When my family lived in New England, cats with extra toes
seemed very commonplace. We owned more than one, and so did many of our
neighbors. Here in the West, they seem much more unusual. I’ve read that for
generations, sailors believed polydactyl cats to be better mousers than cats
without extra digits. They also felt these cats were good luck on long voyages.
As polydactyly is an inherited trait, it stands to reason that you’d find more
extra-toed cats in places where tall ships have plied the waves for centuries:
Western England, Wales, the Eastern U.S., and Canada. Cats with extra toes are
sometimes called Hemingway cats, because the American novelist absolutely
adored them. His first polydactyl cat, Snowball, was a gift from a sea captain.
After his death, Hemingway’s Key West home became a museum and a home for his
beloved pets. Today, fifty feline descendants live there. About half have extra
toes.
No comments:
Post a Comment