The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1895-01-18
COLD-STORAGE CATS.
Felines That Live Constantly in
a Freezing Temperature.
Through Their Perpetual Exposure to the
Frigid Atmosphere the Animals
Have Acquired Heavy Coats
of Fur.

Through Their Perpetual Exposure to the
Frigid Atmosphere the Animals
Have Acquired Heavy Coats
of Fur.
In the cold-storage warehouses of
Pittsburgh, says the Pittsburgh Dis
patch, when they were established,
there were no rats or mice. The tenn
perature in the cold rooms was too low
to admit the existence of these noe
turnal animals. The keepers of these
places soon found, however, that the
rat was an animal of remarkable adap-
liability. The ordinary rat of the
United States came originally from Nor
way. In that country, naturalists say,
the animal was much better prepared
to withstand the climate than it is in
this country were it suddenly trans
ported to cold climate. If any ordi-
nary cellar rat were put in cage. con-
veyed by ship to Spitzbergen, and re-
leased on that icy island, it would
freeze to death in a few hours. Yet
there are rats in Spitzbergen. These
rats are fat rascais, with long and very
thick hair, and have adapted them
selves to the temperature of the region.
1t is just such rats as those of the
northern region that have adapted
themselves to the cold-storage ware
houses. After some of these houses
had been in operation for a few months
the attendants found that rats were at
work in the rooms where the 'tempera-
ture was constantly kept below the
freezing point. In the warehouse of
the Pittsburgh Storage company, be-
fore its burning last fall, two rats
were killed by the employees. They
were found to be clothed in wonder
fully long and thick fur, even
their tapering, snakelike tails being
covered by a thick growth of hair.
Rats of this variety, whose coats have
adapted themselves to the conditions
under which they live, have domesti-
Gated themselves in all the storage
warehouses in Pittsburgh.
The prevalence of rats in these places
led to the introduction of cats. Now
it is well known that pussy is lover
of warmth and comfort. She delights
is drifting around the house, and to
wash her face with her warm, soft
paws. Cats, however, have a great
adaptability to conditions. The wild
cat of Africa, now extinct and living
only in the form of it's domestic congo
ner, was nursed by the Egyptians as
timepiece, and SO regulated her eyes
that by a glance at them the inhabi-
tant of Cairo was able to tell the time
of day without the advent of Seth W ar
ner.
When cats were introduced into
storage houses and turned loose in the
cold rooms they pinned and died because
of the excessive cold. 1t appears, in
the course of investigation into this
subject, that one cat was finally intro
duced into the rooms of the Pennsyl-
vania Storage company which was able
to withstand the low temperature. She
was cat of unusually thick fur and
she thrived and grew fat in quarters
where the temperature was below
thirty degrees. BY careful nursing a
brood of seven kittens was developed
in this warehouse into sturdy, thick
furred cats that love an Icelandic
cline. They have been distributed
among the other cold-storage houses of
Pittsburgh. and have created peculiar
breed of cats, adapted to the conditions
under which they must exist to find
their prey.
These cats are short-tailed, chubby
pussies, with hair as thick and full of
under-fur as the wild cats of the Cana
dian woods. One of the remarkable
things about them is the development
of their ''feelers." These long, stiff
hairs that protrude from cats nose
and eyebrows are, in the ordinary do
nestle feline, about three inches long.
In the cats cultivated in the cold ware
houses the ''feelers" grow to length
OF five and six inches. This is probably
because the light is dim in these places
and all movements must be the result
OF the feeling sense. In these two re-
spects, the growth of thick hair and
the development of ''feelers," the do
mestic cat shows the operation of OAR
wins well-knOwn law of the survival
of the fttest in the development of
their conditions adapted to the envi-
ronment.
The storage people say that if one Of
these furry cats is taken into the open
air, particularly during this hot spell,
it will die in few hours. 1t cannot
endure high temperature, and an in
PRODUCTION to stove would send it into
a fit