Category Archives: Cats around the world
German tourist saves dog
My Kitty Care is all about cats, but this story about “tourist saves dog” is just lovely. How can we not love a story about saving any animal?
The little dog’s owner said “A GERMAN TOURIST JUMPED IN THE FREEZING WATER AND SAVED MY PRECIOUS LITTLE DOG.”
UPON GETTING BACK ON THE PIER, HE CHECKED MY PUPPY OUT AND TOLD ME,
“ZE DOG IS OK. HE VILL BE FINE.”
Due to his selfless heroic act, I ASKED, “ARE YOU A VET?”
HE REPLIED,
“VET? I’M F—G SOAKED!”
I laughed ’til I cried.
Thanks Helen Gil for sharing this with My a Kitty Care.
Little Tiger Cats
Oncillas are housecat-size felines found throughout much of South America, and are also known as little tiger cats, little spotted cats or tigrinas. But not all oncillas are the same: New research suggests that little tiger cats in northeastern Brazil belong to a different species from those elsewhere on the continent, although they look virtually identical.
Researchers analyzed the genetic material of oncillas in northeastern Brazil, and compared them with nearby populations in the south. They found that there was no flow of genes between the two populations ofoncillas, and hasn’t been any for millennia, according to the study, published today (Nov. 27) in the journal Current Biology.
This, along with other genetic differences, led researchers to conclude the two populations do not interbreed and are in fact different species, said study co-author Eduardo Eizirik, a researcher at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. [In Photos: Tiger Species of the World]
The study “illustrates how much is still unknown about the natural world, even in groups that are supposed to be well-characterized, such as cats,” Eizirik told LiveScience. “In fact, there are many basic aspects that we still don’t know about wild cats, from their precise geographic distribution and their diets to even species-level delimitation, as in this case.”
Since this population of oncillas is a unique new species, there is an urgent need to learn more about it and its rarity; for example, whether or not it may need protection under conservation laws, Eizirik added.
Both species of little tiger cats live in rainforests and savannahs, and sport yellowish-ochre fur with a black rosettelike pattern. Though the cats primarily live on the ground, they are agile tree climbers, and feed on birds and small mammals like rodents, according to the University of Michigan. They are one of the smallest cats in South America, maxing out at 3 kilograms (about 6.5 lbs.).
Eizirik and colleagues have given the species in the south a new name,Leopardus guttulus, while the species in the northeast shall be known as Leopardus tigrina. The authors found that in the distant past, the northeastern species interbred, or hybridized, with an entirely different species known as the Pampas cat. This interbreeding may have helped the two oncilla species diverge, Eizirik said.
Article originally on LiveScience.
Maokong, China gondola: Hello Kitty
CNA December 6, 2013, 12:02 am TWN TAIPEI —
Here we go again: Hello Kitty appears on Chinese transportation:
Hello Gondola
Urbanites looking to escape the city for quiet hillside teahouses
via the Maokong Gondola will soon find themselves joined by an
endearing travel companion: Japanese cartoon icon Hello Kitty.
Maokong gondola eyeing Hello
Kitty endorsement The beloved cartoon cat will adorn the gondola
lift’s 145 carriages and four stations starting Friday, a move
which operator Taipei Rapid Transit Corp. (TRTC) hopes will stem
the continued revenue losses incurred by the system since 2010. As
celebrity endorsements go, Hello Kitty is a good match for the
removed district of southeast Taipei, known for its copious
teahouses and rural charm, because the name Maokong literally means
“cat space.” TRTC said the decorations will be up for a year under
its Hello Kitty-centered campaign, which will lift off with a
garden party this weekend. Free rides on the gondola lift will be
offered to some 300 “disadvantaged individuals,” said Ling Chi-yao,
chief of TRTC’s Media Relations Section. The company is holding out
hope that Hello Kitty will give a much needed boost to the
4.03-kilometer-long gondola line, which has lost NT$360 million
(US$12.2 million) due to low ridership and high maintenance costs
since it reopened in 2010. The Maokong Gondola suspended operation
in late 2008, just one year after it opened, after the foundation
at a support pillar was damaged during a typhoon. Service resumed
in 2010, but low public interest has left it unable to recoup
losses. A full fare ticket costs NT$50 for a one-way trip on the
elevated gondola line, which takes about 25 minutes to get between
the terminal stations at Taipei Zoo and Maokong, a height
difference of 275 meters.
Cat Cafes are opening
Kitty love is universal: what could be more relaxing than being with your favorite guys: friends, partners, spouses, cats…maybe that’s why cat cafes are opening.
“Can I have cheezburger?” No, cute little kitty, you can’t.
But you can hang out at this cat café!
London’s first cat café, Lady Dinah’s Cat
Emporium, is set to open soon and now officially has a location: In the heart of
Shoreditch in East London (152-154 Bethnal Green Road, E2 6DG, if
you want an address). Lauren Pears,
the brains behind Lady Dinah’s, raised over £100k through crowdfundingearlier this year
and now that they have secured a permit to start building, the café
is one step closer to being a reality Pears’ dream is for Londoners
to “kick back and relax with a cup of tea and spend time in the
soothing company of our purring feline friends” for the low, low
price of a fiver (or 3 pounds per visit if you buy a 9 LivesCard).
The next step (besides building the café) is
finding the cats to fill the cat café! Lady Dinah’s will be working
with the Mayhew Animal Home to rescue kittens for the luxurious
Victorian café, where they “will have free choice…to stay indoors
with patrons, or relax outside for some time-out in their private
two-story, cats-only garden.” (#VIKittens
only) The opening is planned for October,
after a period of time in which the kittens will be able to become
acclimated to the café and social with each other. Oh, and if
you’re looking for a job, they’ll be hiring soon. Follow the café’s
progress here. The first cat café opened in
Taiwan in 1998 and their popularity spread to Japan where one
opened in Osaka in 2004. Since then, over 100 cat cafés have popped
up in Japan, with 50 in Tokyo alone (also, they have rabbit cafés)!
And cat cafés have
gone global: There’s one in Korea and one in Vienna, Austria.
And none for the U.S.