Why cats were in WWI trenches. The Great War was such a difficult time, some soldiers sought out the assistance and comfort of four-legged friends — including cats, who were used in the trenches to boost morale. Dogs, homing pigeons, foxes, goats, lion cubs, and even raccoons also served their countries as pets and mascots throughout the “war to end all wars,” and some even carried out official duties. Cats did a bit of both: Though most kitties simply kept their compatriots in good spirits by providing them with loyal companionship (and fending off rats), some also used their heightened sense of atmospheric pressure to detect bombs in advance. Not all feline soldiers’ deeds have gone unnoticed. Among the 75 animals who have received the PDSA Dickin Medal, which was established in 1943 to honor the military service of animals, is a cat named Simon. He served aboard the HMS Amethyst from 1948 to 1949 and received the medal for “disposing of many rats though wounded by shell blast. Throughout the incident his behavior was of the highest order, although the blast was capable of making a hole over a foot in diameter in a steel plate.” In a newsreel of the ship returning home, Simon is rightly referred to as “a hero in his own right.” Cats who served in World War I 500,000 Animals who served in World War I 16 million Kittens produced by Dusty, a tabby cat born in 1935 420 Age of Creme Puff, the oldest known cat 38 Did you know? Calico cats are considered good luck. That’s the reason maneki-neko are so often depicted as calicos. The “beckoning cat” figurines found throughout Japan and at Japanese and Chinese establishments around the world are intended as tokens of good fortune, with one of their paws raised high in a waving motion. This dates back to the tradition of Japanese sailors traveling with calicos to bring about safe passage — the multicolored cats were believed to be able to chase away storms and ancestral ghosts. In the United States and England, meanwhile, male calicos are considered especially lucky because of their rarity.

Mountain goats aren't actually goats. When is a goat not a goat? When it can be spotted on a rail-thin rock crevasse at an altitude of 13,000 feet in the northwestern United States and Canada. That animal, while seemingly possessing the stubbornness attributed to the goats found at petting zoos, is actually the biologically distinct mountain goat, the lone extant species of the genus Oreamnos. While related to domestic and wild goats within the Bovidae family, mountain goats belong to the Rupicaprini tribe, a subdivision of "goat antelopes" that includes fellow rock-climbing creatures such as the goral and chamois. Anatomically, rupicaprids differ from other bovids by featuring short, dagger-like horns atop thinner, lighter skulls. Mountain goats have also developed specific features that would feel strange to their cousins in the petting zoo, namely the thick, double layer of fur and suction cup-like hooves that allow them to survive in cold, treacherous environments. Behavior-wise, male mountain goats are more deferential to females than their domestic cousins. They're also far less likely to engage in the sort of head-butting waged between playful kids and competing rivals among true goat herds, due to the potential for injury from those sharp horns. But lest you think these animals suffer from a courage deficiency, just think about how brave you'd be leaping between cliffs more than 2 miles above sea level. Mountain goats enjoy refreshing themselves with human urine. Most guides will advise keeping a safe distance from mountain goats, but sometimes the animals get a little more close and personal than we'd like. That's what started happening in Washington's Olympic National Park, where the ever-growing mountain goat population developed a taste for the salt in human urine and sweat. Although it can make for a fun campfire story or blog post, a brush with these normally elusive wild animals can be dangerous. Furthermore, the increasingly emboldened creatures have been found to be disrupting the ecosystem by trampling and gobbling up vegetation. In response, the National Park Service in 2018 began airlifting mountain goats to the nearby North Cascades National Park, a locale with plenty of the naturally occurring mineral deposits needed to supplement their diets, and fewer of the freely urinating hikers just waiting to blog about their close encounters with intruding wildlife. #Animals #Goats