Jul

The Cat’s Out of the Bag: Some Interesting Cat Facts

by Janine Boylan on July 22, 2013

illustrating a sense of curiosity about recent cat research

You want facts? Whatever it was, I didn’t do it.
© Thinkstock

A Sense of Curiosity About the Facts

Cats. People tend to have a lot of opinions about them.

So my sense of curiosity took over: How do the facts about domestic cats stack up to what we think we know? I tackled some recent cat research to find out, and the interesting cat facts provided many “Oh, I see” moments!

Cats vs. Dogs

Cats are the most popular pets. Or are they?

The U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographic Sourcebook states that there were more than 74 million pet cats in the United States in 2012 and just under 70 million pet dogs.

So the cats win!

BUT 36.5 percent of U.S. households own dogs, while just 30.4 percent own cats.

The average number of dogs per owner is 1.6; the average number of cats per owner is 2.1.

I think we can call the popularity contest a draw . . .

Cats Are Hunters

We know cats hunt. They remind us of this by lovingly leaving dead lizards or mice for us to step on.

hunting cat, showing a sense of curiosity about recent cat research

The University of Georgia and National Geographic collaborated on a study of what cats do in the great outdoors. They fixed tiny cameras, called “kitty cams,” to the feline collars and let the cameras roll.

Just 44% of the cats in the study killed prey. And the hunting felines averaged two captures during seven days outside.

The study revealed that, contrary to popular opinion, these cats did not capture many birds. Most of their victims were lizards, small mammals, and insects.

The researchers—and most lizards, small mammals, and insects—recommend keeping cats indoors to minimize the hunting.

Cats Like to Roam

Outdoor cats seem to wander for miles. Or do they?

The BBC and the Royal Veterinary College in England joined forces for some recent cat research. Like the Georgia study, this British team used small cameras on cats’ collars to reveal what the felines do during the day.

While the study collected footage of cats stalking prey, defending their territories, and getting out of laundry hampers, GPS trackers in the collars tracked how far cats roamed.

cat chasing off another cat, illustrating a sense of curiosity about recent cat research

A cat defends his territory from another who has roamed too far.
© Thinkstock

Researchers found that different cats had a variety of habits—some roamed with clear intention clear across town or deep into the woods; some went no farther than their own yards.

Use this interactive feature to see the roaming maps and videos of some of the British cats. For more interesting cat facts, view the BBC documentary about the research here.

Cats Cheat!

When your cat disappears for a day or so and then casually returns and turns up his nose at dinner, it’s easy to suspect that he has a hidden life—perhaps another family to feed him.

Both of the cat-camera-research teams confirmed this scandalous truth. Four of the cats in the “kitty cam” study actually had adopted a second family to love and feed them.

Cats in the British study would regularly crawl through their neighbors’ cat doors and consume food.

The BBC study also revealed another surprise. One sly feral cat would come into a home for several hours at a time to lounge and consume food without the homeowner’s knowledge!

cat food ad, illustrating a sense of curiosity about recent cat research

Even this cat food ad questions your cat’s trustworthiness!
© Kristie Feltner

Cats Rule the Internet

One thing is for sure, cats (or kitteh) rule the Internet.

Ben Huh, creator of the I Can Has Cheezburger network, declares, “We have created weapons of mass cuteness. We’ve been doing it for 10,000 years and everybody’s surprised: ‘Oh my god I can’t believe we love cats!’ We biologically engineer them to be the object of our affections.”

OK, ok. But give me the facts.

Huh reports that people submit ten times as many cat images to his site than dog images.

Blogger Arron Santos devoted a post to calculating the number of cat images on the Internet. He determined there are between 1.5 x 10⁷and 2.5 x 10¹¹images of cats online. Since he did this calculation a few years ago, the number has surely gone up.

Cats, showing a sense of curiosity about recent cat research

Kittehs, kittehs, and more kittehs
© Thinkstock

Perhaps one of the obvious signs that cats rule the Web is the fact that there is now an Internet Cat Video Festival.

Henri, Le Chat Noir (played by Henry with voice by creator Will Braden) won the People’s Choice Golden Kitty award there for his video.

If the video does not display, watch it here.

The Facts Stack Up

Oh, I see—the facts about cats are just like the animals themselves: familiar with a few surprises. Even with a sense of curiosity and continued research, we may never truly know all the facts about our fuzzy feline friends.

Except that cats do rule the Internet.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Janine Boylan 12 Comments

Discoveries

Jul

Personal Growth Inspired by Ramadan

by Janine Boylan on July 18, 2013

reading the Quran during Ramadan, illustrating cultural traditions

Boys in Saudi Arabia read the Quran during Ramadan.
© Abdullah Alshathri

Learning From Cultural Traditions

The month-long observation of Ramadan began earlier in July, when the thin crescent of the new moon was spotted. This celebration is particularly important to Muslims because it is believed that the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. This month, known as “Ramadan,” lent its name to the holy celebration.

Janine Boylan Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Middle East

Jul

Paris Expo: Bravos and Bouquets for Urban Gardens

by Sheron Long on July 15, 2013

Roses on display at Paris Garden Show, featuring creative ideas in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

A bouquet of roses brightens a rainy day at Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, annual Paris garden show.
© Sheron Long

Creative Ideas Find Fertile Ground

Plenty of creative ideas grew in the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein (early 1900s), including her famous quote:

A rose is a rose is a rose.

Though generally interpreted to mean that “things are what they say they are,” I’m not so sure that’s the case when it comes to the term “garden show.”

A garden show is a garden show is not just a garden show when it’s in Paris.

This year, the Paris garden show known as Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries staged its magic in the Tuileries Garden—a stunning display of beauty (superbe, as the French say) and fertile ground for creative ideas in urban gardening.

Can’t Go Out? Go Up!—The Beauty of Vertical Gardens

I bought my ticket to beauty and was enchanted from the moment I saw wispy fabric waving in the wind.

Wall of roses at Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, a Paris Expo featuring creative ideas in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

“L’Instant Grand-Siècle,” exhibit by Nicolas Gilsoul for Laurent-Perrier at Paris garden show
© Sheron Long

What was behind it? A vertical garden of roses—pink and mauve and white and red—created by landscape architect Nicolas Gilsoul for Champagne Laurent-Perrier, a participant in the annual event for the past nine years.

Wall of Roses at Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, a Paris garden show featuring creative ideas in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

Just how big was that bouquet? 10,000 roses and over 15 feet tall!
© Sheron Long

OK, a rose is a rose is a rose, but when I saw 10,000 of them in a vertical garden three times my height, I had to elaborate: Oh-là-là!

Vertical gardens have been around at least since the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in 600 BC. Today, however, they are a new and creative way to address issues in the urban environment.

Green, living urban walls bring to city dwellers the beauty and nature that has long been associated with health and well-being.
Vertical gardens play a role in controlling temperatures inside buildings.
Some vertical gardens are farms, growing food to feed the increasing urban population.

Vertical gardens are as varied as any landscape. See 39 more here.

Do Creative Ideas Change with the Times?

Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, in partnership with the Louvre Museum, formerly the royal residence at the east end of the Tuileries Garden, began the annual event ten years ago.

Each year, the show addresses creative gardening ideas.

Sign honoring Le Notre to whom Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries dedicated its garden show that features creative ideas in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

This year’s event honored landscape architect André Le Nôtre (1613–1700) for his creative genius upon the 400th anniversary of his birth.

Le Nôtre was born into a family of gardeners to kings and was trained in the Tuileries Garden, which he modified between 1666 and 1672.

He is perhaps best known for creating the grand gardens at Versailles for Louis XIV.

Creative ideas often spring from need. Le Notre’s creative challenge was to “think big,” generating ideas that worked on a vast scale, whereas urban spaces today often demand creative ideas that work on a small scale.

Times change, and so do creative solutions.

Somehow, I was sure that Le Nôtre would approve of today’s artists, designers, and landscape architects who are working “small” and “up” to bring beauty to urban spaces.

Ugly Sidewalks? Dress Them Up with Dadagreen®

When I saw this gentleman dressed up as Le Nôtre in the Dadagreen® exhibit, I knew I would find creative ideas there.

Actor playing Le Notre at the 2013 Paris garden admiring the creative ideas in urban gardening in the Dadagreen exhibit. Image © Paule Kingleur

Bringing beauty to fences and grills along streets and bridges, by hospitals and schools, to your balcony—that’s the goal of Dadagreen®, innovative flower pots that combine two old ideas—saddlebags and container gardening—to create fertile ground for an urban garden.

Dadagreen® flower boxes straddling urban railings, a creative idea in urban gardening. Image © Paule Kingleur

Dadagreen®, the concept of Paule Kingleur, founder of Paris Label, consists of two saddlebags handmade of recycled tarp and decorated with eye-catching photographs. Filled with dirt, the innovative pots welcome flowers, greenery, and even vegetables for those who want to create a kitchen garden on their street.

The Dadagreen, a creative idea in urban gardening, is planted with zucchini. Image © Paule Kingleur

How Do Creative Ideas Sprout and Grow?

In Paule Kingleur’s case, one gray November day, she saw a colorful child’s bonnet with stripes perched atop a street pole, one of those ugly anti-parking barriers.

She noticed how the bonnet dressed up the sidewalk. Committed to an urban life, Paule also believes in the right of urban dwellers to connect with nature.

That’s when she had an “Oh, I see” moment, realizing that she could hang pretty containers, called Potogreens, on existing poles to create micro-gardens and beauty in urban spaces.

Many new ideas are born like this. And often, the first idea leads to another. Later, Paule created the larger Dadagreen® where bigger urban gardens can thrive.

Where will Paule’s ideas go next? All over the city. Not content with prettying up a static sidewalk space, Paule threw the Dadagreen® saddlebags on a bike to take beauty on the road! Now, that’s a creative idea that fits our times!

Bicycle with Dadagreen® flower boxes, a creative idea in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

At Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries 2013, the rose wall by Nicolas Gilsoul won the Prix Coup de Coeur (“Lovestruck” Award).

Paule Kingleur’s Dadagreen® won the Prix Innovation Cité Vert (Prize for Green City Innovation).

The name Dadagreen® is a combination of the English word “green,” denoting its green mission, and “dada,” a childish nickname for horse, reflecting its characteristic of a straddle (and a wink at the Dadaist-Surrealist movement).