Myths are beliefs people hold about tradition. All are not believing these stories at present. But tales are exciting and mysterious when considering the stories woven around them and behind them. So there are many myths related to the cat. There’s a myth that cats have nine lives. Is that real? What are the reasons for this? Why do people have such legends? As thousands of questions spin around the mind, it’s time to focus on what this is.

Many people don’t believe this cat story because legends are less likely to be true in the modern world of the 21st century. But it’s a myth that still prevails among the people, irrespective of the regions where cats can be found.

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Ancient origins  

It is still being determined how the myth came to be. But historians have some ideas about its origin. Cat’s legend has yet to be created, and some stories related to its birth come from the past. It’s impossible to have nine lives for a cat. But its demeanor makes it seem like they could have extra lives.

English literature and other cultures have ideas and beliefs based on the cat’s nine lives. 

“A cat has nine lives.” “For three, he plays; for three, he strays, and for the last three, he stays.” This is a famous English document about which no one knows who or where it originated. As with many oral stories, this, too, requires evidence to back it up. But from this proverb, it’s believed that these are the stages for a cat’s nine lives or the lifecycle of a kitten to an adult one.

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But the famous writer William Shakespeare knew about the saying because he mentioned it in his Romeo and Juliet novel, which was written in the late 16th century. “Good king of cats, nothing but one your nine lives.” This has been a reason to predate the myth for about 1500 years and possibly has ancient origins.

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Its fascinating cat dates back to about 12,000 years ago in ancient Egyptians for homes and places to worship. The Egyptians could see their feline friends, who had excellent talents for swimming, as divine creatures. The cat has multiple lives because it appears and disappears occasionally. It is considered due to the goddess Bastet’s ability to change from a human to a cat. The nature of mystery has followed domestic cats during their migration from the Middle East through Greece, China, and Europe, including all over the world.

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Why nine lives?

The number nine is significant in numerology because of the composition of three. Nine is not just a number in many cultures, such as Greek, Islamic, and Roman Catholic, but has different beliefs related to it. If a cat “comes back into life” several times, nine makes a mysterious point of view. In Chinese culture, nine is believed to be lucky as it sounds like the word “long-lasting.” Nine is a symbol associated with a dragon in China, representing power as a symbol.

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The Anglo-Saxon settlers of England used the number nine in both legal and literary contexts. But in Spain, Pet Plan UK says that the cats have seven lives without their own nine. Arabic and Turkish legends reveal the lives of cats as six. So number nine is not universal to the myth. However, it believes that a cat has more than one life.

Cat’s action

A cat has a talent for leaping, twisting, and landing on its feet. Their abilities may help explain why the myth endures as a legend. They can jump into a high position from a familiar place in a few seconds. This is due to the magical powers they have. They have impressive skills in jumping due to the muscle mass and length of their hind legs. The back legs of a cat are strong. So they can leap six times their height. These depict the survival ability of a cat.

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Is there any truth behind the myth?

Despite the ideas of the cat as godlike and invincible, as well as nine being a significant number in most cultures, the reality of the myth doesn’t exist, as cats do not have nine lives.

Dispelling the myth

Any culture doesn’t describe that a cat has nine lives, although some belief so. As “nine” is not universal with the myth, how does a tale exist? So, scientifically, it’s the same as other living beings; cats also have one life. They end up their life after spending their life span on the planet.

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Why the myth persists with a partial truth?

Although we can’t prove a cat has nine lives, one reason people believe they do is that they can survive a lethal fall, which would be more dangerous for humans. This is explained further in science. Cats can stand up naturally by twisting their bodies when they fall, even from very high places. It’s called the “righting reflex,” in which they can escape dangerous drops. Cats have more vertebrae than humans do.

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So they are flexible and can balance the body significantly. Also, they can react quickly, which helps them deal with dangerous situations and stay alive in challenging conditions. Cats are also intelligent, and their intelligence is critical to them. Some veterinarians have expressed their ideas related to the cat’s intelligence. Cats are not trained to save lives from other animals, such as snake bites, but dogs cannot hold their breath as long as cats do. So it is considered that the cat is the luckiest due to its ability to save people from danger. So they have evolved to be escape artists.

Cherish the cat’s life

Cats are durable creatures that can stand up in challenging situations. Despite their toughness, they are graceful and gentle. Cats leave their homes if they are mistreated. Also, they don’t forget or forgive others. They can live in challenging situations. Even if we are also a challenge for them, they never fail to escape. So we should have the ability to be careful with a cat.

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Animals, which are a massive part of nature, perform incredible tasks. They are such a blessing to the entire world. Among various types of animals such as birds, mammals, reptiles, and all others, we are serving time to see about a unique Bengal tiger. The Bengal tiger is the giant wild cat alive at present. The tiger is an icon of power, beauty, and the importance of conservation. It is a subspecies of the tiger with massive force. This is a mammal. In the wild, people live an average of eight to 10 years.

Characteristics

This is an attractive animal. The coat is yellow to light orange, with the stripes ranging from dark brown to black. The limbs’ interior part and the belly are white, while the tail is orange with black rings. The most significant skull length is 351cm in males and 293cm in females of the tiger. This animal has exceptionally stout teeth and has the most extended canines among all the cats; its length is 7.5- 10cm.

–image credit – pixabay / sasint / Bengal Tiger

Behavior

They are aggressive, prefer to live alone, and are called unsocial animals. Mighty nocturnal hunters travel many miles for searching prey. They camouflage their distinctive coat when needed. It already matches the environment. White Bengal tigers are a phenomenon that rarely happens. They avoid humans, but few do dangerous man-eaters. Their night vision is six times that of humans, and their hearing is five times more. They can roar about two miles away. These tigers are fast runners, and they can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. They can climb up trees as well as swim in the water. So their prey can’t serve their lives even in water bodies.

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Size and the body weight

Bengal tigers aren’t giant tigers. This varies according to the gender of the tiger and the region they live in. Bengal tigers in the Panna national reserve have a head-to-body length of 183 cm-211 cm and a tail length of 164 cm-193 cm, with a tail length of 85-110 cm. The total size ranges from 283–311 cm to 255–285 cm for male and female tigers. 90-110 cm is the range that typically varies in height at the shoulders. Female tigers are smaller than males. The weight of a sub-adult is about 130–170 kg, while the adults reach 200–260 kg as male tigers. Also, the sub-adult females weigh 80-100kg and call 110- 180kg when they grow—the most negligible recorded weight for this from Sundarbans of Bangladesh.

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Distribution and the habitat

Tigers inhabit tropical moist evergreen forests, tropical dry forests, mangroves, tropical and subtropical moist deciduous forests, subtropical and temperate upland forests, and alluvial grasslands in the Indian subcontinent. They have been spread in Southern India as well as in Sri Lanka. As the Bengal tiger lives in India, sometimes they are known as “Indian tigers.” They are the most common tigers, and half of the wild tigers are Bengal tigers. Their habitats are now restricted to several blocks at the foot of the outer Himalayas, including the Tiger Conservation Unit (TCU). Tiger densities are high at the TCUs. Also they can be found in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. There are about 2000–2500 remaining in the wild. So, several thousand more are thought to reside in zoos as private reserves worldwide. 

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Hunting and diet

These carnivores eat other animals such as gaur, sambar, water buffalo, and takin because they prefer hunting. They hunt both small and large prey. Bengal tigers sometimes kill mugger crocodiles, Indian leopards, Asian black bears, and sloth bear when hunting. They do not attack Indian elephants or Indian rhinos. Once, a king cobra and an Indian cobra were found in the stomachs of tigers. The physical advantages allow these tigers to hunt better than lions. According to the reaches, a tiger can hunt an elephant alone, while a lion can’t. As a result, the tiger is appropriately referred to as the King of the Jungle.

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Reproduction and the lifecycle

The tigers in India don’t have actual mating and birth seasons. But most young are born in December and April. Also, the young have been found in the seasons of March, May, October, and November. The maturity of male tigers happens when they reach their age of 4-5 years, while female tigers’ maturity happens at 3-4 years of them. Females, called tigress, give birth to two to six cubs which they raise with no or little help from males. At the age of 2-3 years, they slowly start to separate from the family and become transient, looking for an area for their home range. Young male tigers move far away from their native homes than females.

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Culture

Tiger has been used in different cultures. It’s an animal displayed on the Pashupati seal of the Indus Valley civilization. Also, this animal is a symbol on coins. The tiger is the national animal of India and Bangladesh.

Political parties use this animal as their symbol of elections. Some people were nicknamed “related to the tiger or Bengal tigers.” The Bengal tiger is used as a logo sometimes. The Bangladesh national cricket team is nicknamed “The Tigers.” There are famous artworks based on this unique animal.

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Threats

Tiger is threatened due to reasons like poaching, loss, and fragmentation of habitats. They are killed by many for different reasons. Tiger’s bones have been used as an ingredient in traditional medicines.

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Also, human-tiger conflict is another reason for tiger threats. Tigers were so numerous at the beginning of the 19th century. So killing them was officially rewarded in many localities. People have built their homes in areas that are suitable for tigers. Then, tigers lose their habitats automatically, and fewer wild prey are gained. Man-eating tiger incidents have also been recorded in some areas. However, at present, tigers are not available in large numbers. So it’s a great responsibility to protect them without letting them be endangered.

This is an exciting topic that no longer exists but did in the past. There are some myths to believe regarding this. It’s time to look into T-Rex. Tyrannosaurus rex, also known as “the king of the dinosaurs,” is an extinct dinosaur. It is thought to be one of the most dangerous predators ever. It had identifiable features such as a massive body, sharp teeth, and powerful jaws. This predator needed thick muscles to hold up its giant skull and the power of its forceful bites. They could crush a car. 

The most enormous known t-rex skull measures up to 1.52 meters in length. It’s a carnivore that dominates in Western North America’s forested river valleys. Their time was the late Cretaceous period, which was 68 million years ago. The speed of this was 27 km/h. The scientific name is Tyrannosaurus rex, while its higher classification is Tyrannosaurus. They are prehistoric animals.

Behavior

Rex was primarily a predator or a scavenger. It preyed on other living organisms or one another. They ate mainly herbivorous dinosaurs, such as Edmontosaurus and Triceratops. They found their food by themselves when they felt hungry. Fossils provide clues about how T-rex lived and what it ate, such as bite marks and tooth wear patterns. It was thought to have the most powerful bite ever recorded on Earth. Scientists have been allowed to gain a deeper understanding of how these predators lived. Details are constantly changing, but new technologies like x-ray images and biochemical modeling can help discover more.

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Strengths

This is designed to rule. Tyrannosaurus rex, whose name means “king of the tyrant lizards,” was mighty. A T-rex’s bite force is approximately 35,0000 newtons when compared to an adult. It was 40 feet in length and 12 feet high. It seemed like a school bus when stretched from snout to powerful tail. It is estimated to have weighed between 5.5 and eight tons. It consists of the skin, and the flesh covers its vast bones. T-rex was as giant as an African elephant. A baby Tyrannosaurus rex is a size of a small turkey. Tyrannosaurus has ten neck vertebrae, five sacral vertebrae, and thirteen back vertebrae in its vertebrate column.

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The Tyrannosaurus rex’s head was the stuff of nightmares. It was large and could move quickly. They had sharp teeth, about eight inches long, and could pierce and grip flesh, throw the prey into the air, and swallow it whole. They could rip off a hundred pounds of meat with one powerful bite. Teeth perform different functions inside the mouth. The keen smell they detected helped them locate prey. It has been demonstrated that a large portion of the brain is dedicated to smelling. Their powerful snout also helped them identify mates and detect other predators. They were intelligent because of the smell they could locate.

Although the Tyrannosaurus rex was a giant, its procedures were minor. During the mid-Jurassic age, 170 million years ago. The first tyrannosaurs, which ranged in size from humans to horses, appeared. Footprints have been assigned to Tyrannosaurus rex. In terms of numbers, it’s two isolated fossils. First, in 1983, American geologist Charles Pillmore discovered the site at Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico. Later, this was published. British paleontologist Phil Manning found the second in Montana’s Hell Creek Formation in 2007. This is about 72 cm long. Then more were discovered later.

–Copyright : RICHARD JONES / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY /  T-rex fighting triceratops

Weaknesses

Everything about Tyrannosaurus rex is not fierce. Their two-fingered puny arms are not strong, which is considered their weakness. They used arms to kill or get meals into their mouths. Also, another area for improvement is they could have been faster. They had a speed of 12 miles per hour, which is not even enough to chase a speeding Jeep. The walking pace is about 3–6 miles per hour.

–pixabay / Dieterich01

Where did they live?

The fossils illustrate where and when they lived. So, they lived in North America. Paleontologists have discovered T-rex fossils in northwest states such as Montana and South Dakota. Also, fossils have been found in Alberta, Canada. Compared with other animals’ life spans, they had lived a considerable time on Earth. Their life expectancy was about 28 years. There is no evidence to support the claim that they lived longer than 28 years.

Are they still alive?

No life exists for them, but they still live in museums. There is approximately 32 relatively well-preserved post-juvenile T. rex in those locations. Today’s birds are considered the last of the dinosaurs. Paleontologists are still trying to figure out why the birds didn’t die and instead coexisted with other mammals and survivors, allowing them to inherit the planet.

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Fossil findings

In 1980, even though scientists had known about the T. rex for hundreds of years, they found complete fossils of the animal. They found the complete fossils in South Dakota. 

In 2019, researchers published a discovery of another t-rex fossil named “Scotty.” Scotty had lived as long as the others. Other scientists and paleontologists discovered more information about the Tyrannosaurus rex at different times.

–Creator: BertBeekmans / Credit: Getty Images , Stockphoto / Copyright: © Bert Beekmans / T-Rex Fossil

Will they come back?

DNA breaks down with time. These went extinct about 66 million years ago. It’s been a long time, and dinosaurs will not appear after such a long time. Bones survive for millions of years, but DNA doesn’t.

People adore Tyrannosaurus rex. It’s because Tyrannosaurus rex has been used for many things. 3D images, cartoons, vehicles, and some other things are relatable to this animal. So, even though millions of years have passed without it, it still lives in people’s hearts. Also, sometimes it’s hard to imagine a world with a great Tyrannosaurus rex.

–pixabay / DangrafArt / Tyrannosaurus rex / Dinosaur Artwork

Unfortunately, these Tyrannosaurus rexes have become extinct. It’s fantastic in its absence. Global warming may be a reason for their extinction. What people have to do is, study them and get an idea. But we can understand; we shouldn’t allow any creature to lose its existence. Things should be done to protect living beings.