Extraordinary Cats
Introduction

Playful, brave, loving, and incorrigible! NATURE ponders those EXTRAORDINARY CATS.

Cats command our attention and our devotion. These fascinating creatures have been perplexing people for thousands of years. Are they wild or tame? Aloof or emotional? Funny or indignant? Angelic or mischievous? Needy or independent? The answer is all of the above. And that’s why we adore them.

In fact, they outnumber dogs as pets 66 million to 55 in the U.S. After all, they’re more independent, and, perhaps even more significantly, cats provide us with a close connection to something wild.

Indeed, no matter how well a cat is fed, stroked, brushed, and otherwise fussed over, they are hunters at heart.

EXTRAORDINARY CATS profiles fascinating felines — from Sooty, a cat who found his way over 100 miles back home, to Scarlett, who risked her life to save her kittens from a burning building.

To order a copy of EXTRAORDINARY CATS, please visit the NATURE Shop.
Online content for EXTRAORDINARY CATS was originally posted February 1999.

Tags:
55 Responses to “Introduction”
  1. Meow EMMA says:

    CATS!!! That is a cute cat!!! Reebok is cute cute cute and cute. Sorry about what happend to Reebok. I am a cat fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! time : 1:20

  2. grace says:

    i like dogs and cats

  3. logan whitfield says:

    i hate cats but love dogs

  4. jackalope says:

    i have found that you never own a cat,they feel that the reverse is true

  5. Cheeks says:

    I love cats so much because I think they are so fuzzy!!!!!!!

  6. omen says:

    I have three cats. An orange tabby(Picachu),an angora,deaf(Snow White),and a calilco(Spooky Two). All three females. They are my best companions.

  7. Charree says:

    Aww! That cat looks like our cat(Hermione)!

  8. Kelli McLeavey says:

    This looks exactly like my kitty waffles!!!!!!!! ITs sooo weird!!!!!!

  9. majika says:

    so nice….! i have 7 cats..

  10. GOLU says:

    lovely cat, god bless and keep safe all wildlife

  11. Kyira1441 says:

    I have two wonderful kittycats, Scarlett and Romeo, they are the sweetest felines on this earth. Scarlett’s a nut and Romeo’s a laidback flamepoint Siamese. They are the best of the best!

  12. Brittany Krauth says:

    “MEOW!” Who likes cats around here? I LOVE cats!!!!!!!!!

  13. dakota says:

    they are so cute i would marry one

  14. Lucyna Jewel says:

    I Am ubsesd with DOGS!!!

  15. Nalini says:

    I Iove cats

  16. James says:

    great pic!

  17. koko wawa says:

    انا احب القطااااو وااااااااااااايد

  18. Autumn says:

    I absoltey l looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove cats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had 2.one was Sweetie the other one her name is Kitty. Kitty was the Devil & Sweetie was an angle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;( I LOVE YOU SWEETIE

  19. Gina says:

    Cats are one of the most intelligent creatures around. Really they know exactly what they want.
    thanks for looking
    http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?B=98747&U=230335&M=9287

  20. Cynthia says:

    I am owned by 3 cats. Buddy 11, Miss Lily 4, and Pryncess Diva 3. All are rescuses after being dumped by unfeeling owner. They are my world. Waking me in the morning ,at 5 a.m.

    Of all the cats I have ever had the one I loved the most was my snow white shorthair named Loco. I had her for 12 years .Meanest cat in the world to everyone except me. My family kept telling me to get rid of her or I might get hurt. But one look into those big yellow eyes an you just melt . You could not help but love her , but beware of the claws. I do not beleive in declawing. Anyway, Loco lived most of her life outside until I move into a place that allowed cats.I now have Buddy 11, Miss Lily 4, and Pryncess Diva 3. They run the house and my life.

  21. siamese cats says:

    I don’t mean colors. I mean….. well I’ve seen siamese cats that are extremely skinney with pointy faces and very short hair and other siamese cats with longer hair and not so skinney. Are they not both siamese or are the longer haired ones maybe mixed?
    My friend’s cat had kittens and the father is siamese. I haven’t seen the kittens yet but was confused by the difference in pics I found when I did a search. She’s sending me some pictures. I hope they are the “apple heads”. I prefer the look of them.

  22. It’s truly a great and helpful piece of information. I am glad that you simply shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.

  23. siamese cats says:

    Siamese cats are very good creature in the world of all the cats feline. Smartness, commited , equilibrised Siamese cats you will be best quakers. Among the cats of other stocks, Siamese take issue warmheartedness and love for the particular nature of merriment. This stock is the oldest on earth and has been spawned specifically to Siamese cats gave lovingness and comfort to peoples in the house. If you come to the raft or you simply do not have the climate, or maybe just outside inclemency – your Siamese cats will not mak.

  24. Emma Whitfill says:

    I love cats! They are so incredible! I mean, they have so much pride. They have manged to become the center of many human’s attention. How they used to survive without us, I have no idea. I would really like to know more about them, as I have not really learned much from my two cats and three kittens. I thought I might know more if I looked on this website. But, I guess 11 year olds don’t really know much, do we?

  25. me says:

    I love kitties. I left my guy after 13 yrs but didn’t have the heart to take away our pet from him. I visit both of them quite often now and admit I love the cat which brings me back time and time again.

Leave a Reply

Please note that the THIRTEEN editorial staff reserves the right to not post comments it deems to be inappropriate and/or malicious in nature, as well as edit comments for length, clarity and fairness. No solicitations or advertisements will be allowed. Users may link to other Web sites relevant to discussion, but most often links to commercial Web sites will not be permitted.

Produced by THIRTEEN    ©2013 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.