Language photos on Flickr

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. – More than 3,000 students from across California visited the Presidio of Monterey on May 13 for DLIFLC’s Language Day. Students, educators and other participants were treated to stage performances, classroom displays and ethnic cuisine, highlighting the cultures of the many foreign languages taught here.

PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.

Aran language map. by P. A. Zetler

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A map of languages and language families from notes for a conspecies I've been working on for a while. You can see the full version here.

language exchange, language learning by exchangelanguages

www.exchangelanguages.org/ french language learning, french language software, french learning, french lessons, french lessons online, french study, german language, german language courses

Pattadakal tower by Ashok Saravanan .Ay

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Pattadakal (Pattadakallu in local language ) in the Indian state of Karnataka is renowned for the group of the 8th century CE monuments. These are listed in the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.

Located on the banks of the river Malaprabha, Pattadakal is the capital of the Chalukya rulers. Packed with a dozen or so temples of varying sizes and antiquity, Pattadakal is one of the unique places to see that many temples of the early Chalukyan architecture. Also it is a rare place where the south Indian & north Indian style temples share the same landscape.

The oldest of them all is the Sangamesvara Temple built by king Vijayaditya during the 8 century AD. Though not the biggest of the temples in Paddatdakal this temple dedicated to lord Siva is one of the fine examples of the high architectural standards maintained by the Chaluykan architecture. Almost all the temples are carved with dramatic themes from the Hindu mythology. A great majority of them is on lord Siva, especially the dancing aspects. The oldest of them all are the Mallikarjuna and the Virupaksha Temples.

Other major temples in Pattadakal include the Kadasiddheshvara Temple, Jambulings Temple, Galaganatha Temple, Chandrashekara Temple, Papanatha Temple, Kashivishvanatha Temple and the Jain Temple.

Every year during the first quarter (January or February) Pattadakal celebrates the annual dance festival also called the Chalukya Utsava. Apart from Pattadakal the venues includes the nearby ancient sites Badami and Aihole too. This three days extravaganza of dance and music attracts hordes of art lovers. The majestic temple backdrops and the performance by renowned artists brings alive the magic of the bygone era.

P.S.

Clicked almost just before the Sun Set, with the help of PS only I got the Details of the Human elements in the frame

View On Black

Hmong children in school 2 by Ari Vitikainen

It is often difficult for ethnic minority children in Laos to start their school because they do not understand Lao and because government teachers seldom speak ethnic minority languages.

2013 Memorial Day Ceremony by Presidio of Monterey

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. - Service members, civilian personnel and family members of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey paid tribute to those who have died serving our Nation during the DLIFLC and POM Memorial Day Ceremony held on Soldier Field, May 23.

PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.

Santa Cruz Warriors Military Appreciation Night 2014 by Presidio of Monterey

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. --

Military service members of the color guard from the Presidio of Monterey march into position to display the colors during the playing of the national anthem at the Santa Cruz Warriors Basketball Team's Military Appreciation Night April 1, 2014, at the Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz. The service members who make up the color guard are students at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, located on the Presidio of Monterey. The evening was coordinated by the Presidio of Monterey Family Morale, Welfare and Recreation Office and the Santa Cruz Warriors, a popular NBA affiliate who plays in its development league. Working together, the two organizations regularly provide free tickets to military members stationed at the Presidio to honor and thank them for their military service. To learn more about the people and facilities of the Presidio of Monterey visit www.monterey.army.mil

Photo by Michael Beaton, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.

Cat - Domestic Cat - House Cat (Felis Catus) by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

The cat (Felis catus), commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae. Recent advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the domestication of the cat occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC. It is commonly kept as a house pet and farm cat, but also ranges freely as a feral cat avoiding human contact. It is valued by humans for companionship and its ability to kill vermin. Because of its retractable claws it is adapted to killing small prey like mice and rats. It has a strong flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp teeth, and its night vision and sense of smell are well developed. It is a social species, but a solitary hunter and a crepuscular predator. Cat communication includes vocalizations like meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, and grunting as well as cat body language. It can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by small mammals. It also secretes and perceives pheromones.

Female domestic cats can have kittens from spring to late autumn in temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions, with litter sizes often ranging from two to five kittens. Domestic cats are bred and shown at events as registered pedigreed cats, a hobby known as cat fancy. Animal population control of cats may be achieved by spaying and neutering, but their proliferation and the abandonment of pets has resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide, contributing to the extinction of bird, mammal and reptile species.

As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. In the United Kingdom, 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats as of 2020. As of 2021, there were an estimated 220 million owned and 480 million stray cats in the world.

Etymology and naming

The origin of the English word cat, Old English catt, is thought to be the Late Latin word cattus, which was first used at the beginning of the 6th century. The Late Latin word may be derived from an unidentified African language. The Nubian word kaddîska 'wildcat' and Nobiin kadīs are possible sources or cognates. The Nubian word may be a loan from Arabic قَطّ‎ qaṭṭ ~ قِطّ qiṭṭ.

The forms might also have derived from an ancient Germanic word that was imported into Latin and then into Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. The word may be derived from Germanic and Northern European languages, and ultimately be borrowed from Uralic, cf. Northern Sámi gáđfi, 'female stoat', and Hungarian hölgy, 'lady, female stoat'; from Proto-Uralic *käďwä, 'female (of a furred animal)'.

The English puss, extended as pussy and pussycat, is attested from the 16th century and may have been introduced from Dutch poes or from Low German puuskatte, related to Swedish kattepus, or Norwegian pus, pusekatt. Similar forms exist in Lithuanian puižė and Irish puisín or puiscín. The etymology of this word is unknown, but it may have arisen from a sound used to attract a cat.

A male cat is called a tom or tomcat (or a gib, if neutered). A female is called a queen or a molly, if spayed, especially in a cat-breeding context. A juvenile cat is referred to as a kitten. In Early Modern English, the word kitten was interchangeable with the now-obsolete word catling.

A group of cats can be referred to as a clowder or a glaring.

Taxonomy

The scientific name Felis catus was proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for a domestic cat. Felis catus domesticus was proposed by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. Felis daemon proposed by Konstantin Satunin in 1904 was a black cat from the Transcaucasus, later identified as a domestic cat.

In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled that the domestic cat is a distinct species, namely Felis catus. In 2007, it was considered a subspecies, F. silvestris catus, of the European wildcat (F. silvestris) following results of phylogenetic research. In 2017, the IUCN Cat Classification Taskforce followed the recommendation of the ICZN in regarding the domestic cat as a distinct species, Felis catus.

Evolution

Main article: Cat evolution

The domestic cat is a member of the Felidae, a family that had a common ancestor about 10 to 15 million years ago. The evolutionary radiation of the Felidae began in Asia during the Miocene around 8.38 to 14.45 million years ago. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of all Felidae species indicates a radiation at 6.46 to 16.76 million years ago. The genus Felis genetically diverged from other Felidae around 6 to 7 million years ago. Results of phylogenetic research shows that the wild members of this genus evolved through sympatric or parapatric speciation, whereas the domestic cat evolved through artificial selection. The domestic cat and its closest wild ancestor are diploid and both possess 38 chromosomes and roughly 20,000 genes.

Domestication

See also: Domestication of the cat and Cats in ancient Egypt

It was long thought that the domestication of the cat began in ancient Egypt, where cats were venerated from around 3100 BC, However, the earliest known indication for the taming of an African wildcat was excavated close by a human Neolithic grave in Shillourokambos, southern Cyprus, dating to about 7500–7200 BC. Since there is no evidence of native mammalian fauna on Cyprus, the inhabitants of this Neolithic village most likely brought the cat and other wild mammals to the island from the Middle Eastern mainland. Scientists therefore assume that African wildcats were attracted to early human settlements in the Fertile Crescent by rodents, in particular the house mouse (Mus musculus), and were tamed by Neolithic farmers. This mutual relationship between early farmers and tamed cats lasted thousands of years. As agricultural practices spread, so did tame and domesticated cats. Wildcats of Egypt contributed to the maternal gene pool of the domestic cat at a later time.

The earliest known evidence for the occurrence of the domestic cat in Greece dates to around 1200 BC. Greek, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Etruscan traders introduced domestic cats to southern Europe. During the Roman Empire they were introduced to Corsica and Sardinia before the beginning of the 1st millennium. By the 5th century BC, they were familiar animals around settlements in Magna Graecia and Etruria. By the end of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Egyptian domestic cat lineage had arrived in a Baltic Sea port in northern Germany.

The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) was tamed independently in China around 5500 BC. This line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domestic cat populations of today.

During domestication, cats have undergone only minor changes in anatomy and behavior, and they are still capable of surviving in the wild. Several natural behaviors and characteristics of wildcats may have pre-adapted them for domestication as pets. These traits include their small size, social nature, obvious body language, love of play, and high intelligence. Captive Leopardus cats may also display affectionate behavior toward humans but were not domesticated. House cats often mate with feral cats. Hybridisation between domestic and other Felinae species is also possible, producing hybrids such as the Kellas cat in Scotland.

Development of cat breeds started in the mid 19th century. An analysis of the domestic cat genome revealed that the ancestral wildcat genome was significantly altered in the process of domestication, as specific mutations were selected to develop cat breeds. Most breeds are founded on random-bred domestic cats. Genetic diversity of these breeds varies between regions, and is lowest in purebred populations, which show more than 20 deleterious genetic disorders.

Characteristics

Main article: Cat anatomy

Size

The domestic cat has a smaller skull and shorter bones than the European wildcat. It averages about 46 cm (18 in) in head-to-body length and 23–25 cm (9.1–9.8 in) in height, with about 30 cm (12 in) long tails. Males are larger than females. Adult domestic cats typically weigh 4–5 kg (8.8–11.0 lb).

Skeleton

Cats have seven cervical vertebrae (as do most mammals); 13 thoracic vertebrae (humans have 12); seven lumbar vertebrae (humans have five); three sacral vertebrae (as do most mammals, but humans have five); and a variable number of caudal vertebrae in the tail (humans have only three to five vestigial caudal vertebrae, fused into an internal coccyx). The extra lumbar and thoracic vertebrae account for the cat's spinal mobility and flexibility. Attached to the spine are 13 ribs, the shoulder, and the pelvis. Unlike human arms, cat forelimbs are attached to the shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones which allow them to pass their body through any space into which they can fit their head.

Skull

The cat skull is unusual among mammals in having very large eye sockets and a powerful specialized jaw. Within the jaw, cats have teeth adapted for killing prey and tearing meat. When it overpowers its prey, a cat delivers a lethal neck bite with its two long canine teeth, inserting them between two of the prey's vertebrae and severing its spinal cord, causing irreversible paralysis and death. Compared to other felines, domestic cats have narrowly spaced canine teeth relative to the size of their jaw, which is an adaptation to their preferred prey of small rodents, which have small vertebrae.

The premolar and first molar together compose the carnassial pair on each side of the mouth, which efficiently shears meat into small pieces, like a pair of scissors. These are vital in feeding, since cats' small molars cannot chew food effectively, and cats are largely incapable of mastication.: Cats tend to have better teeth than most humans, with decay generally less likely because of a thicker protective layer of enamel, a less damaging saliva, less retention of food particles between teeth, and a diet mostly devoid of sugar. Nonetheless, they are subject to occasional tooth loss and infection.

Claws

Cats have protractible and retractable claws. In their normal, relaxed position, the claws are sheathed with the skin and fur around the paw's toe pads. This keeps the claws sharp by preventing wear from contact with the ground and allows for the silent stalking of prey. The claws on the forefeet are typically sharper than those on the hindfeet. Cats can voluntarily extend their claws on one or more paws. They may extend their claws in hunting or self-defense, climbing, kneading, or for extra traction on soft surfaces. Cats shed the outside layer of their claw sheaths when scratching rough surfaces.

Most cats have five claws on their front paws and four on their rear paws. The dewclaw is proximal to the other claws. More proximally is a protrusion which appears to be a sixth "finger". This special feature of the front paws on the inside of the wrists has no function in normal walking but is thought to be an antiskidding device used while jumping. Some cat breeds are prone to having extra digits ("polydactyly"). Polydactylous cats occur along North America's northeast coast and in Great Britain.

Ambulation

The cat is digitigrade. It walks on the toes, with the bones of the feet making up the lower part of the visible leg. Unlike most mammals, it uses a "pacing" gait and moves both legs on one side of the body before the legs on the other side. It registers directly by placing each hind paw close to the track of the corresponding fore paw, minimizing noise and visible tracks. This also provides sure footing for hind paws when navigating rough terrain. As it speeds up from walking to trotting, its gait changes to a "diagonal" gait: The diagonally opposite hind and fore legs move simultaneously.

Balance

Cats are generally fond of sitting in high places or perching. A higher place may serve as a concealed site from which to hunt; domestic cats strike prey by pouncing from a perch such as a tree branch. Another possible explanation is that height gives the cat a better observation point, allowing it to survey its territory. A cat falling from heights of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) can right itself and land on its paws.

During a fall from a high place, a cat reflexively twists its body and rights itself to land on its feet using its acute sense of balance and flexibility. This reflex is known as the cat righting reflex. A cat always rights itself in the same way during a fall, if it has enough time to do so, which is the case in falls of 90 cm (3.0 ft) or more. How cats are able to right themselves when falling has been investigated as the "falling cat problem".

Coats

Main article: Cat coat genetics

The cat family (Felidae) can pass down many colors and patterns to their offspring. The domestic cat genes MC1R and ASIP allow for the variety of color in coats. The feline ASIP gene consists of three coding exons. Three novel microsatellite markers linked to ASIP were isolated from a domestic cat BAC clone containing this gene and were used to perform linkage analysis in a pedigree of 89 domestic cats that segregated for melanism.[citation needed]

Senses

Main article: Cat senses

Vision

A cat's nictitating membrane shown as it blinks

Cats have excellent night vision and can see at only one-sixth the light level required for human vision. This is partly the result of cat eyes having a tapetum lucidum, which reflects any light that passes through the retina back into the eye, thereby increasing the eye's sensitivity to dim light. Large pupils are an adaptation to dim light. The domestic cat has slit pupils, which allow it to focus bright light without chromatic aberration. At low light, a cat's pupils expand to cover most of the exposed surface of its eyes. The domestic cat has rather poor color vision and only two types of cone cells, optimized for sensitivity to blue and yellowish green; its ability to distinguish between red and green is limited. A response to middle wavelengths from a system other than the rod cells might be due to a third type of cone. This appears to be an adaptation to low light levels rather than representing true trichromatic vision. Cats also have a nictitating membrane, allowing them to blink without hindering their vision.

Hearing

The domestic cat's hearing is most acute in the range of 500 Hz to 32 kHz. It can detect an extremely broad range of frequencies ranging from 55 Hz to 79 kHz, whereas humans can only detect frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. It can hear a range of 10.5 octaves, while humans and dogs can hear ranges of about 9 octaves. Its hearing sensitivity is enhanced by its large movable outer ears, the pinnae, which amplify sounds and help detect the location of a noise. It can detect ultrasound, which enables it to detect ultrasonic calls made by rodent prey. Recent research has shown that cats have socio-spatial cognitive abilities to create mental maps of owners' locations based on hearing owners' voices.

Smell

Cats have an acute sense of smell, due in part to their well-developed olfactory bulb and a large surface of olfactory mucosa, about 5.8 cm2 (0.90 in2) in area, which is about twice that of humans. Cats and many other animals have a Jacobson's organ in their mouths that is used in the behavioral process of flehmening. It allows them to sense certain aromas in a way that humans cannot. Cats are sensitive to pheromones such as 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol, which they use to communicate through urine spraying and marking with scent glands. Many cats also respond strongly to plants that contain nepetalactone, especially catnip, as they can detect that substance at less than one part per billion. About 70–80% of cats are affected by nepetalactone. This response is also produced by other plants, such as silver vine (Actinidia polygama) and the herb valerian; it may be caused by the smell of these plants mimicking a pheromone and stimulating cats' social or sexual behaviors.

Taste

Cats have relatively few taste buds compared to humans (470 or so versus more than 9,000 on the human tongue). Domestic and wild cats share a taste receptor gene mutation that keeps their sweet taste buds from binding to sugary molecules, leaving them with no ability to taste sweetness. They, however, possess taste bud receptors specialized for acids, amino acids like protein, and bitter tastes. Their taste buds possess the receptors needed to detect umami. However, these receptors contain molecular changes that make the cat taste of umami different from that of humans. In humans, they detect the amino acids of glutamic acid and aspartic acid, but in cats they instead detect nucleotides, in this case inosine monophosphate and l-Histidine. These nucleotides are particularly enriched in tuna. This has been argued is why cats find tuna so palatable: as put by researchers into cat taste, "the specific combination of the high IMP and free l-Histidine contents of tuna" .. "produces a strong umami taste synergy that is highly preferred by cats". One of the researchers involved in this research has further claimed, "I think umami is as important for cats as sweet is for humans".[87]

Cats also have a distinct temperature preference for their food, preferring food with a temperature around 38 °C (100 °F) which is similar to that of a fresh kill; some cats reject cold food (which would signal to the cat that the "prey" item is long dead and therefore possibly toxic or decomposing).

Whiskers

To aid with navigation and sensation, cats have dozens of movable whiskers (vibrissae) over their body, especially their faces. These provide information on the width of gaps and on the location of objects in the dark, both by touching objects directly and by sensing air currents; they also trigger protective blink reflexes to protect the eyes from damage.: 47

Behavior

See also: Kitten

The cat secretes and perceives pheromones. Female cats, called queens, are polyestrous with several estrus cycles during a year, lasting usually 21 days. They are usually ready to mate between early February and August in northern temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions.

Several males, called tomcats, are attracted to a female in heat. They fight over her, and the victor wins the right to mate. At first, the female rejects the male, but eventually, the female allows the male to mate. The female utters a loud yowl as the male pulls out of her because a male cat's penis has a band of about 120–150 backward-pointing penile spines, which are about 1 mm (0.039 in) long; upon withdrawal of the penis, the spines may provide the female with increased sexual stimulation, which acts to induce ovulation.

After mating, the female cleans her vulva thoroughly. If a male attempts to mate with her at this point, the female attacks him. After about 20 to 30 minutes, once the female is finished grooming, the cycle will repeat. Because ovulation is not always triggered by a single mating, females may not be impregnated by the first male with which they mate. Furthermore, cats are superfecund; that is, a female may mate with more than one male when she is in heat, with the result that different kittens in a litter may have different fathers.

The morula forms 124 hours after conception. At 148 hours, early blastocysts form. At 10–12 days, implantation occurs. The gestation of queens lasts between 64 and 67 days, with an average of 65 days.

Data on the reproductive capacity of more than 2,300 free-ranging queens were collected during a study between May 1998 and October 2000. They had one to six kittens per litter, with an average of three kittens. They produced a mean of 1.4 litters per year, but a maximum of three litters in a year. Of 169 kittens, 127 died before they were six months old due to a trauma caused in most cases by dog attacks and road accidents. The first litter is usually smaller than subsequent litters. Kittens are weaned between six and seven weeks of age. Queens normally reach sexual maturity at 5–10 months, and males at 5–7 months. This varies depending on breed. Kittens reach puberty at the age of 9–10 months.

Cats are ready to go to new homes at about 12 weeks of age, when they are ready to leave their mother. They can be surgically sterilized (spayed or castrated) as early as seven weeks to limit unwanted reproduction. This surgery also prevents undesirable sex-related behavior, such as aggression, territory marking (spraying urine) in males and yowling (calling) in females. Traditionally, this surgery was performed at around six to nine months of age, but it is increasingly being performed before puberty, at about three to six months. In the United States, about 80% of household cats are neutered.

Lifespan and health

Main articles: Cat health and Aging in cats

The average lifespan of pet cats has risen in recent decades. In the early 1980s, it was about seven years,: 33 rising to 9.4 years in 1995: 33 and an average of about 13 years as of 2014 and 2023. Some cats have been reported as surviving into their 30s, with the oldest known cat dying at a verified age of 38.

Neutering increases life expectancy: one study found castrated male cats live twice as long as intact males, while spayed female cats live 62% longer than intact females.: 35 Having a cat neutered confers health benefits, because castrated males cannot develop testicular cancer, spayed females cannot develop uterine or ovarian cancer, and both have a reduced risk of mammary cancer.

Disease

Main article: List of feline diseases

About 250 heritable genetic disorders have been identified in cats, many similar to human inborn errors of metabolism. The high level of similarity among the metabolism of mammals allows many of these feline diseases to be diagnosed using genetic tests that were originally developed for use in humans, as well as the use of cats as animal models in the study of the human diseases. Diseases affecting domestic cats include acute infections, parasitic infestations, injuries, and chronic diseases such as kidney disease, thyroid disease, and arthritis. Vaccinations are available for many infectious diseases, as are treatments to eliminate parasites such as worms, ticks, and fleas.

Ecology

Habitats

The domestic cat is a cosmopolitan species and occurs across much of the world. It is adaptable and now present on all continents except Antarctica, and on 118 of the 131 main groups of islands, even on the isolated Kerguelen Islands. Due to its ability to thrive in almost any terrestrial habitat, it is among the world's most invasive species. It lives on small islands with no human inhabitants. Feral cats can live in forests, grasslands, tundra, coastal areas, agricultural land, scrublands, urban areas, and wetlands.

The unwantedness that leads to the domestic cat being treated as an invasive species is twofold. On one hand, as it is little altered from the wildcat, it can readily interbreed with the wildcat. This hybridization poses a danger to the genetic distinctiveness of some wildcat populations, particularly in Scotland and Hungary, possibly also the Iberian Peninsula, and where protected natural areas are close to human-dominated landscapes, such as Kruger National Park in South Africa. However, its introduction to places where no native felines are present also contributes to the decline of native species.

Ferality

Main article: Feral cat

Feral cats are domestic cats that were born in or have reverted to a wild state. They are unfamiliar with and wary of humans and roam freely in urban and rural areas. The numbers of feral cats is not known, but estimates of the United States feral population range from 25 to 60 million. Feral cats may live alone, but most are found in large colonies, which occupy a specific territory and are usually associated with a source of food. Famous feral cat colonies are found in Rome around the Colosseum and Forum Romanum, with cats at some of these sites being fed and given medical attention by volunteers.

Public attitudes toward feral cats vary widely, from seeing them as free-ranging pets to regarding them as vermin.

Some feral cats can be successfully socialized and 're-tamed' for adoption; young cats, especially kittens and cats that have had prior experience and contact with humans are the most receptive to these efforts.

Impact on wildlife

Main article: Cat predation on wildlife

On islands, birds can contribute as much as 60% of a cat's diet. In nearly all cases, the cat cannot be identified as the sole cause for reducing the numbers of island birds, and in some instances, eradication of cats has caused a "mesopredator release" effect; where the suppression of top carnivores creates an abundance of smaller predators that cause a severe decline in their shared prey. Domestic cats are a contributing factor to the decline of many species, a factor that has ultimately led, in some cases, to extinction. The South Island piopio, Chatham rail, and the New Zealand merganser are a few from a long list, with the most extreme case being the flightless Lyall's wren, which was driven to extinction only a few years after its discovery. One feral cat in New Zealand killed 102 New Zealand lesser short-tailed bats in seven days. In the US, feral and free-ranging domestic cats kill an estimated 6.3 – 22.3 billion mammals annually.

In Australia, the impact of cats on mammal populations is even greater than the impact of habitat loss. More than one million reptiles are killed by feral cats each day, representing 258 species. Cats have contributed to the extinction of the Navassa curly-tailed lizard and Chioninia coctei.

Interaction with humans

Main article: Human interaction with cats

Cats are common pets throughout the world, and their worldwide population as of 2007 exceeded 500 million. As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. In the United Kingdom, 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats as of 2020. As of 2021, there were an estimated 220 million owned and 480 million stray cats in the world.

Cats have been used for millennia to control rodents, notably around grain stores and aboard ships, and both uses extend to the present day.

As well as being kept as pets, cats are also used in the international fur trade and leather industries for making coats, hats, blankets, stuffed toys, shoes, gloves, and musical instruments. About 24 cats are needed to make a cat-fur coat. This use has been outlawed in the United States since 2000 and in the European Union (as well as the United Kingdom) since 2007.

Cat pelts have been used for superstitious purposes as part of the practice of witchcraft, and are still made into blankets in Switzerland as traditional medicine thought to cure rheumatism.

A few attempts to build a cat census have been made over the years, both through associations or national and international organizations (such as that of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies) and over the Internet, but such a task does not seem simple to achieve. General estimates for the global population of domestic cats range widely from anywhere between 200 million to 600 million. Walter Chandoha made his career photographing cats after his 1949 images of Loco, an especially charming stray taken in, were published around the world. He is reported to have photographed 90,000 cats during his career and maintained an archive of 225,000 images that he drew from for publications during his lifetime.

Shows

Main article: Cat show

A cat show is a judged event in which the owners of cats compete to win titles in various cat-registering organizations by entering their cats to be judged after a breed standard. It is often required that a cat must be healthy and vaccinated in order to participate in a cat show. Both pedigreed and non-purebred companion ("moggy") cats are admissible, although the rules differ depending on the organization. Competing cats are compared to the applicable breed standard, and assessed for temperament.

Infection

Main article: Feline zoonosis

Cats can be infected or infested with viruses, bacteria, fungus, protozoans, arthropods or worms that can transmit diseases to humans. In some cases, the cat exhibits no symptoms of the disease. The same disease can then become evident in a human. The likelihood that a person will become diseased depends on the age and immune status of the person. Humans who have cats living in their home or in close association are more likely to become infected. Others might also acquire infections from cat feces and parasites exiting the cat's body. Some of the infections of most concern include salmonella, cat-scratch disease and toxoplasmosis.

History and mythology

Main articles: Cultural depictions of cats and Cats in ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, cats were worshipped, and the goddess Bastet often depicted in cat form, sometimes taking on the war-like aspect of a lioness. The Greek historian Herodotus reported that killing a cat was forbidden, and when a household cat died, the entire family mourned and shaved their eyebrows. Families took their dead cats to the sacred city of Bubastis, where they were embalmed and buried in sacred repositories. Herodotus expressed astonishment at the domestic cats in Egypt, because he had only ever seen wildcats.

Ancient Greeks and Romans kept weasels as pets, which were seen as the ideal rodent-killers. The earliest unmistakable evidence of the Greeks having domestic cats comes from two coins from Magna Graecia dating to the mid-fifth century BC showing Iokastos and Phalanthos, the legendary founders of Rhegion and Taras respectively, playing with their pet cats. The usual ancient Greek word for 'cat' was ailouros, meaning 'thing with the waving tail'. Cats are rarely mentioned in ancient Greek literature. Aristotle remarked in his History of Animals that "female cats are naturally lecherous." The Greeks later syncretized their own goddess Artemis with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, adopting Bastet's associations with cats and ascribing them to Artemis. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, when the deities flee to Egypt and take animal forms, the goddess Diana turns into a cat.

Cats eventually displaced weasels as the pest control of choice because they were more pleasant to have around the house and were more enthusiastic hunters of mice. During the Middle Ages, many of Artemis's associations with cats were grafted onto the Virgin Mary. Cats are often shown in icons of Annunciation and of the Holy Family and, according to Italian folklore, on the same night that Mary gave birth to Jesus, a cat in Bethlehem gave birth to a kitten. Domestic cats were spread throughout much of the rest of the world during the Age of Discovery, as ships' cats were carried on sailing ships to control shipboard rodents and as good-luck charms.

Several ancient religions believed cats are exalted souls, companions or guides for humans, that are all-knowing but mute so they cannot influence decisions made by humans. In Japan, the maneki neko cat is a symbol of good fortune. In Norse mythology, Freyja, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, is depicted as riding a chariot drawn by cats. In Jewish legend, the first cat was living in the house of the first man Adam as a pet that got rid of mice. The cat was once partnering with the first dog before the latter broke an oath they had made which resulted in enmity between the descendants of these two animals. It is also written that neither cats nor foxes are represented in the water, while every other animal has an incarnation species in the water. Although no species are sacred in Islam, cats are revered by Muslims. Some Western writers have stated Muhammad had a favorite cat, Muezza. He is reported to have loved cats so much, "he would do without his cloak rather than disturb one that was sleeping on it". The story has no origin in early Muslim writers, and seems to confuse a story of a later Sufi saint, Ahmed ar-Rifa'i, centuries after Muhammad. One of the companions of Muhammad was known as Abu Hurayrah ("father of the kitten"), in reference to his documented affection to cats.

Superstitions and rituals

Many cultures have negative superstitions about cats. An example would be the belief that encountering a black cat ("crossing one's path") leads to bad luck, or that cats are witches' familiars used to augment a witch's powers and skills. The killing of cats in Medieval Ypres, Belgium, is commemorated in the innocuous present-day Kattenstoet (cat parade). In mid-16th century France, cats would be burnt alive as a form of entertainment, particularly during midsummer festivals. According to Norman Davies, the assembled people "shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized". The remaining ashes were sometimes taken back home by the people for good luck.

According to a myth in many cultures, cats have multiple lives. In many countries, they are believed to have nine lives, but in Italy, Germany, Greece, Brazil and some Spanish-speaking regions, they are said to have seven lives, while in Arabic traditions, the number of lives is six. An early mention of the myth can be found in John Heywood's The Proverbs of John Heywood (1546)

Husband, (quoth she), ye studie, be merrie now,

And even as ye thinke now, so come to yow.

Nay not so, (quoth he), for my thought to tell right,

I thinke how you lay groning, wife, all last night.

Husband, a groning horse and a groning wife

Never faile their master, (quoth she), for my life.

No wife, a woman hath nine lives like a cat.

The myth is attributed to the natural suppleness and swiftness cats exhibit to escape life-threatening situations. Also lending credence to this myth is the fact that falling cats often land on their feet, using an instinctive righting reflex to twist their bodies around. Nonetheless, cats can still be injured or killed by a high fall.

Afrikaans Language Monument by Stephen Harper

Language Day by Presidio of Monterey

Photo by Hiro Chang, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs

The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center opened its doors to the public on May 15 for its annual Language Day event.

The event showcased the cultures of the different departmental languages being taught here through dance, skits and fashion shows.

Exhibits were also presented throughout the school grounds with local Monterey ethnic vendors selling their local cuisines to the customers.

Nearly 2,000 high school students and teachers attended Language Day.

Languages area at old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. library at 180 W. San Carlos St. by San José Public Library

Pattern Language: Gatto by Chephoto

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Mehreen Saeed by yousaf FAYYAZ

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Masty Tour (ISB)

April 2013 Students by Modern Language Center

MLC Students belong to various age brackets and come form different backgrounds and cultures, namely public and private sector employees, businessmen, international and local undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students, housewives and many others.

Through our courses, our main concern is to focus on the four vital language skills: Speaking, Writing, Reading, and Listening. We make sure that our students are be able to speak the language effectively, fluently, and that they can interact with others and realize their ambitions.

Summer courses for high school kids constitute the backbone of our summer activities. Our summer program has a two-tier purpose: a) English teaching as the focus of our attention b) summer activities including skating, swimming, horse riding, trips by bus, and other activities. Our students enjoy both the humane and academic nature of our trips.

Housewives are usually good participants, they form social gatherings during their free time in the mornings. They get to know each other and benefit from their special conversational course with an American teacher. They feel they belong to a women’s club in which they discuss many things, including cooking recipes and most important of all fashion in English.

Adults and businessmen are welcome all the year round, and private organizations get the lion’s share. This is where they need us the most. We extend our technical assistance to them, vocational and educational expertise as well. This is a mutual cooperation so that they can fulfill their objectives.

It’s been years now since we have been teaching English to make communication easier for all of us. Now the time has come for non-Arabs to learn Arabic. The MLC has just completed an Arabic course to make it easier for foreigners to study Arabic. Please pay us a visit at the MLC, and I am sure you will not be disappointed. Certainly, you will not only love it, but you will enjoy it.

We always look forward to seeing our graduates make it through colleges & universities. Now, It is a requirement that all graduates in Jordan pass the TOEFL or the IELTS in order to obtain their degrees. The MLC is committed to our future generations to make it possible for them to pass one of these international tests. It’s through us (MLC) that they make their dreams come true.

Body Language by jenerous life

Branch: Old King Library.

Date: 2/26/1998

Description: Languages area at old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. library at 180 W. San Carlos St.

Languages of Wildlife by MTSOfan

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Code, the common eland, has a conversation with a bee.

PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.

Language House: Max Kade Haus by Oberlin College

Max Kade House is the building on campus where German speakers are encouraged to reside. Approximately 38 students of all class levels reside here. Students have access to a large living room, kitchen facilities, study rooms, and practice spaces.

Photo by Tanya Rosen-Jones '97

Language Day by Presidio of Monterey

Photo by Hiro Chang

The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center opened its doors to the public on May 15 for its annual Language Day event.

The event showcased the cultures of the different departmental languages being taught here through dance, skits and fashion shows.

Exhibits were also presented throughout the school grounds with local Monterey ethnic vendors selling their local cuisines to the customers.

Nearly 2,000 high school students and teachers attended Language Day.

"The language of friendship is not words , but rather meanings . It is an intelligence above language." -Thoreau by rukia-san ♥♪♫ I MISS YOU FLICKR!!!!

Foreign Body Language by Bill Furlong

Paris 2013: Shakespeare & Company by Jim Forest

In 1919 Sylvia Beach (born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1887) opened a bookstore and lending library on the Left Bank of Paris called Shakespeare and Company, which stocked English-language books. Shakespeare and Company became known as "the unofficial living room" of the expatriate artists living in Paris, writers like Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce. Sylvia Beach met Joyce in 1920, just as he was finishing Ulysses. He couldn't get it published because all the big presses thought it was obscene, so she offered to publish it for him, even though she'd never published a book before. To fund the project, she got people to buy advance copies. She had no editors, so she edited the huge manuscript herself, and she published it on Joyce's birthday, February 2, 1922.

During the Nazi occupation of France, people urged Beach to return to America, but she didn't want to leave her bookstore or her community. In 1941, a German officer wanted to buy the copy of Finnegans Wake that was on display in the shop window, and Sylvia refused to sell it to him. He threatened to confiscate everything in her shop. Within a few hours, Sylvia and a few friends moved all the books into hiding in an upstairs apartment and painted over the name on the door, and Shakespeare & Company vanished.

But the real trouble came to Sylvia Beach because she had kept an 18-year-old Jewish girl on the payroll as her assistant. The Nazis had warned Sylvia to get rid of the girl if she knew what was good for her, but she refused. The girl was put on a train to Poland and never heard from again, and Sylvia was sent to an internment camp for six months. After her release, she didn't have the heart to reopen her bookstore. But for more than 50 years, there has been a second Shakespeare and Company bookstore on the Left Bank, run by George Whitman and his daughter Sylvia Beach Whitman. It is a haven for young writers, who can sleep on beds in the store in exchange for working a couple of hours a day shelving books.

Ernest Hemingway wrote about Sylvia Beach: "Sylvia had a lively, sharply sculptured face, brown eyes that were as alive as a small animal's and as gay as a young girl's, and wavy brown hair that was brushed back from her fine forehead and cut thick below her ears and at the line of the collar of the brown velvet jacket she wore. She had pretty legs and she was kind, cheerful and interested, and loved to make jokes and gossip. No one that I ever knew was nicer to me."

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In 1951, another English-language bookstore was opened on Paris's Left Bank by an American George Whitman, under the name of Le Mistral. Its premises, the site of a 16th-century monastery, are at 37 rue de la Bûcherie, near Place Saint-Michel, just steps from the Seine, Notre Dame and the Île de la Cité. Much like the original Shakespeare and Company, the store became a focal point for literary culture in bohemian Paris, and was frequented by many Beat Generation writers, such as Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and William S. Burroughs.

In 1964, after Sylvia Beach's death, Whitman changed his store's name to Shakespeare and Company in tribute to the original venture. He described the bookstore's name as "a novel in three words". and calls the venture "a socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore".[11] Customers have included the likes of Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, and Richard Wright. The bookstore includes sleeping facilities, with 13 beds, and Whitman claims as many as 40,000 people have slept in the shop over the years.

Regular activities that occur in the bookshop are Sunday tea, poetry readings and writers' meetings. Whitman's daughter, Sylvia Beach Whitman, now runs the shop.

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Meet my now best buddies in Flickr.

Jeff and Vanessa.

I've known these two shutterbugs only thru Flickr early this year (Feb 2009) ...later did we know that we're bounded to be jologs (buddies) forever. Ha ha ha

Finally, we all met together in person (first time to meet Vanessa, 2nd time for Jeff since we've met in Cebu but barely over lunch haha) thru our photowalk last June 14, 2009 when Jeff came for a short vacay in Singapore.

It was an all afternoon spilled with nothing but craziness and shutter clicks of fun!

Can't wait for the nexts!! Let's do this AGAIN and AGAIN! =)

~~~

Thanks to the boyfriend, Minervs for taking this shot.

That explains my 'face' and why I don't have my camera with me. Ha ha ha

AT&T Pebble Beach 15th hole Pin Detail 2014 by Presidio of Monterey

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Keeping an annual AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tradition, members from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and Coast Guard Station-Monterey represent the military at the tournament’s 15th hole by tending a special pin adorned with the United States flag Feb. 7, 8 and 9, 2014. The 15th hole was designated as the location of the special “Support Our Troops” tent provided by tournament sponsors and organizers, providing free refreshments and a place to pause and relax for service members attending the tournament. Besides special recognition of military personnel at the 15th hole during the final three days of competition, Feb. 5 was designated as Military Appreciation Day, a special day set aside to recognize and honor the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces during tournament week, Feb. 3 - 9.

To learn more about the people and facilities of the Presidio of Monterey (POM) visit the official garrison website at www.monterey.army.mil.

Photo by Michael Beaton, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs

Body language by Edward Weaver-Coles

Mother Tongue Students by Salman Alam

Mother Tongue Learners striking a pose

Language Day 2017 by Presidio of Monterey

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, California -- The 2017 Language Day celebration was held by the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center at the Presidio of Monterey, May 12. Language Day is open to the public and attended by schools throughout the region to promote an understanding of diverse customs and cultures from around the world. Approximately 5,000 people attended the annual event featuring cultural displays, activities and international ethnic cuisine served by local vendors on Presidio’s Soldier Field.

The event featured a Vietnam War veterans recognition ceremony. Vietnam War lapel pins authorized by Congress were individually presented by POM Garrison Commander Col. Lawrence Brown and Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Roberto Marshall to approximately 75 Vietnam War veterans in attendance.

PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.

Military Day at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by Presidio of Monterey

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. – Service members mingled with celebrities on the Monterey Peninsula as Military Appreciation Day at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am took place Feb. 8. All law enforcement, firefighters and military personnel plus one accompanied guest were admitted free of charge on the day which features the popular 3M Celebrity Challenge. Once again this year, musician Kenny G selected service members from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center to act as his caddy for the event. Many of the participating celebrities went out of their way to greet the large number of military that were in attendance as spectators and sign autographs.

PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.

Language Day by Presidio of Monterey

Photo by Hiro Chang, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs

The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center opened its doors to the public on May 15 for its annual Language Day event.

The event showcased the cultures of the different departmental languages being taught here through dance, skits and fashion shows.

Exhibits were also presented throughout the school grounds with local Monterey ethnic vendors selling their local cuisines to the customers.

Nearly 2,000 high school students and teachers attended Language Day.

US Steel Series by Hethatis Madzo

This design language of his in the series even reached as far as Australia and Japan with elements of the Sentinel 280 appearing in the 1969 Holden Hurricane and the 1970 Toyota EX7, Francis said.

While Mead concurred that there's no proof of direct inspiration, he said the U.S. Steel books were specifically targeted to car designers, with the altruistic goal of design inspiration paired with U.S. Steel's hints that steel made for better car designs than the then-nascent-in-the-industry aluminum.

PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.

Official Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center Web site

PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.

Language Room by Kristina Cortez

Language Room performing at chuggin Monkey - March 17, 2010

Sign language by MRPhoto74

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DLIFLC 73rd Anniversary Ball by Presidio of Monterey

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center held its 73rd Anniversary Ball on Nov. 1st, with more than 350 faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends in attendance. The event, sponsored in part by the DLI Alumni Association and Foundation, was held at the Naval Postgraduate School's historic Herrmann Hall, in Monterey. The guest speaker for the event was Ambassador Daniel Smith, Deputy Secretary for Intelligence and Research from the Department of State.

Official Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center Facebook

PHOTO by Lopez Photography

Language Room by Kristina Cortez

Language Room performing at chuggin Monkey - March 17, 2010

Language of Clothing by Natalia Hoyos-Twomey

A1 board showing research and techniques observed using direct observation drawing in costume for contemporary garments. The board also contains links to contemporary designers who have used ruffles in their designs.

Volunteers at Sea Otter Classic by Presidio of Monterey

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. - More than 70 service members from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center volunteered over the weekend during the final two days of the Sea Otter Classic. The 4-day bicycling and outdoor sports festival is held annually each spring at Laguna Seca and on public lands of Fort Ord. DLIFLC volunteers performed a variety of functions including access control, safety monitoring, registration as well as timing and scoring for bicycle races. Volunteers were given a free t-shirt, 4-day festival pass and provided lunch in return for their services. The 2013 Sea Otter Classic attracted an estimated 55,000 spectators and more than 9,000 competitors, it is the largest consumer bike exposition in North America.

PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.

Col. Danial Pick Retirement Ceremony by Presidio of Monterey

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- The 26th commandant of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center retired during a ceremony on Soldier Field here April 18. Retired Brig. Gen. Russell D. Howard officiated the ceremony in which Col. Danial D. Pick was recognized for his nearly three decades of Army service. Pick, a graduate of the DLIFLC Basic Arabic Course, speaks Arabic, Persian-Farsi, Persian-Dari and Assyrian. Prior to taking the position of DLIFLC commandant on May 6, 2010, Pick served as the director of the Army’s Foreign Area Officer program here.