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Animal Trivia
ANIMAL TRIVIA
TRIVIA ABOUT CATS:
The penalty for killing a cat, 4,000 years ago in Egypt, was death.
95% of cat guardians admit they talk to their cats.
A cat can be either right-pawed or left-pawed.
A cat can jump as much as seven times its height.
A cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why the cat cannot seem
to find tidbits on the floor.
A cat has 230 bones in its body. A human only has 206 bones.
A cat has four rows of whiskers.
A cat in a hurry can sprint at about thirty-one miles per hour.
A cat sees about six times better than a human at night because of the
tapetum lucidum , a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light.
A cat uses its whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze
through. The whiskers act as feelers or antennae, helping the animal to
judge the precise width of any passage.
A cat will almost never meow at another cat. Cats use this sound for humans.
A cat will clean itself with paw and tongue after a dangerous experience or
when it has fought with another cat. This is believed to be an attempt by
the animal to soothe its nerves by doing something natural and instinctive.
A cat will never break a sweat because it has no sweat glands.
A cat will spend nearly 30% of its life grooming itself.
A cat's arching back is part of a complex body language system, usually
associated with feeling threatened. The arch is able to get so high because
the cat's spine contains nearly 60 vertebrae which fit loosely together.
Humans have only 34 vertebrae.
A cat's brain is more similar to a human's brain than that of a dog.
A cat's ear pivots 180 degrees.
A cat's hearing rates as one of the top in the animal kingdom. Cats can
hear sounds as high-pitched as 65 kHz; a human's hearing stops at just 20 kHz.
A cat's heart beats at 110 to 140 beats per minute, twice as fast as a human heart.
A cat's jaws cannot move sideways.
A cat's normal body temperature is 101.5 degrees F (38.6 C).
A cat's sense of taste is keener than a dog's sense of taste.
A cat's tail held high means happiness. A twitching tail is a warning sign,
and a tail tucked in close to the body is a sure sign of insecurity.
A cat's tail plays a vital part in the cat's balance and in the "righting reflex"
that allows it to land on its feet after falling from a height.
A cat's tongue is scratchy because it's lined with papillae-tiny elevated
backwards hooks that help to hold prey in place.
A cat's whiskers, called vibrissae, grow on the cat's face and on the back
of its forelegs. The whiskers are thought to be a kind of sensor to help a
cat gauge the space it wants to go through.
A female cat can begin mating when she is between 5 and 9 months old.
A fifteen year old cat has probably spent ten years of its life sleeping.
A frightened cat can run at speeds of up to 31 mph, slightly faster than a human sprinter.
A group of adult cats is called a clowder.
A group of kittens is called a kindle.
A large majority of white cats with blue eyes are deaf. White cats with only
one blue eye are deaf only in the ear closest to the blue eye.
A male cat can begin mating when he is between 7 and 10 months old.
A polecat is not a cat. It is a nocturnal European weasel.
A quarter of cat guardians blow dry their cats after bathing them.
Abraham Lincoln loved cats. He had four of them while he lived in the
White House. Abraham Lincoln's cat, Tabby, was the first of several
White House cats.
According to one legend, the "M" marking on the forehead of the Tabby Cat
was created by the prophet Mohammed as he rested his hand lightly on the
brow of his favorite cat, a Tabby.
Adult cats with no health problems are in deep sleep 15 percent of their
lives. They are in light sleep 50 percent of the time.
After being handled, cats lick themselves to smooth their fur and get rid
of the "human" smell. Licking is also thought to produce a calming effect.
Ailurophobia is the fear of cats. Julius Caesar, Henry II, Charles XI, and
Napoleon all suffered from this and would nearly faint in the presence of a cat.
All cats are born with blue eyes.
All cats are members of the family Felidea. Interestingly enough, the cat
family split from the other mammals at least 40,000,000 years ago, making
them one of the oldest mammalian families.
Americans spend more on cat food than on baby food.
Americans spend more than 5.4 billion dollars on their pets each year.
An adult cat has thirty teeth and around twelve whiskers.
Ancient Egyptians believed that "Bast" was the mother of all cats on Earth.
They also believed that cats were sacred animals.
At night a cat can gather into the extra-large corneas and lenses of its
eyes more than six times the amount of light than humans can.
Seeing far better than humans do at night time and tending to focus
best at a distance of eight to twenty feet makes cats excellent night time hunters.
Black cat superstitions originated in America . In Asia and England , a black
cat is considered lucky.
Both humans and cats have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion.
Calico cats are nearly always female.
Cardinal Richelieu was so fond of cats that he shared his home with 14
of them. Specially appointed attendants cared for them, and upon his
death, the Cardinal left all his worldly wealth to his feline companions.
Cat families usually play best in even numbers. Cats and kittens should be
acquired in pairs whenever possible.
Cat scratch disease, a benign but sometimes painful disease of short
duration, is caused by a bacillus. Despite its name, the disease can be
transmitted by many kinds of scratches besides those of cats.
Cat urine glows under a black light.
Catnip can affect lions and tigers as well as house cats. It excites them
because it contains a chemical that resembles an excretion of the dominant
female's urine.
Cats are attracted to automobile antifreeze because of its sweet taste.
Cats are sometimes born with extra toes. This is called polydactyl.
Cats are the only domestic animals that walk directly on their claws, not
on their paws. This method of walking is called "digitigrade." When cats
scratch furniture, it isn't an act of malice. They are actually tearing off the
ragged edges of the sheaths of their talons to expose the new sharp ones
beneath.
Cats average 16 hours of sleep a day, more than any other mammal.
Cats bury their feces to cover their trails from predators.
Cats can donate blood to other cats.
Cats can get "age spots". These are black spots on the skin that are often
seen around the lips, eyes, and nose; and usually start when the cat is three
to five years of age.
Cats can get bored. They show their boredom by excessive licking, chewing, or biting.
Cats can have freckles. They can appear anywhere on a cat's skin and even in its mouth.
Cats can learn tricks. They just sometimes choose not to.
Cats can see color. Studies have shown that cats can distinguish between
red and green; red and blue; red and gray; green and blue; green and gray;
blue and gray; yellow and blue, and yellow and gray.
Cats can see up to 120 feet away. Their peripheral vision is about 285 degrees.
Cats have 13 ribs.
Cats have a homing ability that uses its biological clock, the angle of the sun,
and the Earth's magnetic field.
Cats have a third eyelid, called a haw, that is rarely visible. If it can be seen,
it could be an indication of ill health.
Cats have AB blood groups just like people.
Cats have about 100 different vocalization sounds. In comparison, dogs
have about 10.
Cats have amazing hearing ability. A cat's ear has 30 muscles that control
the outer ear (by comparison, human ears only have six muscles). These
muscles rotate 180 degrees, so the cat can hear in all directions without
moving its head.
Cats have better memories than dogs. Tests conducted by the University
of Michigan concluded that while a dogs memory lasts no more than 5
minutes, a cat's can last as long as 16 hours - exceeding even that of
monkeys and orangutans.
Cats have carpal pads on their front paws that help to prevent them from
sliding on a slippery surface when jumping.
Cats have true fur, meaning that they have both an undercoat and an outer coat.
Cats lack a true collarbone and can generally squeeze their bodies through
any space they can get their heads through.
Cats love to hear the sound of their own name and your voice, so talk to
them often.
Cats must have fat in their diet, because they can't produce it on their own.
Never feed your cat dog food, because cats need five times more protein
than dogs do.
Cats only need a sixth the amount of light that humans do to see. However,
their daytime vision is only fair compared to that of humans.
Cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, the same frequency as an idling
diesel engine.
Cats scratch to shed the sheaths of their old claws.
Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run. The
only other animals to do this are the giraffe and the camel.
Cats use more than 500 muscles to leap, jump, and sprint.
Cats with white fur and skin on their ears are very prone to sunburn.
Cats, not dogs, are the most common pets in America . There are
approximately 66 million cats to 58 million dogs, with Parakeets a distant
third at 14 million.
Despite its reputation for being finicky, the average cat consumes about
127,750 calories a year, nearly 28 times its own weight in food and the
same amount again in liquids. Cats can be vegetarians if their diet is
carefully monitored. For more information please go to: http://www.vegancats.com
Each day in the US , animal shelters are forced to destroy 30,000 dogs and cats.
Ear furnishings are the hairs that grow inside a cat's ears.
Ernest Hemingway once had some 30 cats at his home in Havana .
Felix the Cat is the first cartoon character to ever have been made into a
balloon for a parade.
Florence Nightingale owned more than 60 cats in her lifetime.
Human painkillers such acetaminophen (Tylenol) are toxic to cats. Chocolate
is also poisonous to cats.
If left to her own devices, a female cat may have three to seven kittens every
four months. This is why population control using spaying and neutering is
so important.
If your cat is in the habit of rolling over and exposing his stomach, you can
be sure he feels perfectly safe with you. It's also a way of demonstrating his
pleasure in your company.
In 1888, an estimated 300,000 mummified cats were found at Beni Hassan,
Egypt . They were sold at $18.43 per ton, and shipped to England to be
ground up and used for fertilizer.
In addition to using their noses, cats can smell with the Jacobson's organ
which is located in the upper surface of the mouth.
In ancient Egypt , the entire family would shave their eyebrows off as a sign
of mourning when the family cat died.
In cats, the calico and tortoiseshell coats are sex-linked traits. All cats
displaying these coats are female... or occasionally sterile males.
In general, cats live longer than most dogs. An average life span might be
12 to 14 years. Some cats are reaching 20 or more. A cat's longevity depends
on feeding, genetics, environment, veterinary care and some other factors.
It is also important whether or not the cat lives indoors or is allowed
outdoors (outdoor cats live an average of eight years). The general
consensus is that at about age seven the cat can be considered as "middle-
aged", and at age 10 and beyond - old.
In relation to their body size, cats have the largest eyes of any mammal.
In the 9th century, King Henry I of Saxony decreed that the fine for killing
a cat should be sixty bushels of corn.
In the midst of building the Grand Coulee Dam in the state of Washington ,
engineers were stymied by the problem of threading a cable through a
pipeline until an anonymous cat saved the day. Harnessed to the cable,
this unknown hero crawled through the pipeline maze to successfully finish the job.
It has been established that people who own pets live longer, have less
stress, and have fewer heart attacks.
It has been scientifically proven that stroking a cat can lower one's
blood pressure.
It is a common belief that cats are color blind; but recent studies have
shown that cats can see blue, green, and red.
Julius Caesar, Henri II, Charles XI, and Napoleon had aelurophobia, the
fear of cats.
Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of Rutherford Hayes, is the first person recorded to
own a Siamese in the U.S.
Many cats are unable to properly digest cow's milk. Milk and milk
products give them diarrhea.
Many of a cat's bones are found in its tail.
More than 30 percent of American households have a cat as part of
the family
Morris, the 9-Lives cat, was discovered at an animal shelter in New England .
Most cats have five toes on each front paw, but only four toes on
each back paw.
Neutering a cat extends its life span by two or three years.
Never pick a kitten up by the neck. Only a mother cat may do this safely.
Newborn kittens have closed ear canals that don't begin to open for nine days.
Nostradamus, the French Astrologer, 1503-1566, had a cat named Grimalkin.
One litter box per cat, plus an extra box, is the best formula for a multi-
cat household.
Orange and lemon rinds are offensive to cats. A light rubbing of orange
peel on furniture will discourage your cat from using it as a scratching post.
People who are allergic to cats are actually allergic to cat saliva or cat dander.
If the cat is bathed regularly, allergic people have better tolerance to it.
Perhaps the oldest known female cat was Ma, from Devon , who was 34
when she died in 1957.
Purring is part of every cat's repertoire of social communication, apparently
created by the movement of air in spasms through contractions of the
diaphragm.
Interestingly, purring is sometimes heard in cats who are severely ill or
anxious, perhaps as a self-comforting vocalization. But, more typically,
it is a sign of contentment, first heard in kittens as they suckle milk
from their mother.
Siamese cats originated in Siam-modern day Thailand . Legend has it that
they were the companions of kings and priests and that they guarded
temples. Some trace Siamese origins to Egypt and Burma , but many
dispute this idea. Siamese were first brought to England in the late 1800s.
Sir Isaac Newton, who first described the principle of gravity, also
invented the swinging cat door for the convenience of his many cats.
The ancestor of all domestic cats is the African Wild Cat, which still
exists today.
The average canned or dry cat meal is the nutritional equivalent of
eating five mice.
The cat family split from the other mammals at least 40 million
years ago, making them one of the oldest mammalian families.
The cat is the only animal that walks on its claws, not the pads
of its feet.
The cat lover is an ailurophile, while a cat hater is an ailurophobe.
The cat was domesticated over 4,000 years ago. Today's house cats are descended from wildcats in Africa and Europe .
The catgut formerly used as strings in tennis rackets and musical instruments does not come from cats. Catgut actually comes from sheep, hogs, and horses.
The cheetah is the only cat in the world that can't retract its claws.
The color of the points in Siamese cats is heat related. Cool areas are darker. In fact, Siamese kittens are born white because of the heat inside the mother's uterus before birth. This heat keeps the kittens hair from darkening on the points.
The declawing of a pet cat involves surgery called an onychectomy, in which the entire claw and end bone of each toe of the animal are amputated.
The different types of tabby patterns that are seen in domestic cats also occur in wild cats.
The domestic cat is the only cat species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. All wild cats hold their tails horizontally or tucked between their legs while walking. A tail held high means happiness; a twitching tail is a warning sign; and a tucked tail is a sign of insecurity.
The giraffe, camel, and cat are the only animals that walk by both their left feet, then both their right feet when walking.
The heaviest cat ever recorded weighed 46 lbs.
The normal temperature of a cat is 101.5 degrees.
The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.
ANIMAL TRIVIA
TRIVIA ABOUT DOGS:
A dog's whiskers are touch-sensitive hairs called vibrissae. They are found
on the muzzle, above the eyes and below the jaws, and can actually sense
tiny changes in airflow.
According to a recent survey, the most popular name for a dog is Max. Other
popular names include Molly, Sam, Zach, and Maggie.
According to ancient Greek literature, when Odysseus arrived home after
an absence of 20 years, disguised as a beggar, the only one to recognize
him was his aged dog Argos , who wagged his tail at his master, and then died.
An American Animal Hospital Association poll showed that 33 percent
of dog guardians admit that they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave
messages on an answering machine while away.
An estimated 1 million dogs in the United States have been named the
primary beneficiary in their guardian's will.
At the end of the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life", an ultrasonic whistle,
audible only to dogs, was recorded by Paul McCartney for his Shetland sheepdog.
Barbara Bush's book about her English Springer Spaniel, Millie's book, was
on the bestseller list for 29 weeks. Millie was the most popular "First Dog"
in history.
Before the enactment of the 1978 law that made it mandatory for dog
guardians in New York City to clean up after their pets, approximately
40 million pounds of dog excrement were deposited on the streets every year.
Cats have better memories than dogs. Tests conducted by the University
of Michigan concluded that while a dogs memory lasts no more than 5
minutes, a cat's can last as long as 16 hours - exceeding even that of
monkeys and orangutans.
Cats have more than one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have
about ten.
Cats, not dogs, are the most common pets in America . There are
approximately 66 million cats to 58 million dogs, with Parakeets a distant
third at 14 million.
Contrary to popular belief, dogs do not sweat by salivating. They sweat
through the pads of their feet.
Dachshunds are the smallest breed of dog used for hunting. They are low
to the ground, which allows them to enter and maneuver through tunnels easily.
Developed in Egypt about 5,000 years ago, the greyhound breed was
known before the ninth century in England , where it was bred by
aristocrats to hunt such small game as hares.
Dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible.
Dogs can hear sounds that are too faint for us to hear, and also can hear
noises at a much higher frequency than we can. Their hearing is so good
that they probably rely more on sound than on sight to navigate their world.
Dogs' eyes have large pupils and a wide field of vision, making them really
good at following moving objects. Dogs also see well in fairly low light.
Dogs have far fewer taste buds than people -- probably fewer than 2,000.
It is the smell that initially attracts them to a particular food.
Dogs in monuments: The dog is placed at the feet of women in monuments
to symbolise affection and fidelity, as a lion is placed at the feet of men
to signify courage and magnanimity. Many of the Crusaders are represented
with their feet on a dog, to show that they followed the standard of the Lord
as faithfully as a dog follows the footsteps of his master.
Dogs may not have as many taste buds as we do (they have about 1,700
on their tongues, while we humans have about 9,000), but that doesn't
mean they're not discriminating eaters. They have over 200 million scent
receptors in their noses (we have only 5 million) so it's important that
their food smells good and tastes good.
Each day in the US , animal shelters are forced to destroy 30,000 dogs
and cats.
Every known dog except the chow has a pink tongue - the chow's tongue
is jet black.
Every year, $1.5 billion is spent on pet food. This is four times the amount
spent on baby food.
For Stephen King's "Cujo" (1983), five St. Bernards were used, one
mechanical head, and an actor in a dog costume to play the title character.
French poodles did not originate in France . Poodles were originally used
as hunting dogs in Europe . The dogs' thick coats were a hindrance in water
and thick brush, so hunters sheared the hindquarters, with cuffs left
around the ankles and hips to protect against rheumatism. Each hunter
marked his dogs' heads with a ribbon of his own color, allowing groups
of hunters to tell their dogs apart.
Inbreeding causes 3 out of every 10 Dalmatian dogs to suffer from
hearing disability.
It has been established that people who own pets live longer, have less
stress, and have fewer heart attacks.
Korea 's poshintang - dog meat soup - is a popular item on summertime
menus, despite outcry from other nations. The soup is believed to cure
summer heat ailments, improve male virility, and improve women's complexions.
Lassie was played by several male dogs, despite the female name, because
male collies were thought to look better on camera. The main "actor"
was named Pal.
Lassie, the TV collie, first appeared in a 1930s short novel titled
Lassie Come-Home written by Eric Mowbray Knight. The dog in the novel
was based on Knight's real life collie, Toots.
Marie Antoinette's dog was a spaniel named Thisbe.
Most pet guardians (94 percent) say their pet makes them smile more
than once a day.
Pekingese dogs were sacred to the emperors of China for more than
2,000 years. They are one of the oldest breeds of dogs in the world.
Prairie dogs are not dogs. A prairie dog is a kind of rodent.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's most famous canine companion was
his Scottish Terrier, Fala, who is part of the Roosevelt Memorial in
Washington , D.C. But during Roosevelt 's 12 years and one month as
president, 11 dogs lived in the White House. They included a Bullmastiff,
two red setters, a retriever, a Bulldog, a Llewellin Setter, a Scotch Terrier,
a Great Dane, a Sheepdog, and a German Shepherd who tried to rip
the pants off the British Prime Minister.
Researchers studying what dogs like to eat have found that the appetite
of pet dogs is affected by the taste, texture and smell of the food,
and also by the guardians' food preferences, their perception of their pet,
and the physical environment in which the dog is eating.
Scientists have discovered that dogs can smell the presence of autism in children.
'Seizure Alert' dogs can alert their guardians up to an hour before the onset
of an epileptic seizure.
Seventy percent of people sign their pet's name on greeting cards and
58 percent include their pets in family and holiday portraits, according to
a survey done by the American Animal Hospital Association.
Small dogs are rapidly gaining popularity, according to American Kennel
Club registration statistics. Three toys breeds are among the top 10 in
popularity on the most recent list: the Yorkshire Terrier, Chihuahua , and
Shih Tzu rank sixth, ninth, and 10th, respectively. A decade ago, no toy
breeds were in the top 10.
Some 39 percent of pet guardians say they have more photos of their pet
than of their spouse or significant other. Only 21 percent say they have
more photos of their spouse or significant other than of their pet.
The calories burned daily by the sled dogs running in Alaska 's annual
Iditarod race average 10,000. The 1,149-mile race commemorates the
1925 "Race for Life" when 20 volunteer mushers relayed medicine from
Anchorage to Nome to battle a children's diphtheria epidemic.
The Canary Islands were not named for a bird called a canary. They were
named after a breed of large dogs. The Latin name was Canariae
insulae - " Island of Dogs ."
The common belief that dogs are color blind is false. Dogs can see color, but
it is not as vivid a color scheme as we see. They distinguish between blue,
yellow, and gray, but probably do not see red and green. This is much like
our vision at twilight.
The dachshund is one of the oldest dog breeds in history (dating back to
ancient Egypt .) The name comes from one of its earliest uses - hunting
badgers. In German, Dachs means "badger," Hund is "hound."
The English Romantic poet Lord Byron was so devastated upon the death
of his beloved Newfoundland, whose name was Boatswain, that he had
inscribed upon the dog's gravestone the following: "Beauty without
vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity, and all the
virtues of man without his vices."
The expression "three dog night" originated with the Eskimos and means
a very cold night - so cold that you have to bed down with three dogs to
keep warm.
The first dog to star in an American movie was Jean the Vitagraph Dog,
a Border Collie mix, who made his first film in 1910.
The first dogs to hunt in packs and the first small companion breeds
were probably bred in ancient China . Written records more than 4,000
years old from China show that dog trainers were held in high esteem
and that kennel masters raised and looked after large numbers of dog.
The first seeing-eye dog was presented to a blind person on April 25, 1938 .
The largest and the smallest dogs to live in the White House where both
there during the tenure of president James Buchanan. The president had
a Newfoundland named Lara. And his niece, Harriet Lane (who served as
White House hostess because the president was unmarried), had a tiny
toy terrier named Punch.
The last member of the famous Bonaparte family, Jerome Napoleon
Bonaparte, died in 1945, of injuries sustained from tripping over his dog's leash.
The name of the dog from "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" is Max.
The name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box is Bingo.
The only dog to ever appear in a Shakespearean play was Crab in
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The phrase "raining cats and dogs" originated in 17th Century England .
During heavy downpours of rain, many of these poor animals unfortunately
drowned and their bodies would be seen floating in the rain torrents that
raced through the streets. The situation gave the appearance that it had
literally rained "cats and dogs" and led to the current expression.
The smallest breed of dog recognized by the American Kennel Club is
the Chihuahua , which stands six to nine inches at the top of the shoulders
and weighs two to six pounds. The largest is the Irish Wolfhound, which
stands 30 to 35 inches at the top of the shoulders and weighs 105 to 125 pounds.
The smallest of the recognized dog breeds, the Chihuahua , is also the
one that usually lives the longest. Named for the region of Mexico where
they were first discovered in the mid-19th century, the Chihuahua can
live anywhere between 11-18 years.
The term "dog days" has nothing to do with dogs. It dates back to Roman
times, when it was believed that Sirius, the Dog Star, added its heat to that
of the sun from July3 to August 11, creating exceptionally high
temperatures. The Romans called the period dies caniculares, or
"days of the dog."
The theobromine in chocolate that stimulates the cardiac and nervous
systems is too much for dogs, especially smaller pups. A chocolate bar
is poisonous to dogs and can even be lethal.
There are 701 types of pure breed dogs.
There are more than 100 million dogs and cats in the United States .
Americans spend more than 5.4 billion dollars on their pets each year.
Though human noses have an impressive 5 million olfactory cells with
which to smell, sheepdogs have 220 million, enabling them to smell 44
times better than man.
Using their swiveling ears like radar dishes, experiments have shown that
dogs can locate the source of a sound in 6/100ths of a second.
Walt Disney's family dog was named Lady. She was a poodle.
While small dogs are gaining in popularity, the top dogs are still the
big ones. The Labrador Retriever, Golden Retriever, and German
Shepherd Dog are first, second, and third on list of the American
Kennel Club's most popular breeds.
Who first thought of using dogs to guide blind people? At the end of
World War I, the German government trained the first guide dogs to
assist blind war veterans.
Information obtained at: http://www.i-pets.com/petfunt.html
Pets 90210 is a program of the Beverly Hills Pet Care Foundation,
a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue, care and
adoption of lost pets.
Posted on SHARE Yahoo group - Aug. 27, 2007