Friday Fun: Weird Animals and the Humans That Love Them

As everyone knows, yesterday was Groundhog Day.  I rarely pay much attention to this "holiday" aside from thinking about how much I like the movie of the same name.

This year, though, I felt the need to include it in a post and I wondered, for the first time, what the origins of this strange holiday are and why it's such a big deal to so many people. So if you're curious, or maybe just bored at work, check out this explanation from Wikipedia.

Punxsutawney Phil (courtesy of latimesblogs.latimes.com)

Maybe it's just me, but I was surprised to learn that, although the most famous celebration in Pennsylvania dates back to about 1886, the roots of Groundhog Day may be traced to, as Wikipedia puts it, "ancient European weather lore" and that a badger or a bear was the forecaster rather than a groundhog.

An "American Badger" (from bioweb.uwlax.edu)

I don't know about you, but I think the groundhog is definitely cuter.

Having thought about how bizarre it is to me that so many people seem to be fascinated by this funny-looking little guy, my mind then wandered to weird things animals do - weirder things than seeing their shadows and burrowing back into a hole. And lately one very weird thing has been going on with our cat, Tika.

If I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I hear little cat feet stealthily following me. She quietly enters the bathroom, and as soon as I stand up and flush the toilet, this is what happens:

"Wooooah....cool!"

I have been trying to photograph this for ages and it never worked, until now....probably because it always happens in the middle of the night when I don't have my phone camera and am not alert enough to get a picture.

What I want to know is, what the heck is so darn fascinating about a flushing toilet? She literally stays there, mesmerized, until the flush cycle is complete and the bowl has once again filled up with water - as if it's the coolest thing in the whole world.

And this happens all the time. Okay, I'll give her that it may be exciting once, but over and over again? Like the toddler brain, the feline brain is a strange place.

Once I finally caught her with my camera, she looked so defensive, like "What? What? Why are you staring at me and laughing?"

"Huh? What? Whatchulookinat?"

Feel free to share your strange animal stories with us in the comments!  Happy Friday!