Does This Fur Make Me Look Fat?

The answer is... um... yeah.  You look fat, kitty.  


But that's not your fault.  You have the heaviest coat of any cat, because...






...you live in some of the coldest places on earth; Mongolia and Siberia.  Brrrrr.


In Mongolia last winter, temperatures fell to -57 degrees F, killing millions of livestock animals.


But the cold didn't kill Pallas' cat.

Photo credit: Terry Whittaker

Though the size of a house cat, this cat is made for winter.  It's stocky, small-eared, and fuzzy.  And its tail is thick enough to be a muff, sheltering its face from the icy blasts.

So what does the Pallas' cat find to eat out in those snowy wastelands?

But it's a bit strange-looking.   I mean, check out this picture... there's a little bit of monkey in that face, don't you think?

Can you pinpoint why it doesn't look quite like a cat?

Let's compare face to face: 

• The ears are small, roundish, and way low on its head
• And check out the eyes...the Pallas' cat's pupils are round, not slits like in a regular cat.  
• And where's that cute little line that goes from the nose down to the mouth?  

Want to see Pallas' cats in action?

They don't make good pets...think of the vacuuming!  But check out exotic cats that do make good pets here.

Does This Fur Make Me Look Fat?

The answer is... um... yeah.  You look fat, kitty.  


But that's not your fault.  You have the heaviest coat of any cat, because...

Bengals & Savannahs...Exotic Cats for Pets

A few decades ago, a cat breeder had a really wild idea.  


She saw that people wanted exotic cats as pets. She also saw how often those exotic pets were discarded as they grew from cute kittens to big, hard-to-manage adults.


So the cat breeder decided to breed a type of cat that was tame and affectionate, but still exotic in appearance.


She chose an Asiatic Leopard Cat, and bred it to a domestic cat. And after several generations of careful planning, what she got was exactly what she was hoping for...

The Bengal cat was recognized as a true domestic cat breed in 1977.


But since then, many other exotic cats breeds have been established..the Safari, the Chausie, the Junglebob...


Never heard of them? Want to see where they all come from?  Well, starting with the aforementioned Bengal Cat, I created a little picture genealogy just for you...check it out.

Bengal Cat

Bengal Cat - first documented in 1889:
These cats are very active, fun-loving, and involved; they want to know what you're doing, why you're doing it, and if they can help! 


Price: $500-$3000

Savannah Cat
Savannah Cat: (it's more like a dog)
Much more social than typical domestic cats, they're often compared to dogs in terms of loyalty. They can be trained to walk on a leash and even taught to play fetch!  


Price: $950-$9000

Chausie Cat
Chausie Cat: 

Known for their speed and nearly 6-foot vertical leaps, these cats are high-energy, curious, and affectionate.

Price: $850 - $1800

Safari Cat

Safari Cat:

A new hybrid, this cat is affectionate, though extremely rare and difficult to produce. 

Price: $4000 - $8000

Jungle-Bob Cat

Jungle Bob (or Junglebob):
These cats are high-energy and can be polydactyl; that means they can have extra toes on each foot.  Check out the toes on the Jungle Bob in the bottom picture.


Price: $1000 - $1500

Cool cats, huh?

I love the Savannah! The silver one below is actually a Savannah cat bred back to a Serval. Beautiful! 

But probably pretty pricey!  :)


So which one do you like best?  Or do you have one already?


Leave a comment and let me know! 

Bengals & Savannahs...Exotic Cats for Pets

A few decades ago, a cat breeder had a really wild idea.  


She saw that people wanted exotic cats as pets. She also saw how often those exotic pets were discarded as they grew from cute kittens to big, hard-to-manage adults.


So the cat breeder decided to breed a type of cat that was tame and affectionate, but still exotic in appearance.


She chose an Asiatic Leopard Cat, and bred it to a domestic cat. And after several generations of careful planning, what she got was exactly what she was hoping for...

4 Stealth Mammals Uncovered in 2011

So we've all heard about the wolf in sheep's clothing.  


But what about the wolf in jackal's clothing?


Yes, it happened.


Last year, some people thought that there was something funny going on in the jackal world...




...and found that the Egyptian jackal is not a jackal at all.


How was that discovered?  Using DNA coding, a way to find similarities and differences between species.


Here's an example of what the DNA code looks like for a heron:

When scientists checked the DNA of the Egyptian jackal, the DNA code didn't look like it was supposed to.  


It looked like...well...like the DNA of a wolf.


A Gray wolf.  


And it was a Gray wolf...amazing! So now we have a new species known as the African wolf.  


Check it out in the pictures below. I put in a picture of the Golden jackal it was supposed to be related to, and a photo of Gray wolves in America, just so you can see the differences and similarities.

To me, the jackal's face looks a lot more fox-like than the wolf's.




But this isn't the first time this has happened.  Here are three more instances of mammals disguised as one species when they really belonged in a different group.


Take the Burrunan Dolphin. Thought to be just a Common or Indo-Pacific bottlenose, it was discovered last year that this dolphin is its own "chubbier" species. Can you see the differences?

Uh, that one was a bit tougher to see.  :)




Then there's the dolphin thought to be an Irawaddy dolphin when, really, it was a new species...named the Snub Fin dolphin. 

But c'mon, even Sherlock Holmes would've been confused with those two!




And now the Clouded leopard, which had cloaked itself as a single species, turns out to be divided into two...the new one on Borneo, and named the Sunda (or Bornean) Clouded leopard. 

One of the remarkable things about the Sunda Cloudy is that its fangs are proportionately longer than the regular Cloudy, and longer than even than any cat...including all the Big Cats.


Okay, I had to see it...and so do you...the longest fangs in the cat world.  So here we go...(and FYI, that Cloudy skull isn't even the Sunda Cloudy)

The Lion, King of Beasts?  Heh heh, not when it comes to the dental work.


Whoa, so what happened here?  I started out with mammals in disguise, rambled through DNA coding, and ended with the longest cat fangs. 


Too much coffee maybe. 


Or...just too many amazing things in the world.  :)

4 Stealth Mammals Uncovered in 2011

So we've all heard about the wolf in sheep's clothing.  


But what about the wolf in jackal's clothing?


Yes, it happened.


Last year, some people thought that there was something funny going on in the jackal world...

Yes, This Mouse Is Singing

In 1925, J. L. Clark discovered something unusual in a Detroit house. It was a mouse...that could sing.


He captured the mouse and listened to it singing in its cage.


It sounded like...





...a bird!


He gave the mouse to scientists at the University of Michigan, who confirmed that the mouse could, indeed, sing. An article was written about it in 1932, and then mostly forgotten.

But in 2004, a scientist studying mice in the wild recorded what sounded like a plaintive wooing song...and discovered it came from a Deer mouse!


It has since been determined that male mice sometimes sing to attract female mice.  Want to hear? Check out these two videos...

After all these years, who knew?  Pretty amazing!