Even so, I'm surprised there'd be much of a cockroach left after 500 years or so. Presumably, they were in a well protected part of the wreck not exposed to flowing water. After water rushed in it must have essentially stayed there and any oxygen in it absorbed by nearby wood, etc. and not replaced.
Similarly, with the cat DNA. It would be interesting to know the exact circumstances of how they were found.
"The ship's cat has been a common feature on many trading, exploration, and naval ships dating to ancient times... most importantly to control rodents"
and one presumes others were on most every other ship to have plied those waters
I’m surprised there would be any skeletal remains at all after 400+ years. The article is light on science but the original paper mentions Isotopic analysis which is very interesting.
I've spent a lot of money trying to solve this problem.. including buying the $700 litter robot, etc.. (that thing is not worth it at all btw)
The best litter box is the Tidy Cats Breeze (if your cat accepts it)
Bad smells (usually) (mostly) come from urine mixing with feces.. this litter box separates urine from feces, and the pellets and pads are engineered to control odors. Plus, the pellets are easier to cleanup than other boxes..
If you use that litter box, and feed your cat foods that it digests well - which in general usually means feeding your cat healthy food.. then cleanup is going to be very easy and painless.
> the $700 litter robot, etc.. (that thing is not worth it at all btw)
I can confirm this as well. For one, it doesn't even work that well. You're still doing a lot of manual scraping and cleanup too. The thing also just scares the cat. And if you know anything about cats, they're very particular about their litter box, especially about privacy and a sense of "safety". A motor and loud sounds coming from their litter box at various times throughout the day is not generally something they will feel comfortable with and it's possible that they just won't even use it at all.
Bad smell in urine comes from ammonia, nothing to do with mixing. The quality and mechanism of the litter helps to neutralize it. Also I’ll take an automatic machine over manual. The market was junk ten years ago but there’s some good ones out lately, like Petkit, Popur, or Casa Leo.
Move to a farm and get some outside cats, they shit in the woods but come home overnight. If they don't they get eaten by foxes etc. so they better. We never had a litter box until the cat turned 15 and started to become less willing to go out in the snow.
Ok, moving to a farm just to get some outside cats might be slightly overdoing it but there's loads more reasons why you want to live on a farm, preferably somewhere out in the woods so you might as well enjoy the cats which come with the territory.
Around here (Portugal) plenty of people have outside cats in the city and suburbs, it’s great. However there’s a chance they’ll decide not to come back to you.
"Additionally, they’ve discovered the remains of several critters, including cockroaches, rats and at least two domestic cats."
The idea that we've recovered identifiable cockroaches that have been submerged for almost 500 years breaks a few ideas I had about reality.
The exoskeleton is hard and it doesn't rot very fast. If there no biologist or chemistry nearby, you can imagine it's made of something similar to plastic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod_exoskeleton#Chemical...
And as a sibling comment says, there is too few oxygen down there so it rots even slower.
They don't rot if there's no oxygen
Even so, I'm surprised there'd be much of a cockroach left after 500 years or so. Presumably, they were in a well protected part of the wreck not exposed to flowing water. After water rushed in it must have essentially stayed there and any oxygen in it absorbed by nearby wood, etc. and not replaced.
Similarly, with the cat DNA. It would be interesting to know the exact circumstances of how they were found.
isn't there oxygen in H2O ?
>The two felines—one adult, one juvenile—appear to have been cared for by the sailors
so, these were ship's cats rather than passenger or cargo cats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship%27s_cat
"The ship's cat has been a common feature on many trading, exploration, and naval ships dating to ancient times... most importantly to control rodents"
and one presumes others were on most every other ship to have plied those waters
I’m surprised there would be any skeletal remains at all after 400+ years. The article is light on science but the original paper mentions Isotopic analysis which is very interesting.
I mean… these might be the easiest known cats, but I’m not sure they arrived.
It is sad; These cats did not make it.
No cat from 500 years ago made it, as far as we know.
Cats--which as I recall are descended from African wildcats--are arguably the most successful carnivores around. They're incredibly adaptable.
I love cats but I cannot deal with the inevitable cleanup of the litter box.
I've spent a lot of money trying to solve this problem.. including buying the $700 litter robot, etc.. (that thing is not worth it at all btw)
The best litter box is the Tidy Cats Breeze (if your cat accepts it)
Bad smells (usually) (mostly) come from urine mixing with feces.. this litter box separates urine from feces, and the pellets and pads are engineered to control odors. Plus, the pellets are easier to cleanup than other boxes..
If you use that litter box, and feed your cat foods that it digests well - which in general usually means feeding your cat healthy food.. then cleanup is going to be very easy and painless.
> the $700 litter robot, etc.. (that thing is not worth it at all btw)
I can confirm this as well. For one, it doesn't even work that well. You're still doing a lot of manual scraping and cleanup too. The thing also just scares the cat. And if you know anything about cats, they're very particular about their litter box, especially about privacy and a sense of "safety". A motor and loud sounds coming from their litter box at various times throughout the day is not generally something they will feel comfortable with and it's possible that they just won't even use it at all.
Bad smell in urine comes from ammonia, nothing to do with mixing. The quality and mechanism of the litter helps to neutralize it. Also I’ll take an automatic machine over manual. The market was junk ten years ago but there’s some good ones out lately, like Petkit, Popur, or Casa Leo.
Cedar pellets also work a lot better than traditional litter. No fine dust.
At least you don't have to scoop it up in the street in front of everyone like a dog owner.
I watched a guy in the park hold the bag directly under the dog. Now that's efficiency!
Hopefully it's always "in front of everyone" because dog owners only pick up poop if someone is watching.
Move to a farm and get some outside cats, they shit in the woods but come home overnight. If they don't they get eaten by foxes etc. so they better. We never had a litter box until the cat turned 15 and started to become less willing to go out in the snow.
Ok, moving to a farm just to get some outside cats might be slightly overdoing it but there's loads more reasons why you want to live on a farm, preferably somewhere out in the woods so you might as well enjoy the cats which come with the territory.
Around here (Portugal) plenty of people have outside cats in the city and suburbs, it’s great. However there’s a chance they’ll decide not to come back to you.
Do they groom themselves of ticks?
Having a cat door changed our life.
I just let mine shit outside, and it also gets to enjoy the outdoors. Problem solved.
Yet you create so many additional problems by allowing your cat to roam outside.