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CATS

Kitten journeys from Norway to Denmark on underside of truck

A kitten became a reluctant stowaway on 450-kilometre-long journey from Norway to Denmark after hopping on to the undercarriage of a truck.

Published: 31 October 2019 18:09 CET
Kitten journeys from Norway to Denmark on underside of truck
Illustration photo: LeniKovaleva/Depositphotos

After being driven and making a ferry crossing from Egersund in Rogaland, southwestern Norway to Bronderslev in North Jutland, the truck was handed over to a mechanic in the Danish town.

The mechanic found the kitty on the vehicle’s chassis, Norway’s national broadcaster NRK reports.

The little cat is thought to have been on board the lorry throughout its international journey.

“That’s a long journey for a little kitten,” Gritt Mathiesen Hanghøj, head of animal welfare at nearby cat shelter Nordjyllands Hittekilling, told NRK.

Hanghøj was contacted by the workshop who discovered the travelling feline.

The cat most likely climbed onto the truck’s undercarriage seeking warmth before being taken on an unexpected long haul.

Although a large part of the journey was a ferry crossing, the cat stayed under the vehicle for a long road trip, Hanghøj told NRK.

“The lorry drove from Egersund to Stavanger before taking the ferry from Stavanger to Frederikshavn in Denmark. The driver then drove to the workshop in Bronderslev,” she said.

The trailer was delivered to the workshop directly after its arrival in Denmark, making it unlikely the cat hopped on board after the crossing.

The female kitten is currently being looked after following her ordeal.

“She is dehydrated, lethargic and in shock, but is being given fluids, food and love. She made it through the night and there’s a good chance she’ll survive,” Hanghøj said.

“I think she’s used up a couple of her nine lives,” the cat shelter leader told NRK.

Search is now underway for the kitten’s owner, who is yet to be identified.

A social media post on Wednesday by Nordjyllands Hittekilling has been shared over 1,700 times, but a further update on Thursday said that no owner had been found so far. Neither has any further information become available on identity of the truck or its driver.

READ ALSO: Danish kitten takes solo train trip to neighbouring town

ARCHAEOLOGY

Viking-era bones reveal growth of domestic Danish cats

Study of animal bones from the late Bronze Age has helped scientists in Denmark to make new discoveries about the domestic cat.

Published: 19 December 2018 19:15 CET
Viking-era bones reveal growth of domestic Danish cats
Photo: belchonock/Depositphotos

Domesticated cats have become around 16 percent bigger since they were first introduced to Denmark, according to University of Copenhagen research published in the Danish Journal of Archaeology.

“We were surprised, when we looked at the bones, to find that both skeletons and bodies (of cats) have got a little bigger,” said Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen, an external professor at the Natural History Museum of Denmark and one of the co-authors of the paper.

“Normally, jaws and teeth are what we call the conservative parts of the skeleton, the parts which don’t grow. But those parts have grown markedly since the Middle Ages and through modern times,” Gotfredsen said.

One explanation for cats’ growth in stature could be easier access to food, the researcher said.

Another possible cause may be genetic, but further research would be needed to confirm this, she said.

“We don’t yet know exactly when the last wild cats died out and when the first domesticated cats really came to Denmark,” Gotfredsen said.

“The cat as a domestic animal closely resembles its wild version, whereas dogs, for example, are far from their wild equivalent, the wolf. The transition to domesticity is still surrounded by many unanswered questions,” she continued.

The review of cat bones conducted in the study is thought to be the first of its kind.

Although the first evidence of domestic cats comes from a near-10,000 year-old grave in Cyprus, scientists can be certain that the animal was domesticated in Denmark no later than 200 CE – during the Iron Age.

Later, Vikings kept cats for their warm fur and ability to chase off disease-bringing rats.

Researchers studied bones dating from before 1000 CE until the 1600s and compared these with later cat bones from after 1870.

Gotfredsen and co-author Julie Bitz-Thorsen carried out much of the analysis in the study.

READ ALSO: Danish kitten takes solo train trip to neighbouring town