New blog Kete Were

Following a widely publicised stranding on the Chesswas Rocks, the About Town blog has now sunk without trace. But good to see some of old crew jump aboard the new ship Kete Were.

Also good to see Xavier found a new home for his 'science' posts - What's up, pussy cat? is a fascinating look at the evolution of the cat family.

Is your mollycoddled moggy more leopard than lion, or just a cheeky cheater?

"...the Cheetah, found in the Serengeti plains of eastern Africa is more closely related to the Puma of the North American Rockies than it is to the other African cats, the Leopard and the Lion. Similarly, the Puma is more closely related to the Cheetah than it is to the Jaguar of South America. This also means that the Cheetah is more closely related to your family cat than it is to any other big cat. Evolution sure does work in wonderful ways."

This may help explain why cheetahs are the only big cats able to purr! :)

And looking quite randomly through the dictionary I see the word 'moggy/moggie' came to us from Britain as a 17th century variant of Maggie, a familiar form of the given name Margaret. Would it be disrespectful to refer to the Queen's sister as Princess Moggie? :)