Holly, the anole chasing, home returning tabby, now a celebrity

Today’s New York Times featured an article on incredible journeys by lost cats, where they cover immense distances to return to their homes. The article is based on a recent story of Holly, who trekked 200 miles from the Daytona Speedway, where she had become separated from her mobile home at an RV park, to her residence in West Palm Beach. This may seem a bit off-topic for Anole Annals and, indeed, it mostly is, but midway through, the article asks how a pampered housecat could be prepared for a life in the Florida wilds, noting ” after all, she spent most of her life as an indoor cat, except for occasionally running outside to chase lizards.” No doubt if she’s chasing lizards around a house in West Palm, those lizards are almost surely brown anoles, with a few green thrown in. Housecat predation on anoles (and other animals, particularly birds) is a serious matter, but at least it leads to the occasional heartwarming story. Incidentally, the article also refers to the KittyCam project we posted on a while back, in which researchers put little video cameras around the neck of housecats to see where they went, and found all kinds of unexpected surprises, including a couple of two-timing housecats with a second home on the side.

Jonathan Losos
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