Turns out it's National Cat Herders Day (thanks, Rick).
I ran across some comments earlier about how cat herding isn't as difficult as it's made out to be--due to the ease with which cat's can be lead into position through anticipation of desirable food products. It's just a terminology issue. Cat herding in its native form is still an entirely wretched activity.
In the early days of Cat Husbandry, it was readily noted that the Cat Lurers fared far better than the Cat Herders. For example, on the desolate reaches of the Jilf al Kabir, those with little means were frequently unable to proffer the scarce meat and fish scraps needed to lure the increasingly ferrel beasts across the blistering landscape. These less-adept Catsmen and women were subsequently reduced to herding their charges with rocks, switches and animated shooing, eventually becoming the butt of many jokes and cautionary tales across the region. Thus the implications of the modern simile, "...like herding cats".
Without meat scraps or cream to sustain a lengthy journey, the question may be asked: how did these nomadic cat herders manage to cross the bleak expanses with their hordes essentially intact? What is often forgotten are the plentiful stores of fat and moisture that the ancient cats maintained in their ample shoulder humps. This of course permitted extended travel across vast wastelands between key oases. Today, the readily spoiled domestic cat no longer possesses an obvious hump. However, the loose skin at the scruff of the neck still provides vestigial evidence of this fascinating anatomical feature...and a ready handle with which the modern Cat Herder may swiftly (and with minimal lacerations) manipulate members of their willful herds.*
Thanks Tom:
*If you are a student who reached this site via Google and you use this information in your report on Felis catus, you will get an F.
Leave a comment