Another At-Home Adventure
Stinky is waiting patiently by the teleportation tunnel for Periwinkle’s arrival. They will be staying home again, so if she’s late it will be okay. But right on time the tunnel begins to vibrate and Periwinkle comes tumbling out with a whoosh. Stinky quickly sets her upright and gives her a big paw hug and whisker kiss, which Periwinkle reciprocates. She then asks, “So what’s on the agenda today, handsome?”
That makes Stinky blush, and Periwinkle giggles when she sees his pink face. “Well, I regret to say that we are staying in again today. We had gorgeous sunshine and temperatures at 70 degrees on the weekend, but now the weather is lousy again. Yesterday, the sky was spitting out little ice pellets before it rained for the remainder of the day and evening! It’s not going to be much better today.”
“Well, that does sound sucky, but you know I never mind having a home-based adventure. So, what will we be doing? I know yesterday was Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Will we be doing something to do with that again?”
What if Cats and Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs Day
“Nope, Mom covered that yesterday. Today, however, is another special day. It is What If Cats and Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs Day (also known as National If Pets Had Thumbs Day.) established by Thomas and Ruth Roy from Wellcat. It is meant to be a fun day of imagining what pets could do if they did have thumbs.”
“That would be interesting. I wonder what I would do with my thumbs if I had them?” muses Periwinkle.
“Well actually, with or without thumbs, you and I can do whatever we want, as we are cartoon cats,” advises Stinky.
“Oh, yeah! Cool!”
I did survey my brofurs and sisfurs, and here’s what they suggested they’d like to be able to do.”
Screw the lid off the treat containers.
Open the pull tabs on cans of cat noms and maybe some human foods as well.
Operate the locking bar Dad built for the cat door after Mauricio learned to open it.
Open the bedroom windows to get at the birds on the feeders.
“Ooh.. those are all great suggestions,” says Periwinkle. “I think Noelle and Reesie would like to be able to give our mom a thumbs up when she does something they like, so she’ll know to do it again. And I know Noelle would like to be able to open doors to get outside and hunt lizards.”
“Those are good ones, Periwinkle. I saw a couple on-line as well: Texting our humans (of course, one would have to have a cell phone) and hitchhiking home in case we got lost.”
“Stinky, it would have been great if Sawyer could have done that when he went on his walkabout,” replies Periwinkle. She continues, “I think our fursibs would like to turn on the computer or TV to watch critter videos. It wouldn’t be too hard to use their noses to turn things on, but it might be hard to get to the right channel, app or web-site.”
“You and I are very lucky, as we can do any of those things,” comments Stinky.
“Yes, we are!”
“My mom has always said that even if we did have thumbs, opposable or otherwise, we would never use them,” Stinky informs Periwinkle.
“Really? Why does she think that?”
“Well, she says that we believe we are entitled to and prefer to be waited upon by our humans. And she thinks that some of my fursibs are just plain lazy!”
Periwinkle giggles and replies, “I think she’s probably right about that.”
Non-Humans with Thumbs
“Lots of other species have thumbs, Periwinkle,” says Stinky and shows her a list:
Great Apes: chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas (These all have opposable big toes on their feet as well.)
Lesser Apes: Gibbons
Old and New World Monkeys: Baboons supposedly have thumbs almost as good as humans and can manipulate small objects, and macaques also are good at manipulating small items.
Lemurs have pseudo-opposable thumbs on their hands, but their feet feature truly opposable big toes for gripping branches.
Koalas actually have two opposable thumbs on each hand.
Possums and Opossums (particularly the Virginia Opossums) have opposable thumbs, but they are on their hind feet.
Waxy monkey tree (leaf) frogs
Chameleons have multiple opposable toes.
Slow Loris
Pandas are listed in this group; though, they do not actually have an opposable thumb, but extensions of the wrist bones act like one.
“Stinky, that is amazing. I had no idea humans are not the only ones with opposable thumbs!”
“Neither did I, Periwinkle.”
Some History with Regard to Opposable Thumbs
“I have a time-line I can share about the emergence of opposable thumbs if you are interested,” Stinky tells Periwinkle.
“Yes, please.”
Fossils indicate that 2 million years ago primates regarded as human, directly ancestral to humans, or very closely related to humans developed dexterous, human-like opposable thumbs. These allowed for gripping and advanced tool use.
300,000–400,000 years ago:
Neanderthals and modern humans possessed sturdy, powerfully muscled thumbs that supported sturdy and precise grasping,
10,000—12,000 years ago:
Wildcats become frequent visitors to human grain stores to hunt rodents. This marks a beginning of cat domestication, where humans and cats live side-by-side and share control of food.
3000–2000 BCE
Ancient Egyptians not only accept cats into their homes but also revere them and prepare food feline paws could not manage.
“Those ancient Egyptians sure helped cats on the road to becoming beloved family members,” exclaims Periwinkle.
Stinky ruminates out loud, “I wonder if evolution will bring about felines with opposable thumbs?”
“Heck no! Neither cats nor humans would promote that. As your mom said, we cats want to be waited upon, and humans already think we get into too much mischief,” replies Periwinkle.
“What do you say we retire to the kitchen and get my servant, err, I mean my mom to prepare us some noms?”
“Excellent idea, Stinky. I am right behind you.”
Snacking with Stinky’s Fursibs
I see Audrey as decided to join us today along with Calista Jo and Kizmet,” observes Periwinkle.
“I am not surprised. She never misses a meal,” responds Stinky.
After finishing their noms, it is time for Periwinkle to return home, and Stinky escorts her to the teleportation tunnel. The tabbies share several whisker kisses and paw hugs. Then Periwinkle enters the tunnel and with a blown kiss and wave she is gone in a whoosh.
Stinky searches for his mom and curls up on her lap for a nap and dreams of Periwinkle.
The End
For additional information about the subjects covered in today’s post, you can check out the following web-sites: A-Z-Animals, Cattipper and IFAW.
Periwinkle and Stinky will be participating in the Happy Tuesday blog hop hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus. To join them, click on the Happy badge.
