Regarding Cats

Mysterious, elusive and beautiful, cats have also been our faithful companions for thousands of years. They shower us with their affection, charm us with their curiosity and delight us with their playfulness. This is a selection of notable felines:

Room 8 (1947–1968) was a neighborhood cat who wandered into a classroom in 1952 at Elysian Heights Elementary School in Echo Park, California. He lived in the school during the school year and then disappeared for the summer, returning when classes started again. This pattern continued without interruption until the mid-1960s.

News cameras would arrive at the school at the beginning of the year waiting for the cat’s return; he became famous and would receive up to 100 letters a day addressed to him at the school.

His obituary in the Los Angeles Times rivaled that of major political figures, running three columns with a photograph. The cat was so famous that his obituary ran in papers as far away as Hartford, Connecticut. The students raised the funds for his gravestone.

Elysian Heights Elementary School has a wall mural on the outside of the school that features Room 8, and his paw prints are immortalized in cement on the sidewalk outside the school.

In 1972, a cat shelter was started in his name called The Room 8 Memorial Foundation.

Nora (born 2006) is a gray tabby cat, rescued from a shelter in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, who has become famous for “tapping” the piano. The Times of London, in its online edition, characterized her music as being “something halfway between Philip Glass and free jazz.”

When a year old, Nora climbed up onto the bench in front of the piano in the middle of the night and began to play.

Since that time, Nora has continued to play the piano on a daily basis (this sometimes annoys her owner), sometimes playing duets with her owner and her owner’s students. The students encouraged the creation of a YouTube video, which was uploaded in early 2007. It received a large number of views and attracted the attention of other media.

Nora has attracted the interest of both musicians and scientists, who are fascinated by her rare behavior. It appears that she likes the attention it brings her, but she also plays when alone. She does express a preference for playing with students, when they play Bach, and for playing a specific piano, a Yamaha Disklavier. In addition, she gravitates toward the D-E-F range on the keyboard and includes the black keys in her playing.

The National Science Foundation has included Nora in a video about animal behavior which was shown in museums in the fall of 2007. Pianist Magazine, based in London, featured her in an article. Betsy Alexander has written a composition called Fur Release: A Prelude for Paws and Hands, incorporating Nora’s music.

Macavity is the name given by several bus drivers from the West Midlands, United Kingdom to a white odd-eyed cat which, since January 2007, has been observed to regularly use the local bus service on its own. Macavity’s fur is reported to be completely white, he has a green left eye and a blue right eye, and he wears a purple collar. His owner and true name are unknown. Commenting on the mysterious cat, bus driver Bill Khunkhun said:

“ As soon as I open the doors he jumps on. He seems to like it. It was quite strange at first but now seems normal. He is the perfect passenger. The only problem is he never pays. ”

Since January 2007, Travel West Midlands drivers on the number 331 Walsall to Willenhall bus route have observed Macavity running to catch their bus at a stop on Churchill Road near a row of 1950s semi-detached houses, two or three times a week. He originally escaped attention by running underneath the seats. After travelling some 400 metres, he routinely alights at the next stop, located near a row of shops. The Daily Mail newspaper has speculated that his possible destination could be a nearby fish and chip shop.

This is just a small sample of these amazing animals.