ANIMAL TIDBITS

*The only dog in the world that does not bark is the Basenji, an African wolf dog.
*Cats have no collarbone, hence why they are so flexible.
*All dogs have pink tongues except for two...the Chow-chow and the Shar-pei. Both have black tongues.
*The only breed of domestic feline natural to America is the Maine Coon cat.
*At his Key West, Florida home, Ernest Hemingway was famous for keeping cats, lots of them, and many of which had six toes on their front paws!
*The nation's first canine movie star was Rin Tin Tin.
*Contrary to popular belief, the Canary Islands were not named for the canary bird but rather for the large dogs that lived on the islands. In Latin, the name of the island group was Canariae Insulae, which translates to Island of Dogs.*
*Goldfish lose their color if they are kept in dim light or are placed in a body of running water, such as a stream.
*The English Romantic poet Lord Byron was so devastated upon the death of his beloved Newfoundland, whose name was Boatswain, that he had inscribed upon the dog's gravestone the following: "Beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity, and all the virtues of man without his vices."
In Egyptian times, the penalty for killing a greyhound was equivalent to that of killing a man.
*In ancient Egypt, entire families would shave their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when the family cat died.
*In cats, the calico and tortoiseshell coats are sex-linked traits. All cats displaying these coats are female... or occasionally sterile males.