Sorry

I want to write here, but I've been having a few issues with things. Firstly, the day after my last post, my computer died. DIED. The screen said something about Bitlocker Recovery and getting a 48 digit passcode, which couldn't be found anywhere except in the computer itself. I spent a few days trying to get it to work and trading out the battery when I found that the lithium ion battery was twice as tall as it should have been. 

When I finally gave up on that, I got a new computer, which I've had now for almost two weeks. I'm trying to get everything set up on it, so that's taking time, and I'm trying to get used to the new everything. 

That time is currently being interrupted with me having to run around a lot between doc appointments and physical therapy and volunteering at my local Community Art Studio, so I'm been down a lot of the free time and energy that I used to have. 

Beyond that, I kinda hit a slump in my depression because I'm finding it really hard to care about things, so when I think about this, I want to do it, but not enough to actually do it. I'm working on it and will be back to it very soon. 

Hopefully, I'll be back either tonight or tomorrow. Hopefully. If I don't, sorry. 

Welsh Rarebit

 Also known as Welsh Rabbit. 

Today is National Welsh Rarebit day, so...why not. 

Disclaimer: No Rabbits were harmed in the making of this post, or the dish. 

Welsh Rarebit is toast with fondue-cheese on it. Unlike what you're probably thinking, this is shredded Chedder cheese that gets added to heated beer/ale, with the possible additions of mustard or Worcestershire sauce, and sometimes spices, which gets poured over the cheese when it's ready. 

This picture is from the Cheese Professor link below. 

This can be considered one of the Welsh National dishes, but it isn't actually Welsh, according to some beliefs. Either way, they've taken it and run, so it's theirs now. 

The first time anyone knows about Welsh Rabbit being a thing, is from the 1700's, when it showed up in a few cookbooks. 

There are a few theories about why Welsh, and why Rabbit, but most of them are unkind, so please note that I like Welsh people and I can't hold anything against them for as long as the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch stands. 

At the time that the recipe started popping up, it could have been labelled as Welsh (or sometimes Scotch) because of the cheese, which was a lot more common in Wales than London, leading to those cultures being known for their cheesiness. It could also have been called Welsh because it's a cheap substitute for the real Rabbit. 

It was labelled as Rabbit first, then Rarebit, because it was eaten as a replacement to rabbit in their meals. Some theories have it starting early in actual Wales as a poor-man's replacement for actual rabbit, or as an insult because people couldn't afford rabbit, or even an option that they were insulting the Welsh for being too stupid to eat Rabbit instead. 

This dish has had a lot of interest over the years because it doesn't have Rabbit and that's weird. It's certainly not the weirdest food, but it's one that has several times been called surprisingly tasty, and unusual. It feels like a step to the left from a grilled cheese to me, but that's not a bad thing. 

Either way, I hope you found this interesting, and I hope that you've just tied your tongue up a few times trying to pronounce that town name. I'll see you again soon with something new. 

Sources:

Borough Market-- Edible History-- Welsh Food

History In the Making--Welsh Rarebit

Real Girl's Wobble-- A Brief History of Welsh Rarebit

BBC-- Did Welsh Rarebit start as an English Joke?

Cheese Professor-- Everything you need to know about Welsh Rarebit

Gymnasium

So, I need to preface this by saying that I have entered a gym several times in my life, but not often and I am the opposite of a gym rat. My information here is limited to the history of the gym and the etymology of the word. This post is unlikely to convince anyone to go to a gym, unless they want to go there with popcorn and giggle. As much as I'd like to convince everyone to be healthy, this isn't going to be like that. It's a different kind of post about gyms. Why?

Because the root of the word and the original rules of the gymnasium is that it's the place you go to do exercise while naked. 

This isn't about sex. That was an entirely different thing. The Gymnasium was the place where athletes came to train, naked, for their sports, which were often preformed naked. 

Greeks had no problems with being naked, or any reservations about walking around naked, so this isn't exactly a surprise, but it's fun to imagine the response of the gym rats of today if they were asked to do things like the Greeks did in the original gyms. How popular do you think Gyms would be with those rules? 

Gymnasiums were also schools. They taught classes, held lectures, and were the main school for children, as much as they had one. They were created near schools and considered a place of learning for the body as much as the minds. Because of this side of things, the word is the root for schools in some European countries, mainly Germany still. (Considering their feelings towards nudity, they might include some of both definitions, but don't quote me on that.) 

This picture is a free download from Classroom Clip Art. 

Now that you know about the history of gyms, how likely are you to walk into one without laughing? I'm blaming this for why I don't go into gyms. Please don't try to spoil that by pointing out that it's also because I find working out incredibly boring and annoying. 

Sources:

Useless Etymology-- the Naked Truth about Gyms

Encyclopedia Britannica-- Gymnasium

Etymology Online-- Gymnasium

World History Encyclopedia-- Gymnasium

Greek Reporter-- Gymnasium

Marshmallow

 Today is National Toasted Marshmallow Day, so I figured I'd I'd go into a quick history of the sticky-sweet treat. 

First thing though-- when I found out about the mallow plant, I thought marshmallows came from that, but...well, I've made marshmallows and there's nothing natural about those fluffy and super-sweet things. Ok, so most of it comes from plants via a lot of processing, but still. 

The first thing in the history of Marshmallows is actually from Ancient Egypt. 4,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians were mixing honey and Mallow sap and sometimes things like nuts and fruit got added. These were reserved for the pharaohs and gods though, so please remember that next time you eat the strangely addictive gelatinous sugar puffs. 

In the 1800's, the French came up with something else and whipped up the sap, then put it into molds. The candy makers couldn't keep up with demand. And probably had arm muscles of steel for being able to do that. My stand mixer considered rioting when I tried the second round of marshmallows. 

Until then, Marshmallows were sweet lozenge type candies. Here, they mixed it up with egg whites and sugar to create the fluffy treat we know now. They also added the corn starch to the molds because they needed to get things out fast, since they were so popular. The treats were harder than what we know now, more meringue like than the gelatin you know, and considered to be a medication for a sore throat. I don't know about you, but I'd really hate to suck on a marshmallow for long. 

This is where the Girl Scouts come in. 1927, they released recipes using this treat and chocolate. The first possible iteration of S'Mores. 

During the 1950s, America came up with the extrusion process to make marshmallows. Everything got whipped up and sent through tubes to get cut into pieces and packaged. Alex Doumak did that and started a company that still exists...I think. Before you grumble about me posting that even though I haven't looked it up, I did. I read their website and they say they're made to order only, and I'm not sure they are actually still around, or if they've faded into the ether. 

Somewhere in the midst of everything, they went from using egg whites to using gelatin to make the fluff. They also traded out the actual Mallow for more gelatin and sugar. Which is now corn syrup, but that's a whole 'nother problem. 

Technically, I could go into the story about Peeps, but I'm leaving that one out too. Weird sugar-coated monstrosities that are now coming in different flavors, they're going to wait until I have to grumble about a new flavor before I tell you about them. 

After all of that, it's the treat you know and love, so I'm going to finish there. 

If you want to try making your own marshmallows, you're welcome to try. It's actually not nearly as hard as you think, and adding your own flavors is awesome. Making peppermint marshmallows to go on your hot chocolate, or chocolate marshmallows to add flavor to coffee, or anything else. 

And if you're a truly awful person, you could make these and not tell anyone what flavor they are until they try them first. Do not tell me if you make those abominations, do not tell me if you like those abominations, and do not ask me any questions about them. 

I'll see you again soon. Have fun, and don't feel too sick at the thought of those abominations above. 

Sources: 

National Forests-- From Medicine to Camping Classics

Mental Floss-- History of the Marshmallow

Redstone Foods-- History of the Marshmallow

S'More'a'licious-- History of the Marshmallow

 Candy USA-- Marshmallows

Marshmallow USA-- About Marshmallows

Delaware Historical and Cultural Affairs-- A Snack by Any Other Name-- A history of the Marshmallow

Campfire USA-- History of the Marshmallow

Gyascutus

 This is a mythical critter I heard about that I find absolutely hilarious. 

The Gyascutus has legs that are longer on one side than the other so that they can walk on hills. Only one way, of course. If they somehow get turned around, they have some real troubles and probably fall to the bottom of the hill, where they have even more troubles. 

It's an American creature, part of the whole American Mythos around Paul Bunyon and others like him. Interestingly, this guy was probably created as something of a joke by lumberjacks, to see what they can convince the greenhorns of. 

There's also a beetle named after them now, which might be fun. I might look into that next time. 

I'm just going to leave this one here because I don't know what I can add, and I want you to take a few moments imagining this creature yourself. The legs are the only real description I could get. One imaginary picture was of something canine, while another was more of a scaled gorilla. What are you imagining? Feel like telling me, or drawing me a picture? Either way, I think you'll have more fun if I'm not more specific. 

Sources:

Encyclopedia Britannica-- Gyascutus

Merriam Webster-- Gyascutus

New England Historical Society-- Before BigFoot, the Mysterious Gyascutus

Gods and Monsters-- Gyascutus--this one is a bit darker than the others, so it could be more accurate or less. I don't know. 

There are also a few twitter pages and Wikipedia, but I'm not going to add those here. 

New Age Bullshit Generator

 I came across this website a while ago and it's a bit ridiculous, which I feel right now, so here it is for you also. 

The guy that put together this website did it to point out how easily people get fooled by the language of most New Age philosophies that try to skip past rational thought. He wanted to encourage skepticism, so people don't fall for fakes, but he doesn't actually hate the whole New Age style. He just hates the fakes, and wants us to think more on the things we profess or want to believe in. 

There is a button on the top of the page that lets you generate some bullshit. I hit the button and took some screenshots of it. That's below. It feels like someone who was stoned wrote it up...so probably not too far off what a fake would say. 

If you want to read some for yourself, the website is here: sebpearce.com/bullshit/

They don't have options for what kind of bullshit you want to read, but it can sometimes come up with hilarious things. I mean, 'The totality is calling you via electrical impulses'? Really? That's...not bad, but it should be. The writer in me objects to some of the capitalization (or lack thereof), but I'm a bit impressed by it. Add in a passionate voice and you'd probably get a few believers. 

I hope you find this website as fun as I do and maybe read a part or two, or the reviews at the bottom. Let me know if you come across anything particularly good or bad.  

Girus

 I'm sorry to disappear again, but, unfortunately, I apparently have carpal tunnel and I've got one hand that hurts if I move it too much, and one that goes numb after a paragraph or two of typing. This is ultimately very annoying and distracting. It also makes things a little less interesting to tell you about things when I know I'm going to be trying to figure out how to ice my wrist again, with one numb hand and a wrist that I need to keep straight, and I'm just really annoyed at my hands right now. I never gave them permission to have problems like this. 

Since I am mad at myself for some health problems, I'll let you in on a rather hilarious scientific term I found out about a while ago. 

Girus. 

This is a term used for viruses with a lot of DNA in them. All viruses have DNA in them, but some of them have rather simple DNA, versus these, which have a lot of DNA in them, 

It literally comes from shortening 'Giant Virus'. It's hilarious to me. 

Let's hope we don't have to worry about one of those coming up soon. Covid was bad enough. 

I'd list sources here, but...well, if you google Girus Virus, it'll tell you all about them. Just be careful, because gyrus is a term for folds in the brain also, so try not to get them mixed up.

Have fun. Hopefully, I'll be back soon. Unfortunately, I can't promise anything. 

The Beginning of Wisdom

 I've got a lot of yard work and things like that to do and I keep getting distracted by it. Plus, there's a thousand and one interesting rabbit holes to go down online, so it's hard to pick one thing to tell you about. Plus, I'm a night owl, so midnight tends to wander past earlier than it should, then I have to remember to head to bed instead of trying to write up something here. I'm trying to do better about that, but...well, midnight happens fast. 

I don't know why this is going on my fact blog instead of my creative side, but I think it's because it's a bit of an explanation for why I love science and totally support scientists even if I also tend to roll my eyes at them and huff about them being ridiculous. 

Science is about asking questions, about accepting a failed experiment and learning from it, and about looking for proof of what we think, then discovering something entirely different. 

The beginning of Wisdom is saying 'I Don't Know'. 

That's often attributed to Socrates, but it shows up in several spots. 

My knowledge of things is miles wide and inches deep. I know enough about most science things that I can accept and understand the news articles that I come across, enough to understand the podcasts on a lot of different subjects, but not enough to say that my opinion of anything is worth more than that of a professional. So, I might think that what I know matches up to the average person on pretty much any scientific topic, but I will not and cannot suggest I know as much about any science subject as a scientist in that field. Even if what I'm thinking about is not their exact specialty, such as my knowledge of the anatomy of primates versus a doctorate in biology with a specification on felines. 

That's actually something that annoys me with a lot of people. Just because you're smart doesn't mean you know as much about a subject as someone that has made it their life's focus. So, if a scientist tells me that something will keep me from getting sick and is willing to at least try to explain their proof of why, and it makes sense, I am pretty likely to trust them on it. If the entire scientific community agrees on something, I'm not going to argue with them. 

They might not always be right, but they're usually willing to admit that, and change their minds. 

There's a quote saying, essentially, 'When the facts change, I change my mind'. Science does that a lot. That's why I trust them. Because I know that what they say is the best that they know, and they will tell me if they are wrong. 

Another quote I adore about science is that the best inventions don't come with a call of Eureka, but an 'hunh, didn't expect that...'. I tend to roll my eyes at scientists a lot because of the number of times a scientist comes out with something like the statement 'the likelihood of a cow standing up increases over time after they lay down'. Yeah, science. Duh. Thanks for proving that though. And, sometimes I think scientists have too much time on their hands if that's what they are studying. But, that was a side-note on a study that had other interesting discoveries. 

So...that's why I love science. I hope it helps you understand why I think this is so cool and why I decided to write up a blog of the fun parts of it. I hope you enjoy the bits I think are the most interesting for you. 

 

My Birthday...and more proof of me being ridiculous

 Happy birthday to me! I had a really awesome day and made two kinds of cake to share with everyone I could find. I like baking and making people smile, so that was kinda my gift to me. Either way though, I had a really awesome day and wanted to explain that I wasn't here yesterday because I was baking my cakes. I made a chocolate sponge cake that I sandwiched with whipped cream and raspberry jam, plus a butterkuchen, which is a fun yeast cake that I've made a few times. My brother, who works at our local invasive weed control board, once took some to work and came back to report that he's not doing that again because his boss kept calling is the 'butt cushion cake' and therefore he was retracting her permission to have some. Since I haven't made it much, I didn't bother arguing. 

I'm kinda tired after everything and I have a ton of stuff to do over the next couple days--including getting a start on a mountain of research I've been avoiding for a while, which might show up some here too--so I'm going to let myself be lazy about this and just post a meme I came across a long time ago that makes me giggle and is birthday themed. 

This particular version came from Reddit, which I kinda try to avoid because I've got enough rabbitholes to get lost down, I don't need more, but it's originally from Tumblr, so I don't really know how to cite it. 

Either way though, I hope it made you laugh and I'll see you again soon. 

1828 Websters Dictionary Definition of a Cat

 I feel the need to apologize for things again. I didn't mean to disappear for two weeks, but it was a mental health thing. Part of depression that people tend to overlook, but is really annoying, is the apathy side. Apathy doesn't mean I don't care about things, it means I don't have the energy to care about things enough to do anything about it, and it makes everything about 20x harder. When I start feeling that more than usual, I have to start picking my battles. I like this blog, but I want to do the posts when I care because otherwise I lower my standards for posts and that just makes me feel worse in the end. Hopefully, I'll continue feeling better and be back again for a while. 

This is going to be the last post for a bit about cats. I love my kittens, but I'm not going to go into the others right now. This though...is an amusing end to it all. 

In 1828, Webster released a dictionary with a very interesting definition of a cat, which I actually can't disagree with much. This is taken straight from the Websters 1828 site. They claim to have copied it exactly, and it matches the quote I heard about them along with several other sites that claim to have gotten it from other sources, so I'm going to be lazy and just leave it at that. 

CAT, noun

1. A name applied to certain species of carnivorous quadrupeds, of the genus Felis. The domestic cat needs no description. It is a deceitful animal, and when enraged, extremely spiteful. It is kept in houses, chiefly for the purpose of catching rats and mice. The wild cat is much larger than the domestic cat. It is a strong, ferocious animal, living in the forest, and very destructive to poultry and lambs.

The wild cat of Europe is of the same species with the domestic cat; the catamount, of noun America, is much larger and a distinct species.

It is a deceitful animal, and when enraged, extremely spiteful? Wow. Someone annoyed their cat. Or maybe they're jealous because their wife likes their cat more than them. 

Also, wild cat is larger than the domestic cat, but the same species? Hunh? 

Either way though, I'll leave this here and you can all rush off to reassure your magnanimous, fluffy, overlords that you adore them entirely and don't agree with the meanie. Even if you maybe do a bit. Not that you'll tell them that. 

Winnie-The-Pooh

On to another litter. I'd considered doing the Aussies, but I think I'll do the Bears first. Or at least one of them. 

Everyone knows at least something about Winnie The Pooh, that he's a fictional character in a story by A.A. Milne, he's yellow, wears a red t-shirt, and loves honey. His best friend is piglet. He has other friends, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Tigger, and Eeyore to name a few. He goes on adventures with his friends in the Hundred Acre's Woods. 

What you might not know is that part of his name comes from a real bear named Winnie, who was in the London Zoo. 

The guy who did the illustrations, E.H. Shepard, was a political cartoonist before he convinced Milne to let him draw Winnie and that whole world. 

That A.A. Milne's son was named Christopher Robin, and was the main character in the stories. He actually grew up to resent Pooh and his father for it all. He felt like his father had gotten famous on his shoulders, and that his father had stolen his good name before he could use it. 

A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard actually regretted him some too, since it took over their lives and any later work would be overshadowed by what they'd once done. 

That his iconic red shirt didn't come until a producer bought the rights to him and added it. Stephen Slesinger, which is a strangely familiar name that I'm not going to look into right now, added it to Winnie's look so he could get more money with trademarking, about 10 years after Milne started writing about Winnie. 

Winnie The Pooh has been translated into several languages, and it led to the first time that a book in Latin actually got on the New York Time's Best Sellers list.

Scholars have used Pooh and Piglet to create philosophy books, such as the Tao of Pooh, from 1982, and a following book about Piglet. There's also a Medical Association Journal Article that goes into the psychology of the characters, assigning them all mental disorders and possibly physical ones also, such as Piglet having a small brain due to his head being smaller than most pigs. 

A game from the books, Poohsticks, actually has a world championship held in England every year. 

According to some, Winnie the Pooh is the patron saint of teddy-bears. 

Cambridge University's Pembroke College has a Winnie the Pooh Society that was established in 1993 and supposedly had the Queen as a member. They meet up on Saturdays during term to drink tea and read from Milne's works. 

You may have noticed 'Blood and Honey' portraying a very different type of Pooh-Bear, but that's because it's actually in public domain now. That's how old he is. 

And that's the end of fun facts about Winnie the Pooh. Did you learn something new? I hope so, but let me know which one you liked best. 

I planned to share more of my kitten pictures, but they're apparently not loading, so...next time. 

Sources:

Fun Kids Live-- 10 facts about Winnie The Pooh

Mental Floss- 12 facts about Winnie the Pooh

Reader's Digest-- 18 Winnie The Pooh facts

Canterbury Classics-- Facts about Winnie the Pooh

CBC.ca-- 90 Facts about Winnie the Pooh

New York Public Library-- Winnie the Pooh facts

Fun Trivia-- 50 Winnie the Pooh Trivia questions, answers, and fun facts

Borneo Bay Cat

 Also known as Bay Cat, or BB for me. 

Unlike the last few, this guy is actually in Southern Asia, instead of South America. Also, unlike the leopard genus the last few were in, this one is in the Bay Cat lineage, which is older than the leopard genus. 

Pic from BigCatsWildCats. These guys aren't much larger than the average housecat, so I'm kinda giggling about how I know that look. He's either afraid of the photographer, or considering prey. Either way, he's tracking something closely. 

These guys live in Borneo, but the Bay part of their name is actually in reference to their colors, being a rusty red or deep tan. Unfortunately, my baby is a dark tabby, but that doesn't make her less adorable. 

As with most cats, they are silent and sneaky and researchers only see them when they want to be seen. Which isn't often. So, again, most of the information on them is photographs. It's even harder because they are mostly nocturnal and solitary. Personally, I vote we just send a cat-lady over and she can adopt them all. My mistress Squirrel says I'm not allowed to volunteer, but if it meant I could possibly cuddle one of these guys, I'm in. 

One of the interesting features about these cats that we do know of, is that they are about 19-26 inches long, but their tails are 12-16 inches, making their tails have as long as them. I'd try to get a measure on my kittens, but they say they're too busy playing and not interested in this. On the other hand, I did do a measurement of this baby, who is very new and adorable, and his length (minus tail) is equal to the current circumference of his stomach. That's a talent. Mostly on the mom's side, but still. 

Back to the Bay cats though...They got discovered in the 1800's, but none were caught until the 1990's. Furthermore, after 13 years of recordings, there was only one picture of a Borneo Bay Cat found. Most of the studies about these cats comes from skeletons and skins that got found. There are none of these cats in zoos, because there haven't been caught enough. 

This picture is from Big Cat Rescue.

They seem pretty similar to the Asian Gold cat and another similar cat, but genetics tells a different story. These Bay Cats are pretty much on their own. Throwbacks to a different age, or some such. Isn't that cool? 

Despite the mystery, this cat is still very much a cat, as you can see here, in the picture from the Monga Bay link below. 

That last picture reassures me that my kitten is named well. They have a mysterious and graceful namesake to look up to, but they can also be the absolutely ridiculous kitten I know they are. Thanks for reading, I hope to see you again soon to talk about either the Aussies or the Cubs litters. 

Sources:

BigCatsWildCats- Borneo Bay cat

SoftSchools-- Borneo Bay Cats

Wild Cat Conservation-- Borneo Bay Cat

Monga Bay-- On the Trail of the Mysterious Borneo Bay Cat

Wild Cat Family-- Borneo Bay Cat

iNaturalist-- Borneo Bay Cat

Felidae Conservation Fund-- Bay Cat

Animalia-- Bay Cat

Guina/Kodkod

Guina is another wildcat that is in the running for the smallest wildcat in the Americas. They're smaller and more compact than the Oncilla, but their weight range is pretty similar. 

In my case, they're the same size as everyone else, but just as adorable. 

 

As with most cats this size, not a lot is known because who, exactly, is going to successfully watch them, or catch one to study in a lab? Plus, it's unlikely that they'd be allowed to catch one to put in a lab because that's mean. So, they avoid people and people don't know much about them. We'll learn more as we get better at the watching and studying thing, but not immediately. 

Picture from the Great Cats World Park link below. 

Guina are also known as Kodkod, or Chilean Cat. They're mainly found in Chile and a bit over the border of other countries, so it makes sense. These guys are small, but they do have some pretty dense fur that keeps them warm in the wet and cold. 

Interestingly, these guys usually eat small rodents, but sometimes they sneak onto farms and steal a chicken. According to local lore, they might also bring death, famine, and disease. There are also superstitions about them being magical and bulletproof, and their reputation has led to some communities referring to shady people as guinas. 

It's reputation is getting an overhaul though, because they're getting known outside of South America, and everyone loves how adorable they are. 

Aside from looking adorable though, they also sound adorable. One article describes the sounds they make, which we have some evidence of now, as a chirp. There are very few recordings of them because they're shy, so most of what we can get are pictures from camera traps. This time though, they got a bit of sound. I'd like to share it, but I can only suggest that you go to this link, which is repeated below as Live Science. 

There are lots of people trying to help these adorable kittens, so please consider joining their efforts. or at least looking at and sharing their adorable pictures so that people know they're around and need help. 

Considering their rodent hunting prowess, I hope my kittens take this as inspiration and try to rid my home of similar small rodents. If they aren't interested though, I hope they at least stay as cute as these guys. 

Thanks for your time, I'll see you soon to finish the wildcat litter's namesakes. 

Sources:

Great Cats World Park-- Guina

Atlas Obscura--The cutest Harbinger of Doom

Wild Cat Family- Guina

Wild Cat Family-- Cat 5 of 13 in the Leopardus Family of Cats

Big Cats Wild Cats-- Kodkod/Guina

Wild Cat Conservation-- Kodkod

Live Science-- Guina Sounds

Oncilla

 Continuing on with the plan of telling you about the kitten names, today is Oncilla. 

Aren't they all adorable? 

Well, I guess I should say, the usual Oncilla is this guy, pics from the Fact Animal link below. 

Still pretty adorable. As anyone that knows me would guess, yes, I would love to cuddle. Considering that this guy is actually a bit smaller than my usual housecats, I might even survive the encounter. Well, as long as my Mini-Mistress Squirrel doesn't find out ang get upset that I'm cuddling someone that isn't her, or her family who I am allowed to cuddle half as much for all of them as I cuddle her. It took a bit for her to accept that I do still pet other cats, even if I do recognize that I am her chosen servant. 

Back to Oncillas though. 

They're the smallest of the South American wild cats, weighing about 5 pounds and measuring about 2 feet long, which makes them longer and lighter than most house cats. There might be two species of Oncilla, though it's still a bit weird because it doesn't seem like there are a lot of differences, but there might be evidence that they can't interbreed, which is one of the big markers for species being separate. 

Interestingly, it seems like Melanistic Oncillas aren't uncommon. Melanism means that they are differently colored, more black. In this case, they go from miniature leopards to miniature panthers, such as this picture from the Panthera link below. 

These guys are small and agile, and they tend to go after rodents or whatever small animals they can find, and they tend to find areas that are low in larger cats so that they can fill the gap, such as places that don't have enough food for the larger cats, or are closer to humans than an ocelot would like. Because of their small size, agile nature, and hiding, some consider them to be the least studied wild cat in the Americas. I know I say that a lot, but there is a lot of things that aren't studied enough yet, and that's probably not going to change soon since the list keeps growing as we learn of more things to look into. 

There's a quote from a podcast I really like, the Infinite Monkey Cage, and it paraphrases as 'Science doesn't answer questions. It just helps us find better questions.' Which means, to me at least, that the more science tells us, the more we understand what we don't know and therefore the more questions we know to ask. 

But, that's ok. We'll learn more as we study the new questions, and I look forward to what comes next. 

Right now though, it's more kitten pictures and another wild cat that gave it's name to my adorable little beasties. To end this particular post though, I'll share a real kitten picture of a wild Oncilla, instead of more of my 'tamed' Oncilla. 

Animalia link below for this pic. I just had to use it. 

Sources:

Fact Animal-- Oncilla

Kiddle- Oncilla

Wild Ark-- Oncilla

Animalia-- Oncilla

Panthera-- Oncilla

Animal Diversity Web-- Oncilla

Wild Cat Conservation--Leopardus ID; Ocelot, Margay, Oncilla

Oncilla Conservation Fund--About Oncillas

Felidae Conservation Fund-- Oncilla

Margay

 Hi. Sorry for disappearing again for a bit. Things got a bit hectic and...problematic recently. I volunteered to help my Aunt move to her new house, but the timing of things went wrong and we had to have the Pod she got filled up on Friday, then we got the large Uhaul truck to load up, but we couldn't go to the new house until Tuesday morning, which was also the day that I was supposed to be back home for things, and she had to be out of the house by Wednesday, so we had to get everything loaded, unloaded, reloaded, and re-unloaded on Tuesday so that we could load up the stuff that wouldn't fit into her new house and get home, which was a three hour drive, and after arriving at home at 1 am on Wednesday, I, my mother, and my brother, had to unload everything so that we could get it back to the Uhaul people before they opened Thursday morning. Which means I spent the last week tired from moving an entire house's worth of furniture around twice, including her large collection of plants, a dozen of whom were in 15 gallon pots and weighed a half-ton, or trying to get things dealt with but being stopped by my aunt because she has a few health issues but wanted to be the one doing a lot of things even though she didn't actually do things because she didn't have the energy/ability, but she wouldn't let us do it because she needed to be the one going through things...and just making things really annoying. 

Because of  that, I didn't have the energy or care to write about something without being really grumpy, and I needed some time cuddling my babies again for a bit to get back the energy and care to write this without being grumpy.

Pic from We Love Catz below. 

Today, I want to tell you about Margays. They're a kind of wild cat that I would definitely cuddle, but would probably try to kill me if they could. In case you were wondering, no, that wouldn't stop me from trying if I meet one. Look at the picture above and tell me you wouldn't pet that. 

This picture comes from A-Z Animals, link below. These lovely cats are often mistaken for ocelots, which live in the same area, but there are a few key differences that you might be able to use to keep them separate. Ocelots are larger, and Margays have larger eyes and feet, proportionally. 

These guys are about the size of a house-cat and live in the thick rainforests of South America. They haven't been studied a lot because they're small and fast, plus they spend a lot of time in the trees and are nocturnal, so it's hard to count them or keep an eye on them for long. 

One of the unique things about Margays is that they can actually go down a tree headfirst, like a squirrel, because their ankles can turn to support them. I know you're probably thinking about cats going up and down tall things all the time, but they usually do something more like a slide and leap, rather than a controlled descent. These guys are adapted to life in the trees more than most-- which doesn't mean they're always in the trees, but they still spend a lot of time up there, and have trouble if their environment suddenly doesn't have trees. Picture below from We Love Catz. 

Another thing that's interesting and unique about these guys is that they have what could be called a mating dance. The female makes long whining calls, and the male, once they find the female, roar and trill while shaking his head. This hasn't been seen in other cats, and might not be something all Margays do, because they are under-studied due to being small and shy. 

This picture of what I assume is grumpy mama and curious baby, is from We Love Catz. They've got some really nice pictures. 

My Margay looks a lot like them, don't you think? Or, at least, my Margay looks adorable and cuddly...and sleepy. 

I hope you enjoyed learning about adorable wild cats, and my same-name adorable tamed kitty. I'll try to be back soon with news about another adorable wild/tame kitten. 

Sources:

Wild Cat Conservation-- Margay

Soft School-- Margay Facts

Animal Diversity Web-- Margay

A-Z Animals-- Margay

Encyclopedia Britannica-- Margay

Earth's Endangered Creatures-- Margay

Big Cat Rescue- Margay

We Love Catz-- 6 Facts about Margays

Fact Animal-- 14 Margay Facts

Pampas Cat/Colocolo

 I started telling you all about my kittens before June happened, so I'll tell you about all the others. Well, not all the the others. 

We had four litters of Kittens and they all got named by themes from their mothers names. 

Bearnie had her second litter. Last year, her kittens were Polar, Panda, Sunny, and Ursa. This year, they're famous movie bears, Paddington, Fozzie, Pooh, and Smokey. I'm probably not going to do posts about them, but maybe. 

Cathy had her babies, who got named after wild Cats. Oncilla, Guina, Margay, Caracal, Colocolo, and BB (Borneo Bay Cat). 

Wallaby had the last litter of the year and her babies are the Aussies, our little Echidna, Quokka, Emu, and Cassowary. 

Please look forward to these 9-13 posts about my baby kittens. Since most of them have the same coat pattern, I apologize that my kitten pictures are just going to be adorable babies overall instead of the single specific kitten. 

The first kitten I'm going to talk about is Colocolo, or the Pampas Cat. 

These guys are from South America and pretty widespread. The pictures of them just look like extra-fluffy cats, which supports the suggestion that they eat anything meaty they come across. 

This picture is taken from the Felidae Fund link below. As you can see, this is a very cute and fluffy kitten. 

These guys are mainly nocturnal and terrestrial, so they hunt at night on the ground, but there are actual studies suggesting that they're 'cathemeral', which means around any time. That fits with the cats I've got around that love being noisy brats day and night. Interestingly, this isn't an attempted pun about cats being equally likely to be awake or asleep at any given time, but actually comes from Greek for 'through the day'. 

From what I've seen, it seems like Colocolo is the scientific name for the species, and one of the names in use in some areas for a cat that they think is all one species, or possibly has been considered the same species but might be getting split into three, five, or seven different subspecies or entirely separate species. I'm not sure what the state of this debate is, I'm pretty sure half the sites I can check for these things don't know the state of the debate, and I'm just going to tell you that there is one, and it's up to you if you want to check this further. 

 

The name Pampas Cat is from their habits of hanging around in the grass, since Pampas is a local word for grass. It's believed that Colocolo comes from the name of a warrior chief that lived in the area they're found, but I don't know a lot about that one. 

Like a lot of things, these guys aren't studied a lot in the wild because, like a lot of cats, they know how to disappear into their habitat and avoid notice. Plus, there are a lot of things in South America that don't have nearly as much study on them as you'd think. There's a lot that scientists haven't investigated yet, the lazy brats. 

In case you're wondering, these are on the list of creatures that might kill me but I would absolutely cuddle if I got the opportunity. 

And now for my, admittedly more cuddly, versions, then I'll be back soon with information about the namesake of a sibling. 

Sources:

Great Cats World Park-- Pampas Cat

Animal Diversity Web-- Pampas Cat

Felidae Fund-- Pampas Cat

Wildcat Conservation-- Pampas

iNaturalist-- Pampas Cat

Wild Cat Family-- Colocolo

Big Cat Rescue-- Pampas Cat

Animalia-- Pampas Cat

Kiddle-- Pampas Facts for Kids