Cat
bleimanb | July 5, 2008While Andrew and I tend to focus on bizarre animal news from the fringes of research and geography, every once in a while we like to do a fluff piece that is close to home...this next piece couldn't be fluffier or closer to home.
Between the years of 2003-2006, Lewis, a polydactyl, domestic longhair cat went on a terror spree in Fairfield, Connecticut (Andrew and my hometown); He was alleged to...
...have been involved in six or more attacks in Fairfield's Sunset Circle neighborhood, including biting and scratching an Avon Lady and killing and eating a herd of sheep...Ok, made up the herd…
bleimanb | May 8, 2008Yet another crazy cat person has made the news. This time, 47-year-old Michael Louis Vondueren of Sacramento who was discovered with 300 dead cats, stuffed in various freezers around his house.
A recent photo of Vondueren taken outside his Sacramento home
Andrew and I have been racking our brains...What is it about crazy people and their affinity for cats? Any psychiatrists in the audience? How about feliniologists?
We thought we'd ask you for your theories.
grrlscientist | March 11, 2008tags: Simon's cat: let me in!, animated cartoon, humor, streaming video
A hungry cat resorts to increasingly desperate measures to get indoors. If this doesn't make you laugh, well, you need serious help. [1:52].
this video is the second in a series, this was the first.
zooillogix | December 28, 2007As many of you might have noticed, Benny and I have been off for the week for Christmas in San Francisco. The plan was to visit the Zoo on Wednesday, which obviously did not happen, so we checked out the Monterey Bay Aquarium for a twelfth time. Anyway, our apologies for the lack of posts. We will pick up next week but we leave you with this piece, directly lifted from this Wired article.
Genetic engineering isn't just for scientists in ivory towers or corporate R&D labs anymore. Researchers are still creating new mice and crops every week, but the tools and knowledge necessary to create…
zooillogix | December 4, 2007Zooillogix knows you depend on us for the latest in groundbreaking cat toilet training research and technology. Today we bring you sage advice from the father of feline toilet training. Since when does Zooillogix bring you two stories about regular house cats defecating in the same week you ask? Since Charles Mingus stepped on the scene. That's right, "The Angry Man of Jazz" shares his methodology for training his rapscallion of a kitty, Nightline, below (reproduced from MingusMingusMingus.com here)
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Cat-Toilet PicFirst, you must train your cat to use a home-made cardboard litter box, if…
bleimanb | December 3, 2007Finally an invention Zooillogix can get behind! Inventor, Jo Lapidge from Canberra, Australia has unveiled a kit called the Litter Kwitter, designed to train cats to use the toilet rather than the unruly and unsanitary litter box. Inspired by the movie, Meet the Parents, Lapidge developed a three step program for teaching cats to balance on and use the toilet.
Lapidge's follow-up invention, the Hidden Cat Toilet Cam, has not received quite as enthusiastic a response.
First, the Litter Kwitter is placed on the floor beside the toilet. Then the litter box is place inside the toilet. Slowly…
zooillogix | June 20, 2007Firefighters in Pocatello, Idaho, pulled the lifeless bodies of four cats and an albino rat from a blaze and then managed to bring them back back to life through artificial resuscitation. The fire department had purchased tiny oxygen masks for use on small animals two years ago.
Do cats hear "wha-wha-wha-wha-wha" also?The firefighter who rescued the rat, Kirby Jonas, described coming upon the animal's cage. "If I were betting money, I would have put down $10,000 that anything in that cage was dead," he said, according to msnbc.com.
Actual footage of Jonas during the blaze...
Jonas also noted…
zooillogix | April 12, 2007The parasite Toxoplasma gondii is common in rats, but can only sexually reproduce inside the belly of a feline. The solution? Brainwash the rats into craving the scent of cat urine. Once infected by Toxoplasma gondii, rats who would normally have a phobia of cat urine actually seek it out, increasing their chances of getting eaten and transmitting the parasite into a feline gut.
"There are a million examples of parasites manipulating host behavior," said Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford University neuroscientist. Just see the related article "Suicide Grasshoppers Brainwashed by Parasite Worms".…
zooillogix | March 24, 2007Registered as an official cat breed by the International Cat Association since 1993, toygers will be fully recognized as a purebreed this May, 2007. Toygers display many of the same characteristics as their distant cousins, Bengal tigers, including the trademark black stripes, rusty fur and in some cases even webbed toes!
Fortunately, however, they do not display attributes of their cousins' personalities; (They are known for their playfulness, intelligence and obedience, NOT for latching on to the jugular of their trainers). Breeders consider the toyger a "work in progress" and vow to…
zooillogix | March 15, 2007A new species of clouded leopard was identified today in the jungles of Borneo. In fact, over 400 new species of animals have been discovered in the rain forests of Borneo since 1994.
Most of the species shown below were found through the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) spectacular Heart of Borneo Initiative.Bornean Clouded Leopard, neofelis diardi
Catfish with suction cups on its belly and protruding teeth
Lizard - new species of skink
(By far our favorite), Unidentified "Mystery Mammel"