Posted on 01/21/2013 12:54:16 PM PST by Theoria
Nobody knows how it happened: an indoor housecat who got lost on a family excursion managing, after two months and about 200 miles, to return to her hometown.
Even scientists are baffled by how Holly, a 4-year-old tortoiseshell who in early November became separated from Jacob and Bonnie Richter at an R.V. rally in Daytona Beach, Fla., appeared on New Year’s Eve — staggering, weak and emaciated — in a backyard about a mile from the Richters’ house in West Palm Beach.
“Are you sure it’s the same cat?” wondered John Bradshaw, director of the University of Bristol’s Anthrozoology Institute. In other cases, he has suspected, “the cats are just strays, and the people have got kind of a mental justification for expecting it to be the same cat.”
But Holly not only had distinctive black-and-brown harlequin patterns on her fur, but also an implanted microchip to identify her.
“I really believe these stories, but they’re just hard to explain,” said Marc Bekoff, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Colorado. “Maybe being street-smart, maybe reading animal cues, maybe being able to read cars, maybe being a good hunter. I have no data for this.”
There is, in fact, little scientific dogma on cat navigation. Migratory animals like birds, turtles and insects have been studied more closely, and use magnetic fields, olfactory cues, or orientation by the sun.
Scientists say it is more common, although still rare, to hear of dogs returning home, perhaps suggesting, Dr. Bradshaw said, that they have inherited wolves’ ability to navigate using magnetic clues. But it’s also possible that dogs get taken on more family trips, and that lost dogs are more easily noticed or helped by people along the way.
(Excerpt) Read more at well.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Scientists don't "guess." Either they know or they don't know.
Oxymoron.
Cat thing PING
Cats rule. Dogs drool.
Apparently today they wait until consensus is reached, then echo the talking points.
Some people say that experts agree that Scientist’s are guessing.
Wrong. Science is chock full of THEORIES.
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) - IMDb www.imdb.com/title/tt0107131/
That kitty cam IS awesome. Thank you for posting it.
Kitty adventures. Now we know what they might be dreaming about.
Why not return the cat to the same spot where they lost it in the first place? Release it and track it by GPS if they really want to know the route it took.
It should be much easier for the cat to find its way back the secnd time around.
/johnny
Good observation.
LOL!
Perhaps I am one in a million, but I don’t find these stories “amazing” or “incredible.” We know where we live, and we know how to go from home (Point A) to somewhere else (Point B.)
If a cat (or dog) is aware of the trip that is being taken, then it knows how to get home. The strongest draw is LOVE! An animal will find its owners if given the slightest point of reference. Why? Because it, too, is one of God’s Creatures and will return to the love.
I’m never amazed by these stories.
We had a white mouser on the three-acre plot we called home, and periodically, my dad would get tired of the kittens we had to deal with, and take the mom-cat to Hell-And-Gone. And she would return. Without fail. No matter how far into the county he took her, she would turn up at the front or back door within a week or two, and pretend that nothing had happened.
Oddly enough: a neighbor boy shot her in the hip with an arrow, and my mother took her to the vet who told her he had never put a leg cast on a cat. My mother didn’t care. She even made a denim “boot” for the cast because of the season (late fall) and that cat learned how to use that cast to do her job. Which was killing mice.
They KNOW!
(I don’t think she ever had a name, but I loved her!)
Dogs have masters. Cats have staff.
Sorry. My fault. Didn't leave the /s flag.
I’ve always believed that animals are generally smarter than we tend to give them credit for. What they lack in higher cognitive abilities, they can often make up for in their primitive senses, which are far superior to those of humans.
Have a heart. Give Kitty a break! LOL!
An amazing journey. :)=^..^=
Growing up, we had neighbors who had an elderly dog named Teddy. Once on a road trip down south to visit their son, Teddy became lost. Heartbroken, the neighbors came home without Teddy. A month or so later, Teddy showed up at the neighbors’ door. Teddy was arthritic and partially blind, so his return home was considered miraculous.
I have a cat story too. When I was a kid we had a cat named snowball. We had the cat for an extended period of time and then the cat ran off and we didn’t see the cat again for years. Then, we were driving home from my grandparents (this was years later) and we actually talked about snowball on the way home. And, I kid you not, when we got home that cat was there to greet us. She only stayed for a couple days and then was gone again. But for her to show up out of the blue on the same day we talked about her was amazing.
I learned LONG ago to never underestimate the intelligence of an “animal.” The four-legged kind seem, at times, to have One-Upsmanship. And they do it subtly, and with grace. And they always forgive us for our ignorance and stupidity.
No, they usually don’t know, guess, and claim that they know.
There is a lot of scientific ‘knowledge’ that really really just dogma.
I think you've identified a general human failing.
The first thing that comes to my mind is they have some sort of sense for Latitude/ Longitude. -tom
... or maybe they have a Tom Tom ;)
Holly not only had distinctive black-and-brown harlequin patterns on her fur, but also an implanted microchip to identify her.Word.
LOL!
Cats want you to love them unconditionally.
Dogs love you unconditionally.
Thats the facts Jack.
“Dogs have masters. Cats have staff.”
Your dog is on your team. The cat wants you on its team.
So?
(I happen to love cats-—dogs, too, for that matter.)
“There is a lot of scientific ‘knowledge’ that really really just dogma.”
I wanna know what’s catma :)
Dogs have masters. Cats have staff.
I’ve had cats and a few dogs for 57 of my 63yrs, and just lost 3 (Pickle, Mama Kitty & Murphy) who were very near and dear, for 17yrs. My first one, Tiger, lived 24yrs.
“Dogs have masters. Cats have staff.” (It’s supposed to get an *LOL* reaction...)
It’s an old saying by the Feline Fanciers Assn that cats are more finicky and need more care; I’ve found that they become some of my best companions and friends.
Aren’t you full of bs tonight. Scientists collect a body of data and then guess what it means all the time. It’s called theory.
What is another amazing point about this kitty is that it was an INDOOR CAT! So not use to a feeling for the area where it would roam, as an indoor/ outdoor cat would have.
Yeah, I had a cat like that once. A feral cat that I used to shoot at all the time to run it off. (I never aimed AT him, just close) I didn't like cats and he ate the birds. Well, I git married and she made me stop shooting at him. He followed me everywhere when I was working outside. He eventually graduated to being a well fed indoor cat and we got along great. For some odd reason, he liked me better than the wife. Or maybe he just wanted to keep a close eye on me. :)
My aunt had a cat get out of the car in Barstow CA and months later managed to make his way back home to Manhattan Beach CA.
Pam, apparently, loves her commas.
One you begin, using commas, to delineate modifiers, of any type, it’s almost impossible, short of an earthquake or, perhaps, a Keyboard Cat, to stop yourself.
I know it sounded sarcastic, but I was “just funnin’ “ with you...
Got your mail-—I can’t reply in kind ‘cause my “smarty pants” smart phone won’t let me——[that’s my only internet access :( ]
It won’t let me go to your home page either.
Do you really ride a horse?
kg/nancy
Do you find it necessary to be confrontational in all instances?
Scientists theorize based on what they know. A “Theory” based on speculation is, at best, called a hypothesis, if even so much as that.
At least, that is what scientists on this thread have been insisting for years until they self-exiled themselves to the icy confines of DC.
a hypothesis is a guess that leads to an experiment. a theory is the process of giving overall meaning to the data collected from experiments. a theory is an educated guess.
sometimes theories are wrong.
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