Welcome to National Adopt a Cat Month! Since 1974, June has been the official time to celebrate our feline overlords. June is also the peak of “Kitten Season”—a time when shelters have an abundance of tiny, fuzzy bundles of chaos looking to take over unsuspecting hearts! But before you mount a rescue mission, know that adopting a cat isn’t just getting a pet; it’s inviting a wonderful living paradox into your home.
A Captivating,Cat-tivating History!
You think you know cats? Let’s find out: In Ancient Egypt, they were practically royalty and seen as magical creatures that brought good luck to their homes. If a family cat died, the owners would shave off their own eyebrows to show they were in mourning! From the golden temples of Egypt, cats next hit the high seas.
Ship’s cats were the secret weapons of the ancient world. They didn’t just offer cuddles to lonely sailors; they were the security guards of the pantry. Without them, rats would eat all the food, chew through the ropes, and spread scary diseases. Some sailors even believed cats could control the weather with their tails or tell if a storm was coming by how they licked their fur.
The Modern Cat Paradox
Years ago, a famous physicist named Erwin Schrödinger thought up an experiment on the nature of reality using a cat, probably because cats exist in a constant state of “Yes and No” at the same time! Here are some examples:
The Food Paradox:
Your cat will scream as if they haven’t eaten in a decade, but when you put the bowl down, they take one sniff and walk away.
The Midnight Zoomies:
Why is it that at 2 AM, your cat suddenly wants to turn your home into a roaring NASCAR track? Scientists call these Frenetic Random Activity Periods (FRAPs). These races are how cats blow off hunting energy they didn’t use during the day.
The Box Paradox:
You can buy a cat a $100 luxury bed, and they’d rather sleep in the cardboard box it came in.
The Slow Blink:
No, your cat didn’t get into the catnip stash; it’s actually a sign of deep trust. It’s how a cat shows it doesn’t have to keep an eye on you all the time.
The Head Bonk:
What’s with the football, helmet drill? Actually, it’s a hello and a marking mechanism. Cats have scent glands in their cheeks and eyebrows. This is how they mark you as theirs, telling other cats to back off!
Adopt a cat
If you adopt a cat this June, just remember, you aren’t simply getting a lovable fluff-ball; you’re taking in a tiny, ancient, grain-protecting, Egyptian-honored, territorial, mystery family member. You think you know them, and then you don’t!
The Red Wolf is one of nature’s most misunderstood and endangered predators. For one thing, red wolves aren’t necessarily even red. Some are black or brown, but most have a reddish coloring behind their ears. As a cousin of the Grey wolf, the reddish coloring earned them their name. They are about the same size as German shepherds. They weigh between 45 to 80 pounds. They are about 30 inches long with very bushy tails.
Predators or Prey?
Red wolves are predators because they hunt smaller animals and eat their meat. Their preferred diet consists of rabbits, deer, and raccoons. In a pinch, they’ll eat berries or insects. They hunt individually or in pairs.
Other than animals like coyotes or Grey wolves that are akin to them, they don’t have any known predators. Well, aside from us!
Packs
A group of five to eight wolves is known as a pack. Packs of wolves consist of mother and father wolves. They travel with their young pups. The young pups leave the pack when they are old enough to start their own pack.
Dangerous or Endangered?
By the 1970s, there were only fourteen wild red wolves accounted for according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. To help, they captured the fourteen remaining red wolves. These wolves were left to breed until their numbers were enough to release back into the wild in North Carolina. The red wolves found today all come from those fourteen remaining wolves!
They are not a threat to humans. In fact, red wolves are more afraid of humans than we should be of them.
Red wolves communicate by howling, barking, and yipping. They also use body language and marking their territories with their individual scents to keep other animals away.
Habits and Habitats
Wolf packs are very territorial and will defend their territories fiercely especially their dens. Red wolves hide their dens in places like riverbeds, next to fallen trees, or even in drainpipes. They keep their newborn pups in the dens under the supervision of the older members of the pack.
Red wolves are at home in several different environments. These include swamps, coastal grasslands, and woodlands. Their dens can be anywhere.
Early in the nation’s history, red wolves were native to the southern states. They extended all the way up to Pennsylvania. But, hunting reduced their numbers almost to the point of extinction.
A refuge is a place set aside to protect wildlife and to help make sure the Earth’s ecosystem isn’t threatened. There are many wildlife refuges around the world. They not only protect wildlife and their habitats, but can also be visited! Here are just a few of the amazing animals that gain!
Elephants & Rhinos
Several African countries joined forces. They wanted to protect the stomping grounds of elephants and rhinos. This collaboration created the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, or KAZA. The vast protected land is nearly the size of the entire country of Sweden!
Giant Pandas
Giant Pandas can find refuge at the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary in China. The sanctuary spreads over several different provinces, making it the largest and most important panda habitat in the world. This widespread sanctuary allows for the panda population to grow by limiting new building and roads through the area.
Orangutans
In Borneo, a large island in Southeast Asia, orangutans are protected by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. In their facilities, the foundation heals and rehabilitates orangutans that are in critical danger. These rescued primates are then reintroduced into the environments that are protected by the foundation. After being released, teams keep track of the released orangutans to make sure that they stay safe.
Sea Turtles
Sea Turtles in America are protected by organizations like the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. It was created to protect the turtles. It also monitors and protects the habitats and shorelines critical to the survival of the species.
Tigers
Thailand is home to the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary. This sanctuary is a 1,200 square-mile refuge for tigers. It also provides shelter for other animals that support the local ecosystem. The sanctuary’s efforts to stop poaching have prevented illegal hunting. This has helped the devastatingly low number of Indonesian tigers grow from 35 to 90. That’s almost a 160% growth rate!
Manatees
Manatees can't survive for long in water temperatures below 68º. The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge was established. It was created to protect these large and gentle sea mammals. The water in the refuge is fed by springs and keeps the underwater environment at an almost consistent 72º. Each year, about 600 manatees find their way to the refuge.
Get Involved!
There are many, many more animal sanctuaries around the world. If you are interested in helping threatened animals, track down a refuge or sanctuary near you. Get involved.
When is a fish not a fish? When it’s a starfish! Despite the famous name, starfish are not actually fish. Do you think Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants knows that? We’re pretty sure he doesn’t mind as they’re both stars in their own right!
Aside from their unmistakable shape, what makes a starfish such a star? Starfish are invertebrates, which means they don’t have spines. They belong to a category known as echinoderms, which also includes sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Cucumbers? Ok, maybe this will help…
There are about 1,900 different starfish species in oceans and seas around the world. Some species can live in polar regions, while others inhabit tropical areas. The smallest starfish are about one inch across; the largest can be up to three feet! That’s a big star! While most starfish have five limbs protruding from a central disc, some species have more! And if an accident or a predator removes one of the limbs, starfish can grow them back!
Dancing with the Stars!
To move, starfish don’t use their long limbs in the way you guess. They have tiny tubes that act like feet under their bodies, propelling them. Their little “tube feet” contract and extend. They clasp onto surfaces. This allows them to pull their whole bodies in the direction they want to move. This can be a slow crawl or bouncy when they are threatened.
Stepping Out with the Starfish
So, as a collection of limbs, how does a starfish eat? Those starry limbs connect to a central body. The central body holds two stomachs: one that breaks down starfish meals. The other stomach absorbs nutrients. Because starfish have no teeth, these two stomachs execute the same role. Additionally, they can even turn inside out to grab and hold food for digestion. And remember those little tubes that help the starfish move? They're pretty powerful at holding things, so they can actually crack open shells of oysters, clams, and mussels! Now that’s star power!
Dressing with the Stars!
As the celebrities of the seas, starfish can deck themselves out in many colors. Some starfish are bright orange, yellow, and even red. Others are purple, green, and blue. Some starfish have patterns, like dots, swirls, or stripes, woven into their colorful exteriors. These colors and patterns work as camouflage against predators or for attracting mates. Yeah, they’re also great for showing off for the camera!
The Arctic Musk Ox is the most interesting and confusing animal you never heard of. First off, it looks like a prehistoric Woolly Mammoth that stepped right out of the Ice Age!
Arctic musk oxen are bulky, stocky mammals. They live in the Arctic Circle, which includes the northern areas of Canada, Alaska, Russia, Greenland, and Scandinavia.
Musk Oxen are bulky because of their shaggy coat of long, dark brown hair. It hangs down to their feet. Their feet are at the end of short, stumpy legs! Is there a tiny little oxen in there hiding? Not a chance!
Where Things Get Hairy!
Musk oxen males weigh between 600 and 800 pounds. They stand anywhere from 4 feet to 5 feet tall. This measurement is from the ground to their shoulders. Under that outer coat, they have an undercoat of thick wool called qiviut. During the summer, this undercoat is shed. Arctic craftsmen and craftswomen collect it. They use it to make a yarn akin to cashmere.
Qiviut yarn has been called "the rarest fiber in the world."
The musk ox gets its name from the horrible musky smell its fur emits. The smell is used to attract mates during mating season. Good thing she likes it… Musk oxen breed between August and October. After an eight-month pregnancy, Musk Ox moms give birth. Newborns pop out weighing in at about twenty-five pounds each. That’s a big baby!
Arctic musk oxen travel in herds of 20 to 30 members. They don’t migrate because of their short legs. This means they don’t travel very far.
They stay within a 50-mile area. They use their heavy coats and small size to huddle together and stay cozy!
During the summer, musk oxen feast on grasses and woody plants. They pack on the pounds to survive the coming winter when nothing grows! They look gentle, but things can get pretty hairy when they're attacked! Musk oxen form a circle around women and babies and can fight like there’s no tomorrow!
Before there were countdowns, there were ink-stained fingers and backyard explosions. Writers like Jules Verne inspired inventors like Robert Goddard. He spent his days building the world’s first liquid-fueled rockets. This mostly just annoyed his neighbors! BOOM! This was an entire era. “Inner Space” (the crazy ideas in our heads) began to leak out into the real world. Goddard proved that if you can dream it, you can eventually build something incredible. It could be an exploding tube of metal capable of punching through the sky. Suddenly, stars weren’t just lights to look at, but actual destinations to visit.
Fear & Fireworks
As rockets got bigger, so did our dreams. The perspective on space was crucial. Some saw a fearful, unknown new world: rocket warfare! Nazi Germany got things started with the V1 and V2 rocket bombs. Wouldn’t you know it, they were developed in fear of losing the war. Like a mind-virus, this fear spread into the battle between freedom and communism. After World War II, superpowers like the United States and the Soviet Union built rockets. Their aim was to carry nuclear bombs across oceans. Instead of the teamwork of discovery, humanity was faced with the most chilling uncertainty.
Returning to the Stars
Human beings remembered the wonder of space. They started dreaming of trips back to the moon. Jules Verne had written about such adventures. But with all the possible destruction that we had lived through, we feared whether it was even possible. So, before humans were sent, some unexpected heroes stepped up, animals! In 1961, Ham the Astrochimp proved that you pull levers. He also stayed cool while traveling thousands of miles per hour. His successful trip paved the way for the legendary Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions.
That’s One Small Step… for a Chimp?
But the real “Aha!” moment happened in 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Two rival nations, the Soviet Union and the United States, set aside their differences. They literally “docked” their spaceships, opened a hatch, and shook hands! It was a cosmic reminder that the unknown of space is way too big to explore alone.
The New First Frontier!
Today, the “Dream” has returned with a techy twist! Visionaries like Elon Musk have turned the spirit of the ancients into “reusable” reality. Seeing a SpaceX rocket land itself upright is like watching a sci-fi movie come to life. It proves that we are finally getting practical about our curiosity. As we set our sights again on the Moon and then Mars, we are not just sending robots. We are sending our deepest questions. We are also sending our boundless curiosity. Every new launch is a reminder. While our gadgets get shinier, the “Explorer” inside us hasn’t changed. Since the first human looked up and wondered, “What’s out there?” and… “What’s in here!”
