National Geographic Cats Caressing the Tiger
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They're independent; |
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they're loyal; they're beautiful; |
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they're sagacious; they're mysterious; |
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they're ineffable; they're inscrutable. |
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Cats are magic. |
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Probably the most mysterious |
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They're also very vicious; |
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they're very cruel things. |
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That's another thing |
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their ability to be |
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The domestic cat harbors |
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Within even the most demure pussycat |
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Even after thousands of years, |
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we still know little about |
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Now, scientists and laymen alike |
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attempt to understand them to |
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For them, the domestic cat is |
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as the lion or the tiger. |
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To share one's life with a cat is to |
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Perhaps the writer was correct |
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"God made the cat that man might have |
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Today, the Western world enjoys |
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between man and beast. |
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Cat coming through. |
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The cat now surpasses the dog |
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and annually we spend more on cat food |
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On any weekend proud owners |
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to thousands of fellow enthusiasts. |
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Some three dozen breeds |
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and some that seem to have no hair. |
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There are nearly 58 million pet cats |
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While many are common alley |
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some exotic breeds sell |
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And, although many people |
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a far greater number adore |
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Keeping cats and their owners happy |
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It's extremely durable |
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Look at the beads in the middle there. |
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Oh, yeah. |
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Okay, listen. |
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You hear that little scratchy sound? |
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Drives the cats crazy. They love it. |
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This is one of our kitty condos. |
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We have a birthing area |
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Kitty pan comes down on the bottom. |
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It's made of solid0-wood construction |
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The cat, as you can see |
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everything is in line. |
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It's got the long body |
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the long head to go with |
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Long bones. |
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The people keep it in wonderful |
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He's not skinny at all; he's just |
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Like a specter floating from the |
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into the shadows of modern times, |
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two species of wildcats still prowl |
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Presumed to be the ancestors |
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they even look like tabbies. |
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But wildcats are fierce and formidable |
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In ancient times many became tame |
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as valued rodent killers. |
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The farmers were Egyptian. |
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The cat became adored |
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Never since has the cat's honored role |
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One goddess in the form of a cat |
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fertility, and maternity. |
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Cats were also associated with the |
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on its daily course |
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and one who symbolized life itself. |
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The Brooklyn Museum maintains one of |
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Its curator is archeologist |
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He divides his time between |
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Prized in any such collection |
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embalmed as were the |
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This pussycat has been |
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well, he's hard to date, |
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but let's say |
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Now why, you might ask, did the |
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Well, because certain gods could |
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And so it could be a pious gesture |
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to present a mummified cat to place |
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or to place it in one of |
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But the heyday of the cat was to pass. |
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Once sacred, the cat would come |
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The same eyes perceived as the throne |
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became feared as the seat of the Devil |
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Believed by many to be the |
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thousands of cats were tortured. |
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burned, and hanged, as recently as |
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Veterinarian Michael Fox |
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is Vice President of the |
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He writes extensively on cat behavior |
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It is intriguing that cats have been |
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There was one pope |
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This love-hate relationship, I think, |
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reflects an aspect of the |
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We love things conditionally. |
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We love them if we can control them |
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Or we love them |
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that they're an aspect of |
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which the cat embodies. |
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The domestic cat is but one |
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most of them astonishingly alike. |
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Take away their spots or stripes |
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disregard the differences in size |
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and a cat is a cat is a cat. |
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Few pet owners are aware that most of |
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have a parallel somewhere in the wild. |
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The cat is an enchanting combination |
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Its sinuous movements delight the eye. |
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Cats get some of their suppleness |
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which are so constructed |
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the front legs freely |
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They have almost no collar bone |
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Ever fluid and graceful cats are |
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All cats advertise their territory. |
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Spraying deposits a pungent scent. |
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Scratch marks are visual signals |
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and may also carry a scent |
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Glands on the face and tail deposit |
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Sometimes more than one signal is left. |
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Territorial fights could be |
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with such sharp teeth and claws, |
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so most disputes are settled by body |
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Friendly greetings are generally more |
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a nose touch or body rubbing. |
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Exactly how and why cats purr |
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We do know that both purring |
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first appear in infancy to stimulate |
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Being hunter, cats must conserve |
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They snooze about |
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but always remain alert to sounds; |
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hence, the term catnap. |
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In all cats ovulation |
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does not occur until |
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After gestation of two to four months |
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they give birth to one to eight young. |
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Kittens and cubs are helpless at birth |
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At first they can neither see nor hear |
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their life guided primarily |
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Amazingly, each has a preference |
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which it locates by smell. |
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In the wild this efficient behavior |
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frees the mother |
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Excellent, protective mothers, |
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cats will quickly move their offspring |
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To teach their young |
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many cat mothers bring home |
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These caracals nicknamed "desert lynx" |
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may seem to be playful or cruel, |
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but they are merely learning. |
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Striking the prey stuns it, |
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but the cubs are too inexperienced |
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Cat mothers keep their |
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The soothing sensation of |
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is duplicated each time |
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In this way a bond is formed, |
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and cats come to regard us |
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a role we hold throughout their lives. |
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In the wild, as young felines play, |
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they refine the predatory skills |
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Whether domestic cats |
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and hunting is subject to debate. |
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Many experts feel that play exists |
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simply because it's fun. |
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With indoor cats |
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affectionately called |
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when pent-up hunting instincts |
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Triggered by a prey's movements, |
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even the most well-fed cat may hunt |
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But the connection between making a |
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An inexperienced cat may |
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yet not recognize its kill as food. |
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As hunters that rely on stealth, |
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cats are always alert for cues |
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While smell is not |
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no odor escapes them. |
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They use smell mainly to find the |
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or to know if other cats |
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To gather information |
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cats use a second olfactory system |
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Inhaling the airborne scent |
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creates the grimacing look. |
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Cats move their funnel-shaped ears |
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They probably have |
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than either dogs or humans. |
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The function of a cat's whiskers |
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But if they are severed, |
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the animal may lose its equilibrium |
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It may even be unable |
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Whiskers also transmit |
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To remove all traces of food, |
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Fastidiousness is one of |
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Coarse and abrasive liken sandpaper, |
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the tongue is covered with |
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that can even tear flesh |
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To writers, artists, and poets, |
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cat's eyes have embodied all |
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The scientist knows that vision |
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the key to its success as a hunter. |
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At Florida State University, |
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the question of how cats see the world |
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has been studied for |
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Professor of Neuroscience |
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Dr. Mark Berkley defied cynics |
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never make a good laboratory subject. |
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He designed a system that not only |
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Banking on the animal's |
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Berkley built a box |
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And when it responds correctly, |
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Generated by a computer, |
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an image will appear in front of the |
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The cat must tell the researchers, |
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It does so by poking the |
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when the image appears on the right, |
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and the other side when the |
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From the work of Berkley and others, |
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we know cats cannot distinguish |
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have poor color vision, and like us, |
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But perhaps most noteworthy |
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Under low light levels |
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the cat is anywhere |
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That is, at a light level |
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he still sees, not very will, |
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but certainly better than we do. |
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I suppose it might be |
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a starless night and a moonlit night, |
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where under a starless night that |
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but to the cat it might look |
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Able to pierce the darkness with |
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sensitive than our own, |
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The cat's earliest ancestors |
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probably hunted both |
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To survive, they needed not only claws |
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an aptitude all cats retain |
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In keeping with its reputation, |
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And scientists |
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Slow-motion photography |
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reveals that cats always |
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The head rotates first, |
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based on messages |
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Then the spine twists |
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At the same time the cat arches |
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Despite its agility, |
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the cat faces particular dangers |
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Here, although hundreds of |
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the indoor cat is just as attracted |
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If anything, it may be a |
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So many cats actually careen through |
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that the phenomenon now has a name |
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At the Animal Medical Center |
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doctors were perplexed when they found |
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often had less severs injuries than |
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Good morning, Miss Pizano, |
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Fine, thanks. |
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Dr. Michael Garvey is medical director. |
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Hello, Harry. |
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Harry is recovering |
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after falling just a few stories. |
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We'd been puzzled by the |
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the name that we give for |
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Our clinical impression is that |
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stories are hurt much worse than cats |
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That seemed to defy our logic |
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that cats that would fall |
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So we undertook a study to examine |
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that had been admitted here |
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And it actually confirmed that our |
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It seems that cats that fall |
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and have enough time to reach free-fall |
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And when you experience trauma |
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you will probably avoid injury. |
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When you experience trauma when you |
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you will tend to maximize injury. |
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The cat may not have nine lives, |
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but its uncanny ability |
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is almost certainly responsible |
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Throughout its history, |
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myth and folklore |
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Near Oxford, England, |
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whether the legendary solitude |
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or can cats adapt successfully |
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Puss. Puss. |
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Puss. |
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Bert Parker has kept farm cats |
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as many as 80 at a time. |
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Puss, puss, puss. Come on. |
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Puss. Puss, puss, puss, puss. |
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A good cat is worth a lot. |
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She's a valuable asset to any farm. |
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Our cats have increased. |
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There's few more than |
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but what do you do? |
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They do keep the rats |
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I don't say they have every one, |
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but they do catch up |
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But what happens when this usually |
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lives in close quarters |
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Oxford University Professor |
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David Macdonald has studied |
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Why is it that people have tended |
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as anti-social, as solitary creatures? |
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I think there's two reasons. |
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Once of them could be that the sorts |
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are not the sorts of things that |
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when they though |
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And I think that's |
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a rather subtle, covert language. |
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And the sorts of signals |
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and the one I personally think |
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of rubbing where one individual rubs |
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another individual happen very quickly, |
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they happen very rarely, and if you're |
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you just don't see it. |
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So I think people have spent their |
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and formed an impression |
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the subtlety of the relationships |
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It turns out that they are |
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And, therefore, |
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that one hears so many people saying, |
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Oh, the only sociable felids, |
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the only sociable members of the cat |
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That having been said, |
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between these barnyard lions |
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and the lions that we are ever more |
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and researches about the African lions |
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Lions are the only wild cats |
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that normally live in a group, |
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At its core are the adult females, |
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Researchers have discovered |
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the females look after |
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Here, three different females |
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Though a lioness gives preference to |
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at times she will allow younger |
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or grandchildren to join in too. |
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David Macdonald was intrigued |
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that among farm cats the same |
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It comes and spends a bit of time... |
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A student, Warner Passanisi, |
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just as naturalists do in the wild. |
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...their litters together. |
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So we have, generally, |
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to suckle these kittens, |
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Any kitten that is there is suckled. |
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Although unrelated females may |
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generally the behavior |
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Mothers, daughters, |
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but it is quite possible |
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will also nurse |
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much like an extended family. |
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Six weeks old, this kitten has begun |
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Today, he has accidentally |
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Out of hearing range, she knows |
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A related female |
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He starts back uncertainly. |
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Out in the barnyard and still |
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He comes upon the related female, |
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Hungry, tired, the kitten is willing |
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In the end, she accepts the tiny, |
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Why should the females |
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Once more the behavior |
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a behavior not of care and comfort, |
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In this graphic film footage, |
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the cameraman bears horrified witness |
00:32:07 |
As three terrified cubs huddle nearby, |
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a male lion prepares to brutally |
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When there is a |
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the new dominant male kills |
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Thus, the female will |
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the new male can then mate with her, |
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and thereby perpetuate his own genes. |
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The barnyard, again, was to prove |
00:32:59 |
Macdonald recalls the events |
00:33:04 |
As I watched at the communal den with |
00:33:09 |
nine kittens in total, the scene was |
00:33:13 |
The kittens were, as you can imagine, |
00:33:15 |
a chocolate box scene |
00:33:18 |
Their nest was built in |
00:33:20 |
and a narrow passageway |
00:33:22 |
And they were all just |
00:33:25 |
And each mother would come |
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each suckling the |
00:33:29 |
On this occasion I was watching this |
00:33:48 |
And within just a few seconds |
00:33:50 |
this commotion brought the |
00:33:53 |
Because by the time the mothers came |
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in that communal den to start with, |
00:34:09 |
So I think we've come up |
00:34:12 |
both of them perhaps |
00:34:15 |
benefit individually |
00:34:17 |
One of them is that they can |
00:34:20 |
by sharing the load of nursing, |
00:34:22 |
and the other is that females may be |
00:34:27 |
Thus, cooperative care by a number of |
00:34:32 |
that more kittens even orphans will be |
00:34:43 |
What other unexpected parallels may |
00:34:48 |
and their wild cousins |
00:34:59 |
In another English village, |
00:35:00 |
the image of cats as ruthless killers |
00:35:07 |
It began with a local teacher. |
00:35:10 |
Peter Churcher has taught biology |
00:35:17 |
Those two have started before that one. |
00:35:19 |
And of course it's important |
00:35:22 |
isn't it? Right. |
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A cat owner himself, |
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his scientific training |
00:35:32 |
of the house cat on the prowl. |
00:35:39 |
Throughout England, |
00:35:43 |
cats are let outdoors to roam |
00:36:07 |
How much impact on wildlife, |
00:36:09 |
Churcher wondered, |
00:36:15 |
Unable to follow the cats, |
00:36:17 |
he did the next best thing and |
00:36:22 |
Well, the first thing was |
00:36:24 |
and just find out who had cats. |
00:36:26 |
And so I knocked on |
00:36:30 |
Have you got a cat and were you |
00:36:32 |
And surprisingly enough, virtually |
00:36:35 |
And that meant that I had something |
00:36:39 |
which was a good number. |
00:36:51 |
Oh, hello, Peter. |
00:36:52 |
Good morning, Marjorie. |
00:36:53 |
Have the cats caught |
00:36:54 |
Yes, I have a body |
00:36:57 |
Thanks very much. Well, that's nice. |
00:37:00 |
Yeah, that's field vole. |
00:37:02 |
Eccles. |
00:37:04 |
Eccles again? |
00:37:06 |
Yes, the black-and-white one. |
00:37:08 |
Quite a good hunter for us, isn't he? |
00:37:09 |
Yes. The others don't seem to |
00:37:12 |
Laziness, I would say. |
00:37:13 |
Here you are, Peter. |
00:37:16 |
I think it's a wood mouse, |
00:37:19 |
I was very surprised at how cooperative |
00:37:23 |
I think a lot of people don't like the |
00:37:26 |
and putting them in polythene bags. |
00:37:28 |
But most of the people in the village |
00:37:31 |
And some even went as far as |
00:37:33 |
which was nice, because, |
00:37:36 |
at the end of a week in the summer, |
00:37:38 |
often the dead bodies |
00:37:40 |
And it was pleasant to have them put |
00:37:43 |
before I got hold of them. |
00:37:45 |
...take it to work and look at |
00:37:46 |
That's Wednesday. |
00:37:48 |
When the specimens were labeled and |
00:37:52 |
Churcher and cats of |
00:37:57 |
if the cats in Felmersham caught |
00:37:59 |
14 animals each during |
00:38:02 |
we know there are about |
00:38:05 |
domestic cats, in Britain. |
00:38:07 |
So that means that 70 million |
00:38:09 |
small mammals and birds |
00:38:13 |
And so, domestic cats, |
00:38:15 |
in spite of their reliance on man for |
00:38:19 |
are still remarkably independent. |
00:38:22 |
And I think what our survey has shown |
00:38:26 |
as predators on the ecological stage. |
00:38:33 |
Churcher does not propose |
00:38:37 |
Others insist it is essential, |
00:38:41 |
but for the safety of |
00:38:45 |
While debate continues, |
00:38:48 |
In every well-fed cat by the fire |
00:38:52 |
for the thrill of the hunt. |
00:39:01 |
Because cats are seen |
00:39:05 |
many people feel no qualms |
00:39:09 |
Nationwide, millions |
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Near Oxnard, California, |
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animal welfare activist Leo Grillo |
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to trap two cats living in this jetty. |
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Such brutal conditions are a death |
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and he devotes his life |
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When the winter hits, these rocks |
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are cold and the mist is cold |
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And everybody thinks they have |
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And it's always like this, |
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and when it's a bad winter especially, |
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Here, at the farthest tip of the rocks |
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the cats have retreated |
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and bottle throwing |
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But they are also completely cut off |
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So Leo baits his traps with it. |
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Hi, Jet. |
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He has named the cats |
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because of where he found them. |
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Come on, Jet. Com on, |
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It is not uncommon for Leo |
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to return to the same spot week |
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Marina |
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To Grillo, |
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Clearly, they were not born wild, |
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but raised in the |
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But these same humans abandoned them. |
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The cats no longer trust. |
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For Leo it is always a waiting game to |
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Attaboy. I'm coming down. |
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All right, Jet, all right. Here you go. |
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When I get a cat, |
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and I get a cat to go in the trap |
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that is the most exciting feeling. |
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And that little saga, |
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the trips to this one |
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one little cat is now over. |
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After weeks of failed attempts |
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Tired but exultant, Leo would trap |
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and bring them back to a |
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Grillo runs four licensed |
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But they are only for animals |
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An ever-changing number of cats |
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If it gets too crowded, he says, |
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Leo and family live |
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This ranch house is home to |
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Dry food seven tons a year |
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Canned food is fed twice daily, |
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totaling more than |
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All of this is paid |
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There we go. Come see Jetty and Marina. |
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After a trip to the vet for shots |
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Marina and Jetty are |
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But only from the |
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J.J., Junkyard, come on. |
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Come see your friends. Come on. |
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This cat is in ecstasy just |
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real food. |
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Yeah, look at that. |
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Beautiful thing is they were |
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tame down together, comfort each other |
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For many people the cat is all |
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soothing and calming just to behold. |
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Through the ages, |
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an uncounted number graceful, |
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have captivated the human mind and eye |
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Scientists learned that simply petting |
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Now, some go further and suggest cats |
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In a small town on Long Island, |
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in the sweeping changes in health care. |
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When her cats helped her |
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Joan Bernstein was inspired |
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I became ill. |
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at that time not knowing what it was. |
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The disease was not |
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And there were days |
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I felt like getting out of bed, |
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crawling out of bed literally in pain, |
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changing litter pans, |
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and doing everything else |
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But I did it because the cats |
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Sometimes they'd just by my |
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Whatever I needed them to be, |
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So I became very aware of the |
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Lonely, often forgotten, |
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the institutionalized elderly |
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lifetime of friends and memories. |
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Ladies and gentlemen, |
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one of the most beautiful |
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champagne mink Tonkinese... |
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At the Brookhaven Health Care Facility |
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are eagerly awaited every month. |
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Bred for their stable temperament |
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they offer therapy at many levels. |
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The warmth of the cat |
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Just holding the cat in her arms. |
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First of all, |
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she's utilizing the muscles |
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So we have the physical aspect of it. |
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Look what I brought you. |
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You think she's trying |
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Come on. Okay. |
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She'll stay right |
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Patients who have |
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with recall of the present, okay, |
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the present from now to tomorrow, |
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or now to a month from now, |
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She's a lot like the one |
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who was sitting on your shoulder. |
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Yeah. |
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And I took a picture of you with the |
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and only half the picture came out. |
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She really is a good guy. |
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So soft and so pretty, isn't she? |
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Some scientists believe cats touch |
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literally and figuratively. |
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Their lithe and graceful movements |
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And the cat's shape and size are |
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for most people, an automatic |
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She is beautiful. |
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Aw. I'd love to hold you call |
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I really would. |
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Another world touched |
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is a residential school |
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The cause of autism is not fully |
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there is no known cure. |
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Locked largely in a world of their own |
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the children are |
00:48:22 |
Some, like John, erupt uncontrollably. |
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Easily frustrated, |
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While no one pretends the cats |
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they regularly bring about |
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How can you tell me what color |
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For John, the cats open a |
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...game with me. |
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I know. |
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I think you're playing a game. |
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John, if she's red, then I'm from Mars |
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Do I look like I'm from Mars? |
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No. |
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No! She's brown. |
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And what color are her eyes again? |
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Blue. |
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That's right. |
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How about looking at them? Oh, okay. |
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Did you want to give her a kiss? Okay. |
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Etta |
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Etta, what have I got? |
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Etta becomes very agitated |
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rocking back and forth, |
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And the more she rocks, of course, |
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I can take the cat over to her, |
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But if I'm persistent, |
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sometimes I have to withdraw a |
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But if I'm persistent, |
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Later, Joan will try again. |
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What have I got? |
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Cat. |
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Is this a nice cat? |
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Do you like this cat? |
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I see them relating to the cat so much |
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than they do to other people. |
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They can trust the animal. |
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With every individual I've worked with |
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and I think it's |
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communication the says, |
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Is she saying give her a kiss? |
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Do you want to? Okay. |
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Do you want me to turn her around this |
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A little closer. Good. Okay! |
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Joan senses she can |
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By holding the cat and focusing |
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she will stay still, |
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She's with us for |
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How about saying, 'Hi, kitty.' |
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Hi, kitty. |
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Good! |
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Hi, kitty. |
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Good! Okay! |
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We're talking about therapy. |
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We're talking about hands-on, |
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and we're talking |
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We're also talking about cats |
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interaction or curling up |
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I'm all yours. |
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You're special to me and I love you. |
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It was said that a long time ago, |
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probably in our own Golden Age |
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that we could talk to the animals |
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And I think part of understanding |
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the cat's repertoire |
00:52:06 |
and communion with our cats. |
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Love for cats is part of a universal |
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which impels us toward |
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Subtle, amusing, enigmatic... regal |
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cats remain ultimately independent |
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They move among us as |
00:52:36 |
the only domestic animal man |
00:52:44 |
Plain or fancy, |
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they have fired our imagination. |
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But, we wonder, did we adopt the cat |
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or did tabby simply deign to share |
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In the end, |
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one that we, being mere humans, |