100 Cats Who Changed Civilization (20 page)

OTHER FELINES
OF DISTINCTION

HAMLET: A Canadian cat who escaped from his pet carrier during a flight from Toronto. Hamlet remained at large on the plane for seven weeks, during which he flew a staggering 370,000 miles, making him history’s most-traveled feline
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ANDY: A pet of U.S. Senator Ken Myer, Andy survived a sixteen-story (roughly 200-foot) fall from an apartment balcony and survived
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CHOUX: During World War I, a French soldier wanted to tell a German soldier who was married to his cousin that he’d become a father. So he tied a note to a kitten named Choux, who marched blithely across no–man’s land to deliver the birth announcement
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PATSY: Accompanied famed aviator Charles Lindbergh on many flights, but not on the solo jaunt across the Atlantic that made him famous. “It’s too dangerous a journey to risk a cat’s life,” Lindbergh reportedly said
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DUSTY: A monument to motherhood, this Texas feline bore 420 kittens in her lifetime, making her the most prolific cat in recorded history. Her record has lasted more than half a century
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