Global Cat Mania: 9 Interesting Cat Facts from All Around the World
Do you know which country has the biggest population of cats? Have you ever been on a “Cat Island”? Or maybe, you’ve heard about the cat Marsha, a Russian national hero, who saved an abandoned infant baby from the death in sub-zero temperatures? We prepared a few amazing stories to tell about the cats and their humans all over the world.
1. Cat Lovers Live in Italy
Italy has a long lasting tradition of the cat love. Starting from the legendary cat, brought by a poor Chinese merchant, who saved Venice of the epidemic of rats, fluffy creatures have experienced love and care from Italian people. Italy has a large number of no-kill cat shelters and a lot of volunteers, responsible for taking care of them.
2. Rescue Cat from Russia
Many homes across Russia own one or a few cats. People in small villages and towns do not pay that much attention to the breed, so many of their now loved pets used to be homeless and lived on the streets. A few years ago, there was a big story about a stray cat Marsha, who lived in a cardboard box put in a hallway of an apartment block in Obninsk. Once, Marsha found an abandoned baby boy, cuddling in her box, while the temperature went below zero. She got into the box and warmed the toddler with her body,cuddling and licking the little one’s face to stop him from crying. Thus, Marsha became a Russian national hero and famous worldwide.
3. Japanese “Cat Island”
Tashirojima Island is a small isle in Ishinomaki City full of cats. The cat lovers can take a boat from the city port and have a ride to the cats’ paradise. Besides the actual animals, visitors can also find the Neko-jinja shrine, a sacred place, where according to Shinto tradition Japanese people worshiped cats in order for them to bring the praying people some good luck.
4. Cat-Headed Goddess of Egypt
In Ancient Egypt, a goddess with a cat head was being worshiped. Her name was Bastet. She was originally a lioness warrior goddess in charge of warfare but was later known as a cat goddes that had a warrior temper.
5. Favorite American Pet
According to the statistics, cats are the most popular domestic animals in the United States. One in three households in the US owns a pet cat, which makes the States a number one country in cats' population – around 76.5 million cats live there.
6. French Feline Register
A big population of cats is also marked in France, where a strict guideline regarding pet ownership is applied. French cat owners must register their pets into the country feline database and put an identification mark on them. The mark might be like a tattoo on the cat’s skin or an inserted microchip, providing the details about the cat owner. This way French government tries to reduce a large number of feral and stray cats around.
7. Fluffy steppe cats from India
The first adopted cats in India came from steppes. They had very long fluffy fur and became ancestors of the modern domestic long-haired cat. In Indian mythology, a goddess, who protected the infants, rode a huge cat. Who knows, maybe in the old days cats really were much bigger than they are now?
8. Jaguar, the Mexican cat
Aztecs, the ancient people of Mexico, did not accept domestic cats – brought by Europeans from the Old World easily. They believed that cats were connected with dark witchcraft. Although, in Aztecs mythology, another kind of cats was worshiped, a jaguar. It was a great warrior, a symbol of night and tides.
9. Wild Australian cats
In Australia, nowadays, feral cats cover 99.8% of the country. Therefore, you can meet a wild can almost everywhere outside big Australian towns, as cat-free areas are limited to just a few islands.
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