Caturday felid trifecta: Betty the Indiana weathercat, lion cub meets his dad, Sylvester’s owner dies (and lagniappe)

August 1, 2020 • 10:30 am

From Upworthy we have the story of Betty the Weathercat, the pet of Indiana Meterologist Jeff Lyons, who’s been broadcasting the weather from his living room. Betty showed up during the report and Lyons picked her up. The initial broadcast is below, followed by a broadcast of the huge public approbation.

What’s not to like: a cat with the weather report? Sadly, the broadcast has gone back to the studio and is now sans chatte. 

The broadcast followup, showing how Betty was incorporated into the report as a regular.

**************

From Animal News we get the story (and a video) of the heartwarming first meeting between a lion cub born at the Denver Zoo and its dad. The story:

Baby Tatu, an African lion, was born at the zoo on July 25, 2019. The playful, curious, and energetic cub became the star of weekly video updates posted online by the zoo’s proud staff members.

Tatu is his mother Neliah’s third offspring. He already weighs over 12 pounds — and his arrival into the world was a very big deal for his species.

DenverZoo.org reports:

“Half of Africa’s lions have disappeared in the past 25 years and the species faces growing threats from poaching, loss of prey and habitat destruction. The cub’s birth is a huge success for the Lion Species Survival Plan (SSP), which ensures healthy, genetically diverse populations of lions within Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) institutions.”

In the clip below, the adorable cub finally gets to meet his father, Tobias. This was Tobias’ first offspring, so it was particularly exciting to watch them meet!

Their initial meeting has been viewed more than half a million times.

Note: there’s an ad at the beginning:

And another meeting of dad and cubs, this time from the San Diego Zoo. Dad looks nonplussed, and listen to that roar!

 

Still another one from Attenborough. It’s self-explanatory; the YouTube notes say this: “After being hidden away by her mother for 16 weeks [Attenborough says “six weeks”], a young lion cub joins her pride’s nursery group.” This is the best one, for it shows the lion cubs playing with each other and also a cub answering the roars of its dad.

*************

Metro makes the sad announcement that YouTube star Steve Cash, the creator of the The Talking Kitty videos, took his own life.  I’ve seen some of the hilarious videos, which YouTube flagged, for some reason, and here’s one: Sylvester has a bad date:

*****************

Lagniappe: A Cat opens box of Temptations in less than 60 seconds!

h/t; Michael, Ginger K.

14 thoughts on “Caturday felid trifecta: Betty the Indiana weathercat, lion cub meets his dad, Sylvester’s owner dies (and lagniappe)

  1. I’m not so impressed with the cat opening the box of Temptations (aka “kitty crack”). One of our cats has found it much more expedient to throw it on the floor from wherever it is kept and it usually bursts open. The box is not at all secure. We put a big rubber band around it after removing its plastic wrap.

    1. My cat loves yellow Temptations too. When I open a new container, I transfer them into another container that’s airtight and impossible for a cat to get into.

      I can’t write any more. I’m in the process of being summoned to the feeding station. Perhaps it would be better if I just let him get his own Temptations . . .

      1. I think our cats like all the flavors of Temptations though we usually only buy the fish-based ones. We have one cat that we can hardly get to eat anything else. The other will eat pretty much anything we put in front of him.

  2. Unfortunately one of mine has devised a way to take the screw top off the large containers. He pitches it to the floor and then pushes it around and pretty soon it’s open. I do not assist. I screw the top tight. Also, unfortunately the dog thinks he’s not the jackpot of treats.. They all can soon empty a can.

  3. The bad-date video is incredibly cruel. The poor cat is scared to death. Instead of trying to calm her down, he’s deliberately upsetting her for dramatic effect. Not funny.

    1. I agree. I thought he was really going to feed it to try and gain its trust. I was shocked to see him slide am unopened tin of food at it. Twice.

  4. Tatu is his mother Neliah’s third offspring.

    Well, of course. From my Swahili notebook :
    1 : moja
    2 : mbili
    3 : tatu
    3 : nne
    5 : tano
    6 : sita
    7 : saba
    8 : nane
    9 : tisa
    10 : kumi
    Some variants for the Ki/Vi, Ji/ Ma and M/Wa classes of nouns, but “tatu” instantly said “three” to me.
    OK, I was doing my Swahili lessons yesterday, and there’s another tranche slated for after this internet browse.

Leave a Reply to jezgrove Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *