Britain's cleverest cats!

Carol Hack, 54, runs a scuba-diving centre and lives with her husband Dave, a 57-year-old scientist, in Middleton, Cumbria. She says:

Within a few weeks of getting Pinky as a kitten two years ago, I knew she was special. I’ve had Somali cats (a long-haired breed) for 15 years — I owned eight at one time but now I’m down to six — and she’s by far the most intelligent.

For one thing, she can open zips. I have a zipped washbag where I keep cotton buds, which Pinky loves to play with. Sure enough, she learned to open it. At first she could only do it when I’d left the zip slightly open — she’d put her nose in the hole and push the zipper along. But then she started biting the zipper and pulling it along. She’s incredible.

We first learned about her clever ways one night when I heard a crinkling sound in the kitchen. I investigated and found Pinky wolfing down a packet of cat treats.

I was confused — the packet had been in a biscuit barrel on a high shelf — but figured I must have left the top off accidentally. But after it had happened a few times I kept an eye out and saw Pinky, who’s small but incredibly athletic, leaping onto the rubbish bin and bouncing off it to get on to the shelf, which is about 5ft high. From there she nudged the lid off with her nose before tucking into the spoils.



We got a new container, with a seal around the neck which makes it hard to get open. She simply pushed it over and hit it against the wall with her nose and paws until the top popped off.

She’s the smartest cat I’ve ever known. I did some of the IQ tests from E.M. Bard’s book with her — such as covering her food to see if she could find it — and she passed with flying colours. Other than that, like all Somalis, she’s very vocal and loves to follow you round, but she’s also very affectionate and loves tummy rubs.

Dallas dog loyally stands by stray friend killed by car

A photo of one dog standing guard over another which was hit by a car on a roadside in south-west Dallas has warmed hearts across the US.

The dog, a Great Pyrenees, stood by his friend near the Dallas-Fort Worth national cemetery until volunteers rushed to rescue him, after a photo of the two surfaced on Facebook. Posted by Samuel Flores, the photo showed the dog standing over his friend, who was hit by a car and killed.

“He was just kind of sitting guard, like a statue, just sitting there watching over his friend’s body,” animal advocate Julie Fennell told a local NBC affiliate.

“It really looks like she was hit in the road, you can see the blood in the road, and it looks like he [dragged] her up on to the grass out of the road.”

Volunteers could not determine the dog’s history, or why he was dedicated to protecting the other dog, but said he was very calm and loving when rescued.

“He made a friend,” Fennell said. “Whether it was his companion in his yard at home or whether they met up as strays, but something made him stay by her side.”

The Great Pyrenees was taken to Dallas animal services. If no owners come forward, he will be released to SPIN Rescue, a group focused on the rescue of Great Pyrenees dogs.

Winter is coming...but these animals are ready

While some people might not be ready for that, the animals at the Potawatomi Zoo are more than ready.

"Just like us, they can go outside as long as they have a heated place to come back to," said Josh Sisk, the general curator at the zoo. "You can come to the zoo and see tigers, see lions, you can see them running through the snow. Even in the environments they come from, there are nights that get pretty chilly as well."

"When it gets cold and snowy, they will go outside sometimes," said zookeeper Gretchen Pitser. "They'll run out there in the mornings and make a couple of laps, but for the most part they'll stay inside. We only have to lock them up inside when it gets below 20 degrees."

Of course, not every animal necessarily needs to come inside, but every animal has the option.

Some of them are actually well suited for cold weather, but if they want, they can stay inside a nice heated barn.

"We have procedures set in place for each species," Sisk said. "Some animals may be have to have access [outdoors]. Some may be completely locked into a barn. It all depends on the species."

"These guys are not the smartest creatures you'll run across," said zookeeper Erink Brunk, nodding towards three ostriches. "But they do know that if it's cold, they go in where it's warmer."


That instinct, and the option to stay inside, makes it a bit easier for zookeepers to know if the animals should stay in, or if they should go out and stretch their legs for a bit.