he had “painted over in an op art design.” Babou was privvy to the high life both at home and abroad – author Suzanne White describes seeing the cat stalking about “on a silken setee located in front of a carved marble fireplace” in Dalí’s living room, while famous images exist of the artist and his pet on a voyage aboard the luxury ocean liner the ."

"If strolling forth, a beast you view, Whose hide with spots is peppered, As soon as she has leapt on you, You'll know it is the leopard."

"Jack: "What are your legs?" Archy: "Springs. Steel springs." Jack: "What are they going to do?" Archy: "Hurl me down the track." Jack: "How fast can you run?" Archy: "As fast as a leopard." Jack: "How fast are you gonna run?" Archy: "As fast as a leopard!" Jack: "Then let's see you do it!""

"Leopards on the gable-ends, Leopards on the painted stair, Stiff the blazoned shield they bear, Or and gules, a bend of vair, Leopards on the gable-ends, Leopards everywhere."

"Put a leopard and a V. antirrhopus together and the former would be in trouble."

"King Richard II: ...[L]ions make leopards tame. Thomas Mowbray: Yea, but not change his spots:"

"Leopards are cunning beasts and will lie quietly until you are almost on top of them. Then they will suddenly charge with the deadliest speed and determination."

"It is perfection in natural design – sleek, smart, and powerful. Capable of amazing physical prowess, the leopard is a formidable predator; able to bring down prey significantly larger than itself."

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."

"Noi fummo i Gattopardi, i Leoni; quelli che ci sostituiranno saranno gli sciacalletti, le iene; e tutti quanti Gattopardi, sciacalli e pecore, continueremo a crederci il sale della terra."

"There is a hair-trigger ferocity about the leopards. Each time one lifted one’s binoculars for a closer view one was confronted with two green glaring lamps that burned directly into one’s own eyes. The pupils had the effect of boring into you. No animal, not even the lion, has such an implacable gaze."

"A leopard doesn't change his spots just because you bring him in from the jungle and try to housebreak him and turn him into a pet. He may learn to sheathe his claws in order to beg a few scraps off the dinner table, and you may teach him to be a beast of burden, but it doesn't pay to forget that he'll al ways be what he was born: a wild animal."

"I am lithe, and light, and supple, like the leopard of the plain."

"A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit."

"It seems almost impossible for cats to make an ugly or undignified movement, and I would say the leopard in motion is the most beautiful sight of all."

"Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper-tree In the cool of the day..."

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?"

"The lively-shining leopard, speckled o'er With many a spot, the beauty of the waste."

"I have no faith in cats: they are a cold-blooded race; they are the politicians among domestic animals; they care little who is master, or what are the over-turnings, so their pickings are secure; and what are their midnight caucuses but primary meetings?"

"It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire. For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle's lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten."

"Tout ce qui s'agite devient pour eux un objet de badinage. Ils croyent que la nature ne s'occupe que de leur divertissement."

"We own a dog — he is with us as a slave and inferior because we wish him to be. But we entertain a cat — he adorns our hearth as a guest, fellow-lodger, and equal because he wishes to be there. It is no compliment to be the stupidly idolised master of a dog whose instinct it is to idolise, but it is a very distinct tribute to be chosen as the friend and confidant of a cat."

"I like a cat because it does not disguise its selfishness with any flattering hypocrisies. Its attachment is not to yourself, but to your house. Let it but have food, and a warm lair among the embers, and it heeds not at whose expense. Then it has the spirit to resent aggression. You shall beat your dog, and he will fawn upon you; but a cat never forgives : it has no tender mercies, and it torments before it destroys its prey."

"In mid-nineteenth-century London, which had a population upward of two million people, the journalist and social researcher set out to survey the lives of the working and nonworking poor. One of the now obsolete categories of labor he investigated was that of the cats’-meat men: sellers of boiled , who purchased their stinking wares from knackers’ yards, then wheeled it in barrows along appointed routes each day, selling it to the public as at two and a half pence per pound. By Mayhew’s reckoning, there were a thousand such venders in the capital, serving the needs of a feline population of three hundred thousand: roughly one cat per dwelling house. Cats had a liminal status, perceived by the humans they lived alongside as being somewhere between regulators of vermin—they helped control the population of s and that flourished among the goods brought in and out of London’s teeming docks—and vermin themselves. Weasel-faced and rat-tailed, given to screeching and swiping, the mid-­century cat was a rogue scavenger and a fit target for the cruelty of children, thanks to its own well-known predisposition to cruelty. At the same time, however, a new cat was beginning to emerge. This was a round-faced, wide-eyed, sleek-­bodied creature that was pampered, primped, and lavished with affection—like Oliver, a plump, stately, black domestic cat who was a member of a suburban household in the late nineteenth century and who, preserved in taxidermied condition with a yellow ribbon tied in a bow around his neck, is now in the collection of the Museum of London."

"Quand je me joue á ma chatte, qui sçait si elle passe son temps de moy plus que je ne fay d'elle."