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Category Archives: animal pets

The Cat’s Meow

American Press travel news–Feb. 19th, Bob and Barb “On The Road Again”—Cats, Felines, Pussy Cats all have two things in common; fangs and claws, even the cutest ones do. Of course, many more common traits as well, but we’ll explore some of them later.
There are big cats, small cats, and every size, furry feline, with every hair and coat type, in between.
The American Veterinary Medical Association says more than half of U.S. households, or nearly 57 percent, owned a pet at the end of 2016 and most of them own one or more cats.. Nearly one in four households nationwide, or 38 percent, owned one or more dogs, which the association says is the highest estimated rate of dog ownership since 1982, when it began measuring ownership.

One of the most common pets in the world, cats are known to be the most independent animal pets. If you are a cat lover, you’d be interested to know how many cat breeds there are in the world. Read on you’ll find out! Imagine the average cat can spend two thirds of the day by sleeping. A cat who is 10 years old only stayed awake for 3.3 years in its lifetime.

We accept these intriguing animals as pets, however some of the Asian countries consider them as food. In fact, cat meat is very popular in most of the Asian countries. The sad fact is China alone among the far-eastern nations, consumes more than 4 million cats in a year. There are animal lovers that try to do something about this, but the government of China still allows it.
Going back in history, the Papal declared that the cats are evil during the Spanish Inquisition and untold numbers of cats were slaughtered in Europe! Sometimes the is such thing as “cats revenge” After Europe murdered so many of their cats, and as the amount of the cats dramatically decreased, the mice and rat population increased in about the same proportion. As a result, the great pestilence (Black Plague) occurred, and millions of people lost their lives during this period. On the brighter side; bet you didn’t know that we sent a cat to space? The first cat that went to space went there in 1963. Her name was Felicette, a French cat. She came back to earth without any problem.

Although we have fed them at our homes for thousands of years, cats still have plenty of wild instincts. Unlike the dog, cats lower their head while they are chasing their prey. Female cats usually use their left paws more, while most of the male cats prefer to use their right paws more.
Many people are allergic to cats (my wife Barb is one of them). After much research, and speaking to specialists in allergies, it appears that cats dried airborne saliva from their fur- cleaning tongue is the culprit. Its breathed in by everyone in contact in their homes, and everywhere cats abide, and causes allergic reactions to one in ten people.

You have probably heard many different vocalizations coming from your cat. But we can easily say that you have not heard all their voices, even though you are living with your cat for years. They have more than a hundred different vocalizations, while this amount is only limited to about ten in dogs. And that’s enough for me!!

Like dogs, cats don’t have sweat glands in their bodies. They sweat through their paws.
Cats purr and meow, and rub their scent glands all over any part of your legs. People think they love them for this. Not so fast! Cats love other cats, that’s it, except for them bonding with you for food and comfort.

Besides sleeping so much of the day and night, cats spend another third of their time by cleaning themselves, or each other.
According to International Progressive Cat Breeders Alliance (IPCBA), there are 73 different cat breeds in the world with many variations in their personalities and temperament. However, there are some cat breeds which are not recognized as a breed yet, so more breeds will come into being as well.
A few things that are quite negative about cats: When left to their own instincts they not only kill rodents, but also birds. Its their nature to pursue anything that moves and tries to escape their claws and fangs. What I don’t like is that they do their business inside, even if its inside a box of cat litter there are odors. Cats also can transmit disease to humans. I do not kiss cats or dogs for this possibility. My doctor daughter-in-law spent time in the hospital herself a victim of Scratch-Fever.
So, remember; of course love them all, they are great companions even with their faults.

 

Koko Crater Botanical Garden Oahu, Hawaii

Signage allows casual visitors to understand the what Koko Crater Botanical Gardens is all about. Image: Richard Hines

American Press Travel News-January 20th, Hawaii, USA–Columnist, Richard Hines at Koko Crater Botanical Garden in Oahu, Hawaii–My wife, Pam and I decided to make one more early morning trip before our 6:00 PM flight out of Honolulu. Pam is active with our local Garden Club and one of the Master Gardner’s in our home county in Kentucky. With these credentials, it was obvious flowers were on the agenda, so we opted for the Koko Crater Botanical Garden. It was our third garden tour this past two weeks and while she was busy checking out the names of flowers, I concentrated on photographing some of the local birds.

During the entire trip bird photograph was a high priority and because Koko Crater was not crowded, I was able to photograph as many if not more birds in this garden than any other location we visited. On this morning, I was able to add several birds to our life list plus photograph Zebra Dove, White-rumped Shama, and Red-billed Leiothrix among others.

The 50,000-year-old crater has created perfect growing conditions for barrel cactus and other desert species across the 60-acre garden which is within the 200-acre crater site. We saw an interesting mix of desert plant species from America, Africa, and Pacific locations

White Rumped Sharma. “I enjoy finding birds that live in exotic locals.” image Richard Hines

When you drive in the parking area, you won’t find a visitor station as at other gardens and as we walked through the gate you will find a sign and information brochures near the gate. This the area where you will first notice the grove of Plumeria trees which provided a unique scent as we walked along the trail.
The Koko Crater Botanical Garden is located on the eastern end of Oahu, Hawaii. You will find four major collections which are organized by region (Africa, the Americas, Hawaii, Madagascar). In all there are around 500 trees comprising 200 species that you will see around the 2-mile-long loop trail.

What the Heck is a Sea Horse?

Philippine Seahorse                                    American Press Travel News–11/20/17–“The Seahorse is the name given to 54 species of small marine fishes in the genus Hippocampus. “Hippocampus” comes from the Ancient Greek word hippos (ἵππος, híppos) meaning “horse” and kampos (κάμπος, kámpos) meaning “sea monster”. “The word “seahorse” can also be written as two separate words (sea horse), or hyphenated (sea-horse). Having a head and neck suggestive of a horse, seahorses also feature segmented bony armor, an upright posture and a curled prehensile tail. The above was from Wikipedia, below is from me:  They really are a fish, but their characteristics are weird. A horse-like head, a monkey like prehensile tail, a pouch like a Kangaroo, a bony exo-skeleton like insects, independently moving eyes like a lizard, etc. They are carnivores and like their cousins the Pipe fish, are the only critters where the males exclusively care for their eggs after fertilization and they bear their young. They taste bad and although they move rather slowly and are specialists in camoflage they are not gone after as food from bigger sea animals and fishes. Frankly, I, as so many aquarium enthusiasts are intrigued by these amazing animals.