When a male cat isn't sleeping, it is either prowling, or strutting around its territory. Cats have keen eyesight, hearing, sense of smell, and, of course, ESP with nine lives, so it doesn't matter to them if humans or dinosaurs are in their territory because cats remain supremely confident of retaining control over their own territory.
Just like being president of a nation, cats need to know all of their land and the extent of their resources to remain in control, so every day is a tour of the territory, and that presents a real challenge for a mother trying to hide her kittens from a tom cat on the prowl!
Just like human moms, mother cats need to keep one step ahead of the old man. They need to watch his every move and try to think what he will do next before he thinks of it! So while Tom Cat basks away under the sun (humans say he is "purring", but mother cats call it "snoring"), the mother cat seizes the opportunity to let her kittens out to play. Bobcat cat cheetah cougar felis concolor felis pardalis sonoriensis felis wiedii gato gatto jaguar katze kitten lynx margay mountain lion neko ocelot pussy wildcat
Kittens are just like children:
they all like to play with their food!
Some kittens mind their mothers, others don't,
and some kittens think the best fun in the world
is to play jokes on their mother,
especially by playing hide and seek!
Mother Nature designed Margay kittens so You can see she is thinking about all the harm that could happen to her kitten out there alone in a big world filled with critters looking for a tasty kitten to eat - or to use its beautiful hide for fur!
Mother Margay is probably worried that her kitten is lying hurt somewhere and calling out for her because you can see yhe mother's ears are perked right up listening for the slightest sound that might help find her kitten.
they could drift around the trees and bushes
almost as invisible as a cobweb,
and that makes it easy for them to hide
from fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers!
Another huge advantage margays have
over all other cats in the world
is the margay can turn its hind legs right around
and run head first down trees like a squirrel
(and margays love chasing squirrels!).
Just look at the worried expression on Mother Margay's face as she looks for her missing kitten!
But the kitten has found a nice little hole in the rock, where it is happy that neither Mother Margay - nor any siblings - can find it hidden away in its secret rocky fortress.
In the wild, even little kittens need to grow up fast, and perhaps this kitten is a male, already more concerned with what he wants than his mother's feelings.
Time will pass, darkness will fall, and the margay kitten will suddenly realize he is all alone in a world filled with strange creatures eager to eat him whole, or in parts, and that even a sneaky rattlesnake can find a way to his doorstep!
Will the margay kitten live to become Tom Cat?
See the next page, which is
© 1997 Rico Leffanta
Bobcat cat cheetah cougar felis concolor felis pardalis sonoriensis felis wiedii gato gatto jaguar katze kitten lynx margay mountain lion neko ocelot pussy wildcat
Bobcat cat cheetah cougar felis concolor felis pardalis sonoriensis felis wiedii gato gatto jaguar katze kitten lynx margay mountain lion neko ocelot pussy wildcat