Catland: A blog about cats.

Look at those blue eyes!

2011-03-19T19:45:00.000-04:00

A rare Sumatran tiger has given birth to three cubs at an Indonesian zoo in a welcome boost for the endangered species, an official said Thursday.

The big cat gave birth to four cubs at Taman Rimba zoo in Jambi province Tuesday but one died immediately, according to provincial tourism and cultural agency head Didi Wuryanto.

"I'm overjoyed. This is a remarkable achievement," Wuryanto told AFP.
He said the parents of the cubs, male and female tigers called Peter and Uni, had been transferred to Jambi on Sumatra island from Ragunan zoo in Jakarta.
"It's difficult to take care of tigers. Thanks to the effort of the people in the zoo, there is hope now that we can help in saving the tiger population," he said.
Human-animal conflicts are a rising problem as people encroach on wildlife habitats in Indonesia, an archipelago with some of the world's largest remaining tropical forests.
There are as few as 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild in Indonesia, conservation group WWF said.
(c) 2011 AFP

High Tech Kittens

2011-03-19T19:24:00.000-04:00

You may not be familiar with the endangered African Black-foot cat. I wasn't until I read about two kittens who were born as the result of an 8 year long, experimental, in-vitro process. You can read the full story here. The second picture is a full-grown Black-foot, which looks very much like a domestic shorthair, at least as far as the head and face go.

Jury duty calls ... even for cats!

2011-03-19T14:40:00.000-04:00

This is Sal Esposito, a cat who was called for jury duty in Boston. I can understand how a pet could be called for jury duty, since some people use their pet's name when signing up for magazine subscriptions and the like. In this case, the cat's owners listed him on the 2010 Census. (I wonder if that is illegal. hmmm...) What I don't understand, however, is how a government employee could refuse to excuse the pet from service after learning that he is a cat. Chalk it up to "your tax dollars at work", I guess.

I think this cat camera would make ...

2011-03-15T23:15:00.000-04:00

... a great spy camera necklace!

This little gadget is expensive and pretty low tech, but lots of fun for cat fanatics! Read about it at Endgadget.com.