Circling on heat, she signalled her willingness to mate by lowering her head, bending her front legs and raising her rear quarters; her tail was held up and to the side of her body.  She moved her back legs rhythmically, as if walking in place.

There was no subtlety here. This position and behavior definitely got the male’s attention. He gripped the female by the nape of her neck with his teeth, giving her a “love bite” to control her movements.  And that scream from the female may have had something to do with the male’s barbed fishhook.

It lasted only moments. The male leapt away to evade the vigorous blows from the female’s paws. That’s the thanks he got for making her pregnant.  “Many females,” wrote Henry Wendt, “writhe violently and roll convulsively after the tom has released them.”

I’m terribly sorry – I seem to have the wrong manuscript here.  This was meant to be about EU directive 248B/19, Dec 19, 2009 but it seems to have become mixed up with the mating rituals of cats.  I unequivocally and without reservation, apologize with raised rump to every cat who was ever maligned by the injudicious use of that photo above.

Filed under: Diversions, Politics & economics