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Thursday, March 08, 2007

Sparky Fuzzypants: Feline American TIGER?!?


McSkeezix the Cat did his Thursday Thirteen about tigers.
Sparky Fuzzypants, Feline American and tiger-STRIPED tabby, is about as close to a real tiger as we can get unless Mom smuggles one or more of us into the San Diego Zoo in her pocket.

So to piggyback on Skeezix's theme, here's thirteen things about Sparky Fuzzypants the almost-tiger ...

1. Skeezix reported that a group of tigers is called a 'streak'.
If we had a group of Sparky Fuzzypantzzzzz, they'd be called a "pain in the neck."

2. ‘Tigons’ have a tiger father and lioness mother, but ‘ligers’ are fathered by lions with a tiger mother. Just ask Napoleon Dynamite.
Sparky's mama was Brillo pad and his daddy was a rubber band. He's very flexible and his fur has been known to go POOF!

3. In the last century, tiger numbers have declined by a 95 per cent. Its only predator is man.
There's only ONE Sparky Fuzzypants and Mom won't let US eat him and SHE won't eat him, so I guess he's safe for the time being.

4. Tigers not only have stripes on their fur, but also on their skin.
Sparky's stripes don't go down to his skin, but he does have more than one color of skin on his body. His belly is pink. The skin under his dark stripe on his back is nearly black. The skin under his non-black and non-white parts is kinda tannish.

5. Stripe patterns often differ between the two sides of the tiger’s body.
Unlike a real tiger, Sparky Fuzzypants' stripes are symmetrical, but his white patches aren't.

6. Tiger night-vision is more than five times better than that of humans.
Sparky CAN see in the dark, but he prefers sleepin' ...

7. Adult tigers are solitary hunters.
We Feline Americans hunt in a group with Cocoa Puff as the look-out and Sparky Fuzzypants whining for food to seal the deal with Mom.

8. Adult tigers can eat up to 60 lbs of food at one sitting. After a big kill, they may not eat again for a week or two.
When hunting, tigers only manage to catch prey in one out of 10-20 attempts.

Sparky Fuzzypants can eat a whole can of Fancy Feast, but then he barfs 'cuz his eyes are bigger than his tummy. He has to eat at least twice a day to maintain his muscles and high energy.

9. Tigers love water and are great swimmers.
Sparky drinks water (in a plastic cup filled with ice cubes from the ice maker) and he's been known to SPILL water, not swim in it.

10. A tiger's roar can be heard two or three kilometres away.
Sparky's whining can be heard through the entire house when it's furry early in the morning and he's up at the crack of dawn demanding food.

11. Total length ranges from seven to 12 feet.
From tip of nose to tip of tail, Sparky Fuzzypants is a whole 30 inches! He weighs 13.8 lbs.

12. It is estimated that well over 10,000 tigers live in captivity around the world, which means there are currently more tigers in captivity than in the wild.
When Sparky was born, they broke the mold. He's the only one in captivity (and there COULD be other "Sparkys" in the wild 'cuz he was found abandoned when he was a tiny kitten of six weeks).

13. Tigers are one of the most fiercesome predators on land ...
Sparky Fuzzypants is a wuss ...

8 comments:

Daisy said...

Hahahahahaha! To quote my great friend O'Jete, I am laffin' and laffin'

And, I love that picture of Sparky Fuzzypants. He sure loves that hat! I can tell by his expression.

Jake and Bathsheba said...

Poor Sparky. That's not his most flattering pose because he's really a very handsome kitty.

~Bathsheba

Hello to my sweetie--DaisyMae. I'm a tiger too, but I'm no wuss!

~Jake

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

hehehehooooohahahaagasp, yoo like yoor brofur, I can tell!

Around Your Wrist said...

it's probably good that there's only one sparky in your household!

--suz

Tara said...

I love Sparky! A true tiger in every way!
Tara

Anonymous said...

I simply adore that hat.

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...

Hahaha dat wuz furry funny.

Anonymous said...

we love Sparky Fuzzypants! so he's not 100% tiger-like, at least he's really really cute...