Cat makes harrowing 200-mile trek to find its way home
Scientists, baffled by the Florida cat's incredible navigational skills, search for answers.
By Bryan Nelson Wed, Jan 23 2013 at 7:41 PM
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Photo: Takashi Hososhima/Flickr
It's a story that sounds like
something out of a feel-good Hollywood pet movie: A 4-year-old indoor
house cat named Holly, lost during a family vacation 200 miles from her
home, makes a harrowing two-month journey to find her way back. The
story even has a tear-jerker ending: The day Holly made it back home was
on New Year's Eve, according to the Denver Post.
Holly's trek is an inspiring tale of a cat's resilience and desire
to reunite with its family despite the narrow odds and harrowing ordeals
she likely encountered along the way. For scientists, though, the saga
is as baffling as it is awesome. Unlike some animals, like migratory
birds or sea turtles, cats do not have any known homing instinct or
internal compass. There isn't even any evidence that they have the kind
of long-distance territorial awareness that scientists expect can
occasionally lead dogs back home after becoming lost. So how did Holly
find her way home?
Though the exact details of Holly's journey remain a mystery, it's
unlikely that she was picked up by a good Samaritan and driven home.
When she arrived back to her hometown in West Palm Beach, Fla., she was
staggering, weak and emaciated. The condition of her feet also gave
clues about her ordeal.
"Her pads on her feet were bleeding," explained Bonnie Richter,
Holly's owner. "Her claws are worn weird. The front ones are really
sharp, the back ones worn down to nothing."
Clearly, Holly was determined to make it home. The fact that she
would have had to average more than three miles a day over the course of
her journey also tells of just how efficient a traveler she had to be.
"I really believe these stories, but they're just hard to explain,"
said Marc Bekoff, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Colorado.
"Maybe being street-smart, maybe reading animal cues, maybe being able
to read cars, maybe being a good hunter. I have no data for this."
Holly's trek especially defies the odds, since she was an indoor
house cat. One theory, posited by New York-based animal behaviorist
Peter Borchelt, is that Holly might have followed the Florida coast by
sight or sound, tracking Interstate 95 and deciding to "keep that to the
right and keep the ocean to the left." Nobody but Holly really knows
for sure, though, and it wouldn't be prudent to put poor Holly up to the
test again.
In fact, little research is available on how cats navigate. One
1954 study, which observed how cats placed in a maze were able to locate
exits in the direction of their homes, offers some hints. But the exact
mechanism behind the cats' sense of direction is still a mystery.
It's also possible that Holly represents an exception rather than a
rule. For instance, cats are not often quite so loyal as some other
pets, such as dogs. It's possible that tales of long-distance cat
journeys are rare because many cats simply lack the motivation to return
home. Perhaps the fact that Holly was kept as an indoor house cat
worked in her favor; she didn't know anything else, and felt vulnerable
without the familiarity of her home.
Whatever the explanation, it's clear that there's still a lot we
don't know about our feline companions. For Holly, though, at least we
know she has a happy home, and owners who are thrilled to have her back.
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