When I got the first photo below from alert reader J.D., which came with the following information, I thought it had been Photoshopped.
Per your request of October 23, 2010, for photographs of “beloved felid[s]” in “winsome pose[s]”, I present for your delectation the above-attached jpeg. This photograph may be of particular interest to you and the readers of your blog, “Why Evolution Is True”, because it provides incontrovertible proof for the Common Descent of all life on Earth — to wit, the creature therein so winsomely depicted is clearly a transitional form between cats and bananas.
It was a beautiful cat. But ever wary of presenting dubious information to my readers, I emailed J.D. to see if the photo had been manipulated. He replied “no” and sent another photo and more information:
Her name is Mei Mei, which is Cantonese for “little sister” (when you get the tones right). She is a Singapura, which is a relatively recent breed. The photo is not doctored — she just has this thing about the bath tub. For whatever reason, she enjoys lolling about in it (after the water has been entirely evacuated, of course). I suspect that the tub retains some heat for a while after the bath is emptied, and like most cats in the winter, Mei Mei is a heat-seeking missile.
I can see why you might think the photo has been tampered with. She does seem ridiculously long and bendy in that photo. But that’s just how she is — she could give the “Longcat” of internet infamy a run for his money. As proof that the photo is not doctored I offer the attached additional photo, showing Mei Mei stretched out at full length. I was sorely tempted to add a red cape to that photo, and replace the carpet with blue sky, but alas my photoshop skills are lacking.
Can’t help feeling like I HAVE to stroke this cat now! I’m being manipulated at an enormous distance (depending on where JD lives).
Nah. That’s just the T. gondii speaking.
According to Time Tree cats and bananas diverged 1369 million years ago (though there is a huge spread from 1000 to 1800 million).
I initially thought the top picture was of a cat in somebody’s clothes drier…..spin cycle set to High….(glad it is not)
Hahahahahaha. Must have given you a bit of a heart thump for a second or two:-)
The Cantonese for little sister is Mui Mui 妹妹. Mei Mei is the Mandarin pronunciation.
I was just curious as to how kitteh pics were uploaded to you. I am powned by 4 felines, each unique, although members of the usual suspects.
They were attached to emails.
Thanks, but I don’t seem to be able to locate an appropriate email address to use.
Dr Coy-ne prefers you use the googletubes to find his contact details.
Or you can click on one of the “About” links, above.
It didn’t take me more than a few minutes to find an email address when I thought I had something worth sending.
Thanks, I tend to weigh on the side of respecting one’s privacy. The one provided here stated it was “For media inquiries only” so I thought it best to ask. I found one on the web, which I will use if I find something worthy.
I felt the same way, too, the first time I ferreted out JAC’s uni eddress and used it. But it turns out that’s the way he likes it. 🙂
I guess the info on this site leads to more than one way to contact him. If you go to the “Research Interests” link, you will find the eddress that always works for me.
Looks like an Abyssinian–I suppose Singapuras have a lot of that breed in there.
Abys are so flexible. My late cat Israfel used to drape himself over my neck. He helped me realize why people are so attracted to furs! He liked to hug too and would nearly hang from my neck and shoulders at full length while hugging me. Very athletic cat too. He could jump onto the fridge (typical US height) even into his older years. Yes, from the floor!
Oh, by the way Mei Mei is gorgeous!
Is his name a portmanteau of Israel and falafel? ;^)
My brother has Bengal cats and they too, can leap like that. Really startling for someone used to plain old domestic kittehs.
I’d given up on crocoducks, but I was still hoping for a ‘nannercat. Thank God, I can still believe in evolution.
Even better: Singapura (like Singapore) means “lion city”.
Bootiful kitteh!
Not to stretch a point, but Mei Mei goes to great lengths to prove cats are boneless.
😀
Long kitteh is long. Congrats to JD & Mei Mei!
Beautiful cat!
I, too, have a long kitty — a tabby/white mix — who can seem to stretch far beyond his size. We adopted him as a teenager, and the effect was particularly pronounced then: a stretch-limo cat. We quickly deduced that although he has bones, he appears to have no joints. He can wind himself comfortably into the most incredible positions (though nowadays, at age 6, he prefers to spend the day curled up in the conventional ball beneath a quilt.) It’s amazing to watch him stretch, turn, and posture while he’s chasing a laser pointer dot.
What a gorgeous cat! I too have a long cat, she’s actually a Rag doll as is the original “Long Cat”, but as a female she’s smaller.
Mei Mei is stunning in that second shot! She’s…uh, a bit eerie in the first.
Wonderful kitteh!
My old cat loved to sleep in my bathtub because it was COOL and I lived in a super hot super humid city & my apartment would be so hot. She would run and play and run all round that tub jumping in and out. One day I was taking a bath and she ran in there and jumped right in. Of course, she was not happy XD XD and after that she always stopped & touched her foot down to see if water was in there. That was 25 years ago LMAO