From balloon-blowing seals to penis-fencing flatworms, here’s a selection of some of the flashiest—and weirdest—ways that animals show off and compete to win mates. (Related: “Why Sea Slugs Dispose of Their Penises.”)

1. The Tickler

The 39 colorful avian species known as birds of paradise use their fantastic feathers to seduce females with elaborate courtship displays. The male twelve-wired bird of paradise really knows how to tickle the ladies.

In an intimate act that scientists call “wire-wipe display,” during courtship the male twelve-wired bird of paradise repeatedly brushes the female’s face with the dozen stiff feather shafts protruding from his lower torso. The female obviously finds the sensation appealing: She often approaches the male from behind to place her head among his “wires.”

Photograph by Tim Laman, National Geographic

2. The Balloon Artist

To signal sexual availability, male hooded seals can inflate their uniquely elastic nasal cavities and membranes into what looks like a pink balloon.

3. The Moonwalker

This little guy’s dance moves may look comical to us, but they’re sexy to female manakins. The club-winged manakin can even serenade mates with its wings.

4. The Swinger

Talk about free love: The sea hare, a kind of sea slug, is a hermaphrodite that sometimes mates in chains, with the animals in the middle acting as both a male and a female simultaneously.

5. The Clingy Boyfriend

Female anglerfish have the unique advantage of a built-in fishing rod. Seeking easy access to food, male anglerfish will use their teeth to hitch a permanent ride on a female—which basically makes them parasites, but also means she doesn’t have to look far for someone to fertilize her eggs when needed.

6. The Gift-Giver

Male bowerbirds collect all sorts of trinkets—such as plastic rings, shiny tinfoil, and snail shells—to woo females into their elaborate bachelor pads.

7. The Lover, and the Fighter

For hermaphroditic flatworms, love is a battlefield. They engage in “penis fencing” until one manages to pierce the other’s skin and inseminate it, determining who will play the part of the female in this strange underwater mating ritual.

For answers, we turned to Scoutmaster Ward’s real-life counterpart: 34-year-old Michael Hogan, assistant director at Yawgoog, and scoutmaster of First Providence Troop.

Which scenes were filmed at Camp Yawgoog?

Most of the stuff toward the end of the movie, where Scoutmaster Ward’s “Troop 55″ meets up with the other Khaki Scouts and Jason Schwartzman’s character (Cousin Ben) at “Fort Lebanon.” The chapel, the dock where they get on the sailboat, the field where the lightning strike happens—those are all here.

In the movie, that field is actually labeled “Lightning Field.” Is that really its name?

You know, I don’t think it has a name. It’s really just an old leachfield (septic drainage area) with a pile of rocks in it, in a far-flung corner of the property here. This camp’s been here since 1916 and has grown over the years into a very large operation. So there’s a cartoonish map that we use to orient newcomers, with all these funny names like “The Land of Dead Things,” and “Dinosaur Cave,” like something from a Hardy Boys book. It makes it feel like a kind of wonderland for the kids to explore. While he was filming, Wes was referring to that field as “Stonehenge,” so I think that’s what we’ll call it now. We’ll probably end up putting it on the next revision of the map.

Speaking of lightning, I assume it’s not smart scout behavior to run into an open field during a thunderstorm, huh? Especially not holding a metal can. What should you do instead?

Yeah, that’s the opposite of what you should do. I’m sad to report that lightning is probably the number one killer of scouts. So in recent years we’ve really tightened up our storm precautions. Thanks to technology, now we know when bad weather is coming. If it’s a hurricane, there really isn’t good enough shelter here, so we’ll send the kids home or to a nearby school. With thunderstorms, we sound an alarm to tell everybody to seek cover. If you’re out hiking, you want to make sure you’re not touching anything metal: get rid of that backpack frame, fishing pole, etc. If your hair starts standing on end with static electricity, you might be in real trouble. Get as low to the ground as you can.

In the movie, Scoutmaster Ward scolds his troop for building a treehouse ridiculously high in a tiny tree. Is there a maximum safe height for a treehouse?

That part was funny to me, cause it rang true. It illustrates how, if you let them, these guys will really run with an idea using the skills they’ve learned, and come up with things you wouldn’t expect. As for treehouses—I think in the ‘60s, before we had as many safety regulations and insurance concerns, that sort of thing was definitely commonplace. Nowadays we have to be more careful, so the rule is that if you’re going to build something, it shouldn’t be any taller than you are.

So, does it really help to put pebbles in your mouth if you’re thirsty, like Sam (one of the 12-year-old main characters) did while hiking?

Actually, on a camping trip this fall, one of the older adult leaders recommended that our scouts try that, and they said it worked! It was funny, because they’d brought water, they just thought it would be cool to try out a survival tactic first—and that’s exactly what Sam did in the movie. In my 20-something years scouting, that was the first time I’d heard of that particular tactic. The idea is that the pebbles help you make more saliva to swallow. I personally wouldn’t recommend it, but I’m a germophobe, so I’m not pulling something out of the river and putting it in my mouth. Obviously, it’s a better idea to just make sure you bring water. Even if you’re just hiking for an hour, that’s hugely important.

What about throwing pine needles in the air to see which way the wind is blowing?

That is a good technique. That’s something that hunters do, to get a feel for which way their scent is carrying. Of course, when Sam did that in the movie, there wasn’t a strong enough breeze for it to work, and there was no real practical reason to find out which way the wind was blowing, anyway. I think he was just trying to show off for Suzy.

Did the actors in “Troop 55″ have any scouting experience?

Not for the most part. So Dave Anderson, who was our scout executive here, set up a sort of boot camp for them. He showed them how to tie knots, took them on a hike, taught them to behave like a real scout troop. He was very involved with helping Wes and the producers during the filming here. Sadly, he died very suddenly at the end of last year. That’s why you see, just before the credits, that they dedicated the film in memoriam to him. It was really nice to see that. I’ve been to two screenings already, and I’m hoping to angle my way into a third. I love it. It shows the world how beautiful our little camp is.

–Amanda Fiegl

Courtesy of artist Jeff Gagliardi

So, there’s such a thing as a professional Etch-A-Sketch artist? How did you become one?

It basically happened to me. I didn’t seek it out. When I was young, maybe 18, my nephew had one and I picked it up and started drawing the Taj Mahal. I set it aside and kept playing, but when my sister saw it, she said “Oh my God, where did this come from?!? “ So I started to see what I could draw on it, exploring. It’s funny—I went to the New York School of Visual Arts and I’m a painter, but people would push past my paintings and want to see these Etch-A-Sketch pieces. In one way it was a little bit frustrating, but in another way it was amazingly freeing: If people look at it and laugh out loud, that’s okay. I’m not trying to be serious. I’m just trying to see how far I can push this, how much I can do. I’ve specialized in reproducing famous artworks. People buy them, and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them in museums.

What do you do after you’ve completed a piece? How do you preserve it?

The first few I did, I sold as is. People just hung them on their wall – you can tilt them sideways to hang it on a wall, just don’t shake them! To make the permanent ones, at first I started drilling out the back and shaking the powder out. You make a tremendous mess doing it yourself. My wife has been very patient! Fortunately, after a few years the Ohio Art Company that makes them gave me a special type of ‘master’ Etch-A-Sketch that you can easily take the back off and move to a different backing that has no powder or mechanisms, so it’s completely sealed and perfect.

It must take a lot of patience to make such detailed drawings using continuous lines.

Yes, a good deal of time is in the plotting of it. One of the real stretches is doing things in portrait mode, like the Mona Lisa—you have to draw it sideways. I always try to do the hardest part first, and I think, if I can get that right, everything else will follow. With the Mona Lisa, it was her face, her smile. I didn’t care if it looked positively like her, I just wanted to capture the spirit. And there’s one with the cast of the Wizard of Oz, the first thing I did was kind of this arc of the sunset behind everyone. There’s a lot of false starts, a lot of trial and error.

Your work has been displayed in museums. How do viewers react?

There’s this moment of disbelief and I just love that. You shouldn’t see the Mona Lisa on an Etch-A-Sketch! I’ve heard people say things like “Oh, he did it with lasers,” or other explanations of things which would be much more complicated than what I actually did.

And I understand you helped set a Guinness World Record?

Yes, last year in Lyons, my neighbor and I organized a “Sketch-A-Palooza” that set a world record for the most people (372) Etch-A-Sketching at the same time. It was really fun, we had people from very young to as old as 94, sketching Steamboat Mountain from the park here. Some of them were very good, I was really impressed.

Are you currently working on anything?

Well, two years ago I had a terrible accident and fell off my roof and broke both my arms at the wrist, so my Etch-A-Sketching days are behind me. I can’t help but see the irony and humor in this: Of all the injuries to happen to all the people, the Etch-A-Sketch guy breaks his wrists! So I don’t much work in that medium now, but painting’s not a problem, and I do graphic design for a living.

Courtesy artist Jeff Gagliardi

What’s the last piece you did?

It’s based on Picasso’s Guernica, using three Etch-A-Sketches in a triptych. I used to joke that Picasso’s work already looks like it was done on an Etch-A-Sketch; a bunch of squiggly lines and strange shapes! But this is actually the only serious thing I ever tried, inspired by September 11. It’s disconcerting to see an act of heinous inhumanity depicted on a child’s toy. I’m hoping to exhibit it someplace.

Any advice for would-be Etch-A-Sketch artists?

The real secret of it is the ability to retrace a line. And it can be very frustrating, as you can imagine. If you mess it up in any way, you just gotta shake it and start all over. There are times when I’ve gotten right to the end of something and made a mistake, and I’ll be honest, you just wanna cry. But hey, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

–Amanda Fiegl

1. A Separation (Iran)

What it’s about: After Simin moves out of the home, her husband, Nadar, tries to care for their young daughter and his own aging father, who has Alzheimer’s. The nurse he hires to tend to his father is injured during an argument, and the two families must decide who is to blame. They struggle with the conflicting demands of doing what is right under the law, what is right for their family, and what is right under Islam.

What the title means: Simin has secured a visa for the family to leave Iran, but Nadar refuses to abandon his father. They separate while Nadar considers granting Simin’s request for a divorce.

Iranian flavor: Women are frequently straightening their head coverings, and some key plot points hinge on the opinions of religious elders and swearing on a Koran.

Oscar-worthy moment: Any of the scenes that take place in the small office of the judge who is deciding the fates of these two families. Matters of life and death are debated with powerful, subtle performances.

Who’d star in Hollywood’s remake? For Nadar, Bryan Cranston has shown in Breaking Bad that he can play a father willing to make sacrifices for his family. Gwyneth Paltrow has the poise to portray the determined Simin, and Dakota Fanning could pull off the role of their smart and observant daughter, Termeh.

–Brad Scriber

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2. Bullhead (Belgium)

What it’s about: You can’t run from the past. The shady underworld of growth hormones in Belgium’s cattle industry provides the backdrop (and apt metaphor) for this character sketch of a deeply damaged man. Jacky Vanmarsenille is an East Belgian farmer who, in making a shady deal for cattle hormones, reconnects with a childhood friend, Diederik. This sets off a chain-reaction through which Jacky’s struggle with his traumatic youth and subsequent addiction spirals out of control.

What the title means:  The sense of loss that comes from hurtling through life like a mindless beast, without family to care for or real responsibility. Also, Jacky’s physique.

Belgian flavor:
a) Blue-and-white Club Brugge football scarf
b) Linguistic dissonance between Flemish and French
c) City views over the Meuse River

Oscar-Worthy Moment: Jacky confronts his childhood bully from his childhood—now crippled and living in a home. In a truly terrifying scene, he pulls himself back from the brink of a murderous rage.

Who’d star in Hollywood’s remake? Vin Diesel as Jacky (though he’d have to gain about 30lbs of muscle.)  Tony Hale as Diederik for that just-awkward-enough bit of comic relief combined with real acting chops. Marion Cotillard as Luisa, especially if they want to keep the French angle.

–Jennifer Pocock

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3. Footnote (Israel)

What it’s about: Old dad and middle-aged son are both Talmudic scholars. Dad is angry at not being recognized for decades of thorough research. Son gets big kudos. Dad is resentful. Tensions ensue, but are framed with absurdist whimsy—like the scene in which Talmudic scholars with bushy eyebrows meet in a room so small that they all have to rearrange their chairs every time someone wants to enter or exit.

What the title means: Dad’s greatest accomplishment is being named in a footnote by another Talmudic scholar.

Israeli flavor:
a) Talmud jokes.
b) Security checkpoint jokes.
c) More Talmud jokes.

Oscar-worthy moment: There isn’t one moment that stands out. Rather, this movie’s great achievement is turning a movie about the Talmud into a fascinating exploration of family dynamics and introducing Hitchcockian suspense (why did the Ministry of Education mysteriously summon the son?) and Seinfeldian humor to dazzling effect.

Who’d star in Hollywood’s remake? Since this is a movie about a book of rabbinic commentary on Jewish law, Hollywood needs maximum marketability. Let’s cast Larry David as the brooding, curmudgeonly, running-shoe-clad dad and Jerry Seinfeld as the bemused and full-bearded son.

–Marc Silver

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4. In Darkness (Poland)

What it’s about: Doing the right thing can be its own reward. Based on a true story, Christian family man Leopold Socha is a sewer inspector who moonlights as a thief in Nazi-occupied Poland. Shortly before the liquidation of the town’s Jewish ghetto, Socha cuts a deal with a desperate group of Jews to hide them in the sewers in exchange for steady payments. Over the next 14 months, Socha must confront personal danger and loss as he comes to terms with his own anti-Semitism and begins to see “his Jews” as humans like any others, with desires and failings and incredible resilience.

What the title means: It’s literally how the characters must live in the city’s underbelly, but it’s also the state of mind for many in the war-torn world above.

Polish flavor:
a) Old World cobblestone roads
b) Plenty of vodka
c) Dialogue in a constant mix of Polish, German, Ukrainian, and Yiddish

Oscar-worthy moment: Socha and his partner watch dispassionately as ghostly, wailing forms appear at a distance in a dark forest. The shapes resolve into a group of naked Jewish women being chased and gunned down by soldiers. The two thieves turn and walk silently back home.

Who’d star in Hollywood’s remake? Stellan Skarsgård as Socha, with a plumped-up Naomi Watts as his kind-hearted but cautious wife. Benedict Cumberbatch as Mundek, the de facto leader of the Jewish refugees, and a dark-haired Joey King as Krystyna Chiger, the young Jewish girl who went on to write her memoirs about life in the sewers.

–Victoria Jaggard

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5. Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)

What it’s about:  A Canadian elementary school is in shock after a much-loved teacher commits suicide in her classroom. Her replacement, an Algerian refugee, must deal with both the students’ trauma and the private, yet parallel, grief which has followed him from his troubled country. The film is packed with scenes exposing cultural differences, such as Monsieur Lazhar’s first encounter with a Rice Krispie treat (a “Quebec-style baklava”) or his confused exposure to an iPod on shuffle.

What the title means: It’s the name of the teacher who becomes a target of cultural preconceptions as he struggles to help his students—and himself—leave the past behind.

Algerian flavor:
a) Memories of white houses and blue skies
b) Raï folk music
c) Lots of tea

Oscar-worthy moment: Simon, a troubled student who saw his former teacher’s corpse hanging from a noose, admits to having spread a lie about her that he believes prompted her suicide. Monsieur Lazhar’s reassurances release a torrent of pent-up emotion in the classroom. The breakdown brings closure to the tragedy, but also puts his job as a teacher at risk.

Who’d star in Hollywood’s remake? Teach Tony Shalhoub French and he’d be the perfect candidate to play Monsieur Lazhar. Elle Fanning as the favorite student, Alice, and Preston Bailey as the troublemaker, Simon.

–Nicole Glass

1. NAME OF FILM: Benda Bilili!

WHEN TO SEE IT: Wednesday, September 14 at 7 p.m.

THE STORY: Set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the film follows a band of homeless, mostly paraplegic men, who rehearse at the Zoo and on street corners. They battle setbacks to record and release an album that may eventually change their lives. On the eve of the band’s departure to play in a French music festival, the mother of the teenage soloist, Roger, recalls his first day of school. He had sold his uniform and school supplies, saying “School won’t get me to Europe.” What would get him there, Roger had told her, was his satonge–a simple instrument made from a milk tin, a stick and a guitar string.

WHO MADE IT AND WHY: Filmmakers Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tullaye discovered the band, financed their first album and have been documenting their progress for seven years.

THE ROAD LEADS TO: France–and fame. Band members leave behind the streets of Kinshasa, where they slept on cardboard mats, for the cities of Europe, where they perform before cheering crowds.

–Brad Scriber

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2. NAME OF FILM: Matariki

WHEN TO SEE IT: Thursday, September 15 at 7 p.m.

THE STORY: An assault during Matariki–the Maori new year celebrated during the appearance of the Pleiades–affects unrelated characters from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. All are forced to re-assess their lives and discover ways of moving forward. Sort of a Crash with Kiwi accents.

WHO MADE IT AND WHY: Maori director Michael Bennett’s tale of loosely intertwined lives was inspired by a play he saw about an Auckland car thief with family roots in New Zealand’s Tokelau islands. “My original impulse was to pursue it as a single story,” he told the New Zealand Herald, “but I felt it wasn’t going to quite fill out to the edges for a feature. So I thought about expanding the theme–the theme being transformation and renewal. Matariki fitted into that well. It’s a time when you say goodbye to those who have passed on but also to that part of your life where you need to close doors and open new doors and move through them.”

THE ROAD LEADS TO: Catharsis and new beginnings.

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2. NAME OF FILM: Kawa

WHEN TO SEE IT: Friday, September 16 at 9 p.m.

THE STORY: Kawa, a strapping Maori dad, has moved out of the family home, leaving behind a loving (and puzzled) white wife and two kids, a sweet seven-year-old daughter and an insolent teenage son. Eventually the reason for Kawa’s departure is revealed: He has known that he was gay since he was a boy of 12 and now he feels he can no longer mask his sexual identity.

WHO MADE IT AND WHY: Director Katie Wolfe adapted the novel Nights in the Garden of Spain, and decided to make the lead character Maori instead of European. That adds a cross-cultural layer to the story, although Wolfe has stated that the movie is not about Maori attitudes toward homosexuality but rather the story of one family.

THE ROAD LEADS TO: Beautiful New Zealand scenery, family tensions, a near tragedy, and, ultimately, a surprising resolution.

–Marc Silver

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3. NAME OF FILM: God is a Liar: Tradition and Change in Turkana

WHEN TO SEE IT: Saturday, September 17 at 1:30 p.m. (52 min, followed by directors’ discussion)

THE STORY: God is a Liar looks at three different groups of Turkana, a pastoralist tribe in northern Kenya, as they struggle to cope with a drought. The Turkana have proud communities with traditions that are passed through generations, but we see them on the cusp of change, as they begin to accept that God and nature are not providing them with what they need anymore. Stories like theirs are a reminder of the link between environmental and cultural preservation.

WHO MADE IT AND WHY: Frederic Courbet and Eugenie Reidy directed the film. It gives the Turkana people an opportunity to share their concerns about how climate change and the expanding modern world affect their faith, routines and livelihood—concerns that are fundamentally the same for many other people around the world.

THE ROAD LEADS TO: Adaptation. The Turkana people face the challenge of modifying traditions that have benefited them for many years. They must also learn to interact with the outside world, as they come to realize that people from other places, not God, are the ones bringing aid and resources. As with all change, it can be scary and tough, but their strong sense of community will take them far.

***

4. NAME OF FILM:Sky Dancer

WHEN TO SEE IT: Saturday, September 17 at 4 p.m.

THE STORY: Celebrates one of history’s few female Buddhist masters, Khandroma Kunzang Wangmo, and her quest to preserve the traditions of her Tibetan ancestry, care for the people around her in rapidly changing times, and advance the teachings of Buddhism all over the world. While those goals may seem lofty and unattainable (especially in the 45 minutes of the film), Khandroma’s quiet persistence, peaceful smile, and strong personality show no bounds to what she can accomplish. From establishing and constructing monastic colleges, to building bridges between Tibet and China through her teachings and travels, to convincing local boys to quit smoking, Khandroma’s daily life is compelling.

WHO MADE IT AND WHY: Jody Kremmer made this film to introduce the world to a culture and community on the brink of drastic change, with one stalwart defender at the focus.  Since her first visit to the region Kremmer has been working to raise awareness and support for the community, specifically through the cause of women’s empowerment.

THE ROAD LEADS TO: Enlightenment, both personal–in the following of her Buddhist teachings–and also for the community, in following her lead for increased communication, education, health, and equality.

–Nicholas Mott

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5. NAME OF FILM: Papa Mau: The Wayfinder

WHEN TO SEE IT: Sunday, September 18 at 4 p.m.

THE STORY: Papa Mau commemorates the work of Mau Piailug, a master navigator whose influence helped resurrect Polynesian culture in Hawaii. It follows the story of a few young men in the 1970s, a time when the islands’ indigenous traditions had nearly disappeared. They construct a traditional voyaging canoe named Hokule’a, and seek out Piailug to teach them the long-lost art of navigating using solely the stars, wind, and ocean. Reintroducing this knowledge to the islands unifies the Hawaiian people in a way not seen for generations. The story illustrates how each culture must strike a balance, adapting to change without losing its identity.

WHO MADE IT AND WHY: Hawaiian film director Na’alehu Anthony documents Hawaiian stories so that outsiders might understand their importance.  He has been a crewmember on Hokule’a since 1995 and was recently made captain.

THE ROAD LEADS TO: Reconnection. The Hawaiians recaptured traditions that were almost completely lost. But it takes more than building voyaging canoes and reading the stars. As Piailug pointed out to the crewmembers, they must also have a deep spiritual understanding and pride in the Polynesian culture in order for it to survive.

Tickets to screenings are $10 each ($8 for National Geographic members). A pass for all 9 films in the series is $100 ($80 members) and includes admission to the Global Groove Dance Party on Saturday night.

This brief, adorable home video of a sleeping kitten and its mother has gone viral in the past week, attracting more than 18 million views on YouTube. The user who first uploaded it (dragomirnet86) titled it “Cat Mom Hugs Baby Kitten,” and another version is titled “Cat Hugs Baby Kitten Having Nightmare.” To find out if feline science backs up that anthropomorphic explanation, we talked to Dr. Nicholas Dodman, director of the animal behavior clinic at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. (In the past, he’s also helped us analyze another viral video of a piano-playing cat.)

Folks who’ve commented on this video seem convinced that this kitten is having a nightmare. But do kittens really have nightmares, or dreams at all?

Well, the kitten’s clearly dreaming. It may not be a nightmare, it may be running after a mouse; we’ll never know. Naysayers will say: You can’t prove cats dream. But if you measure brainwaves in cats, dogs and several other animals, it’s clear that they go through a period of rapid-eye movement, or REM sleep, when the brain is very active. In humans, exactly the same thing happens—and that’s when we dream. I read a study that kittens do a lot of this kind of sleeping in their early life, as their brain is developing. And I believe it makes sense that REM sleep is not only associated with the maturation of neurons in the brain, but also with dreaming processes. As kittens begin to sense the world around them, those things can be regurgitated in sleep in the form of dreams.

If it’s sleeping so deeply, why is it twitching its paws?

Humans and cats both have certain muscles that are for precision, as well as what are called larger “anti-gravity muscles” like those that lift your legs. Those larger ones are activated by a neurochemical called serotonin. During REM sleep, the brain’s serotonin system is shut off, which means the anti-gravity muscles are shut off. What’s not switched off are these highly-tuned muscles in things like eyes and extremities—what for us would be fingers and toes, but for them it’s paws and whiskers. This kitten is in the state of sleep some people call “the sleep of the body,” because the body is totally relaxed except for these tips of things twitching, while the brain is active and dreaming. The opposite is “sleep of the mind,” when the brainwaves go very big and slow, almost flattening out, but the muscles are not completely relaxed—with a cat, that would be a catnap.

And what does the mom’s reaction look like to you? Is she really “hugging” the kitten?

Mummy is doing what mummy cats do. Like humans, they sort of fall in love with their babies—the hormone involved is oxytocin, it’s involved in all sorts of bonding, even between humans and their pets—so she’s cuddling up and keeping her baby close. She seems to be in slow-wave sleep, not REM, and the kitten’s movements seem to disturb her slightly. One limb happens to be under the kitten, and she puts her other paw across and feels the presence of her baby. To me it’s a perfectly natural example of maternal care and affection to a kitten who’s dreaming. You could refer to it as a hug. They’re mutually bonded and I think they enjoy the presence of each other. Human analogies are not entirely inaccurate.

How old would you guess this kitten is, or how far along in its development?

It looks pretty young, I’d say two to three weeks, though that’s just a guess. There are three main periods of growing up in a kitten. In the first two weeks, they’re basically just like little milk-sucking maggots; they can’t even open their eyes. In weeks two to seven, their eyes and ears open and they learn to socialize. And after that they’re called juveniles, becoming more independent. So we’re looking at a kitten that I think is in that second phase. The mother still needs to take great care of it because fear, the perception of danger, takes a while to develop. Humans and animals are born literally fearless, and need the parent to watch out for them or they might crawl right off the side of a bed, for example. So a kitten this young can’t stray far from its mother safely, and she keeps it close; draws it in often.

Thanks! That all makes a lot of sense.

Everything makes sense. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is people who think humans and animals are completely different.

-Amanda Fiegl