Wednesday, January 8, 2014

The Cactus Cat


The Cactus Cat is a "fearsome critter" of the American southwest; a folkloric creature that both resembles and feeds from its namesake.  In most respects, it resembles a standard bobcat or wildcat.  Its fur, however, is composed of thin, cactus-like spines.  These spines are longest and sharpest on the ears and tail, which are long and branched like a cactus.

The Cactus Cat is also equipped with blade-like bones that extend from its forelegs.  These blades not weapons; the Cactus Cat prefers to scourge its enemies with its tail.  Instead, they are used to cut into cacti.  Water is scarce in the deserts of the southwest, but cacti store large amounts of it in their pulp.  This facts has saved many a desert traveler; by gouging into a cactus, they can obtain the water that saves their lives.  The Cactus Cat also drinks in such a manner, lacerating the local plants whenever it grows thirsty.

Interestingly, a thirsty Cactus Cat does not drink immediately.  Instead, it cuts open a number of different cacti in the same area of desert.  It then revisits each of the cacti it has slashed, once the watery pulp within has fermented into alcohol.  Only then does the Cactus Cat quench its thirst, before running off into the desert yowling with drunken joy.

Read more about the Cactus Cat:
http://www.lumberwoods.com/p9.htm
http://www.weirdca.com/location.php?location=166
Image from http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5701/botev.a/0_54e94_3ecbd6c3_XL.jpg (public domain)

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