Journal of Matters Relating to Felines - Autumn 2020

Paatrons of Ciivility The earliest archeological evidence of cat domestication was uncovered on the island of Cyprus. A grave shared by a man and an eight-month-old cat buried alongside him, dating back to the last period of the Stone Age – the Neolithic. This grave was created nine thousand and a half years ago, predating the famous cats of ancient Egypt by four thousand years. This also predates Britain as an island – it was still connected to Holland by a land bridge. Cyprus has no native cat species, so this grave not only reveals a striking and relatable close bond between a human and his feline companion, it also demonstrates that this area was populated with cats via migration alongside humans amphibiously. Archeological evidence suggests that this migration may have occurred via dugout canoes as this is the earliest type of boat found, with the oldest - known as the Presse Canoe - found in the Netherlands, dating between 8040 BC and 7510 BC. Thus, we can imagine that in dugout canoes fashioned from hollowed tree trunks, perhaps in combination with some other more delicate craft which has not survived in the ground well enough to be traced thus far, these cats voyaged to settle European soil from the Neolithic fertile crescent. Likely passed nuggets of meat through the bars of a stick-cage whilst moaning and panting in fear, as if taking a trip to the vet whilst assaulted by the sound of an engine.

It’s important to note that the Neolithic period at large is defined by the embrace of agriculture in certain areas, sometimes referred to as the ‘Neolithic revolution’- although of course like anything in pre-history this was not a sudden event and was a result of the changes that occurred during the 10 thousand year ‘Epipalaeolithic’ period which came before. In particularly fertile regions such as the heartland of modern China between the Yangtze and Huang He rivers, the Nile valley, and the Fertile Crescent that traces the Tigris and Euphrates across Mesopotamia and the Levant, permanent agricultural societies arose during the Neolithic period. Thus, in these corners of the general human population which mostly remained hunting and gathering for thousands of years longer, the perfect environment for the cat was formed. The humans built stiffer settlements with regular heating arrangements and protection from wind and rain, any predator large enough to chase a cat would be killed in order to protect children and livestock, and most importantly the constant localised stockpile of food that the humans had formed around themselves via their new system meant that vermin had become an increasingly serious problem.

Before the cat, what was the solution to dealing with these troublesome pests? It’s hard to overstate the problem posed by these agile, numerous and tiny granivores. They are still with us today. Small birds like crows or pigeons, mice, and rats take their pickings from settled human society and multiply as a result. Lacking modern technology and with extremely scare resources, this would have been a great blight for the Neolithic farmer. Labour intensive work meant that the adults time would have been valuable, and despite this, how can a big gangly human efficiently deal with these massively mobile masticators? Children could be put to the task, but they would be even less effective, and may have been just as busy assisting the farm directly. Dogs? They were certainly available in this time period, but the development of any breed which could be considered anything approaching a ‘ratter’ was far off. The large dogs of the Neolithic period would cause a great ruckus chasing a rodent, knocking things over, and letting all the other vermin in the area know where they were, whilst the little bandit would likely just escape by going in or under something.

It’s most likely that the entrance of the cat to human life was very incremental. Following vermin populations, the cats would have naturally ranged closer to human settlements in greater numbers as populations, farms, and their surrounding ecosystem of scavenging animals grew. I would estimate their main barrier to symbiosis with humans early on would have been domestic dog as well as human predation. However, it’s likely that the usefulness of the wildcat was quickly realised by these burgeoning agricultural communities. In a process which progressed at differing rates in different localities, these cats became less fearful of humans. When an impressive level of tameness was achieved in a community they would likely have been bred and traded for other vital resources, incentivising the spread of sociable feline populations across the fertile crescent and southern Anatolia.

The African Wildcat Felis Silvestris lybica has the greatest range of wildcat species, covering much of Asia and the Middle East as well as Africa.

Studies thus far demonstrate that this wildcat species is the ancestor of today’s domestic cat, besides local instances of tame small felines. For example, findings from a 5600-year-old settlement in North Western China suggest that a cat may have been fed by the local villagers, as a large amount of their staple crop of millet was found in its stomach. The species of the cat was later identified as a leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis and was presented by Chinese scientists as the earliest domestication of the cat. Weighing this claim against the much earlier Cypriot example depends on how much the striking evidence of feeding the cat is valued over the earlier date. Regardless, the leopard cat’s taming appears to have been short lived, as the Chinese cat population is descended from the African wildcat, just like elsewhere. It’s postulated that after the opening of the Silk Road trade allowed purchase of our familiar cats, which were more desirable – likely because they were fully domesticated. This demonstrates the natural tendency towards homogenisation of pet species, as it takes so long for a domestication process to be completed without modern knowhow.

During the Neolithic, the same migration period which replaced much of the thinly spread hunter gathering populations in mainland Europe at the time over thousands of years, also spread the ancestors of the domestic cat deep into the continent – cat remains found in Poland date back as far as 5000 years. This was the same migration trend which replaced the population of the famous Cheddar Man of the UK – a member of the Mesolithic humans who previously occupied the area. This wave changed the culture and genetics of Europe, demonstrating the advantages of agriculture versus hunter-gathering on a macro level. Agriculture facilitated the blossoming population which drove the Aegean people to spread to the North and West, away from competition against other numerous farming societies. It also empowered the migrators in Europe, outcompeting the genes of hunter-gathering populations with sheer numbers.

If you love the mystique of Ancient Egypt to the point where you are something of an amateur Egyptologist, and/or previously enjoyed the thought they were the ones behind the modern kitty, do not be dismayed. Its certain that Ancient Egypt played an integral role in the story of the cat. The Nile valley is understood as a participant in the ‘Neolithic revolution’ at a similar time to the peoples of the Fertile Crescent. However, the mighty and distinctive Ancient Egyptian society which occupies a space in popular imagination did not arise until later on. The Sumer people who spoke

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a language distinct from both Semitic and Indo-European forms developed a complex hierarchical and religious society. Generally described as the earliest known civilisation, they predate their own cuneiform script – straddling the timeline between prehistory and the beginnings of ‘ancient’ history. Written as the capital of the mythical hero Gilgamesh who defied the Gods, slayer of the Bull of Heaven and the giant ‘Humbaba’, their capital of Uruk is the oldest city thus far discovered, perhaps the first urban society of Earth.

About a thousand years after the founding of Uruk, Neolithic settlements along the Nile which were likely already somewhat economically and culturally unified, were formed into two opposing states by kings who controlled vast armies and slaves. Named after their relation to the flow of the Nile, the Upper Kingdom and Lower Kingdom (upstream and downstream) were likely highly advanced farming civilisations. Archaeological evidence exists of Neolithic Egyptian colonies or entrepôt in modern day Palestine, then the land of Canaan. Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt would eventually be united by the conquest of Narmer, who mixed the white vulture crown of his Upper Egypt with the red cobra crown of lower Egypt, forming the symbol of the Pharaoh – ruler of the Two Lands. This conquest, which begins the officiation history of Ancient Egypt as kept by their government, is definitive of the divine monarchy which would characterise the state for the next 3000 years, as well as the dualism which is woven into its culture and religion. Pharaohs’ standard titles included ‘of the Sedge and Bee’ symbolising Upper and Lower Egypt.

Paintings found within the great necropolis of Saqqara outside the Pharaohs’ capital Memphis depict a small cat with a collar on, which leads experts to believe that very tame cats were kept in Pharaohs quarters by at least the 2500s BC, about 600 years after the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. It seems like the Nile civilisation became increasingly infatuated with cats from around this period. The goddess Bastet was originally depicted as a lioness, but increasingly took on the aspect of a domestic cat over time. She protected the common household just like a real cat protects the granary, while her alternate Sekhmet - the Lioness headed goddess – protected the Pharaoh. The city of Bubastis was sacred to Bastet, an archaeological hotspot for mummified cats. Today its ruins lie in the suburbs of Zagazig in Lower Egypt. The festival of Bastet was held in this city, which was observed by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus in the 400s BC. He claimed ‘more wine of the grape was drunk in those days than in all the rest of the year. Such was the manner of this festival: and, it is said, that as many as seven hundred thousand pilgrims have been known to celebrate the Feast of Bastet at the same time’ if this is true (depending on estimates you choose to believe) that meeting could be approaching 1% of the world’s population at the time!

Paintings also reflect a tightening of the relationship between cat and human in Egypt, with cats tucked under furniture like mine or yours.

Curiously, a genetic study in 2004 demonstrated that a new gene pool of cats emerged at least 3000 years ago, testing mitochondrial DNA of cat mummies. Tracking other specimens, its demonstratable that this feline Nile population grew in size and spread at an incredible rate over the next periods of history. They spread to Europe via trade, and by the first millennium AD outnumbered the Fertile Crescent descended population on its ‘home turf’ in Western Turkey. Such a prevailing spread in regions which had already accessed cat type 1 point to a superior product. Today’s cats are a mix of both populations, plus wildcats of various regions, which domestic cats continue to breed with as they are essentially the same species.

Herodotus wrote that the Egyptians were the only people to keep animals in their houses. It seems hard to reject the idea that they had an affinity with animals… after all, their gods were all worshipped in animal form as well as human, demonstrating a oneness between mankind and the natural world. What’s more, the divine dynasties had aweinspiring material power at their disposal. This lead Carlos Driscoll of the World Wildlife Fund to conclude that they ‘supercharged the taming process’ with bigger and better methods of selective breeding, turning the cat from ‘tame’ to domesticated – a true pet. The Roman empire helped to spread the cat deeper into Europe, and its use in dealing with vermin on ships meant cats followed European naval empires of the modern period, making it one of today’s most invasive species. Despite this however, it may have been the Egyptians that solidified the cat as a future global species by making it snuggly and friendly.

As demonstrated in China, trade links would have spread cats regardless.

Perhaps you don’t believe the Egyptian pet theory – that populations could have spread because it was considered fashionable to own cats which were once worshipped in their land, or perhaps these cats had a different look. One thing is for certain, however. The cat, seamlessly arriving in time for the first urban human societies, is far more civilised than the primitive dog.

Composed by, William Price, Undergraduate of History from the University of East Anglia

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Unnique Thheatre, Etternal Ciinema When the Internet was able to watch the first result of Tom Hooper’s movie adaptation of the musical show Cats in a trailer – Cats was originally composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1978 for the theatres of Broadway - the social media community immediately made fun of it. Memes, reaction videos on YouTube…the derision became a trend. Despite reuniting famous American singers and actors such as Taylor Swift, Julie Dench, James Corden and Ian McKellen and therefore looking like a battle of egos for the spotlight rather than an actual plot, the main subject of mockery was about the use of special effects. Special effects were used to mimic feline fur on the body of the actors, getting rid of makeup and costumes. Hybrid creatures are created, half cats, half-humans and they resulted in a disturbing anthropomorphism. Why turning Cats into a movie in the first place?

The particularity of cinema as an art form is that it encapsulates all the earlier art forms in itself. In cinema is found the beauty of words and writing in the dialogues or monologues - pieces of poetry sometimes, the art of photography, the sense of composition and colours from painting, music gets involved; all in one. Before cinema, theatre was an all-in-one too. Poetry, composition or balance of the stage, music, and work on lighting close to this of modern photography. The essential difference between cinema and theatre resides in the gap between eternity and the ephemeral.

In a very oedipal way and somewhat narrow-minded, cinema is often seen as theatre’s advancement; since they are so close to each other, the newest has to eradicate the oldest to fully exist. Just like in the concept of Freud’s oedipal complex. This view is incredibly false: cinema and theatre are very independent from one another. One thing that leads to the adaptation of Cats into a movie was the argument of the wonderful technological tool, - manipulation linked to cinema - which could surpass makeup and costumes and turn the actors into 'cats'. It turned out the result of this technological manipulation was the very reason why the spectators despised the movie. Perhaps there is no reason to adapt plays or musicals for the big screen because they are made for the stage and the stage is special. Vice versa, cinema is not to be considered an improved version of theatre. There is simply no qualitative comparison to be made between the two. Theatre is not the unfinished form of cinema.

The word ‘theatre’ comes from the Greek ‘theatron’ which means ‘the place where we look’ - just like cinema refers to the art form as well as to the place where movies are screened. However, in the theatre, the atmosphere is active; in the cinema it is rather passive. Even if nowadays, in the theatre, we are far from the atmosphere of Elizabethan theatre or ancient Greek theatre – in which people were eating, drinking, talking – theatre is still active because the spectator is a key component of the magic, as much as the actor or the director. In comedies especially, the fourth wall is often torn down. That is to say, if the stage was to be observed as a room in which life is taking place, one wall would be down – allowing more or less direct interactions between the public and the actors. Moreover, many theatre actors converge saying that performances from a night to another are never the same. The reason, they say, is because the spectators as a whole never give the same energy. They don't laugh at the same comic moments, they don't necessarily spontaneously applause in the middle of the play. In that sense, they participate in the creation of a specific play, every night.

Theatre originated in ancient Greece – alongside approximately every aspect of our modern European civilizations - towards the years VI and V BC. Theatre was born in celebration of the god Dionysus, the god of wine, art, and feast. It was, therefore, a religious performance with processions, songs and dances, taking place around the temples and later in amphitheatres. From this religious performance, Greek tragedy first started under the form of choral performances: ‘(…) a group of 50 men danced and sang dithyrambs – lyrics hymns in praise of the god Dionysus.’ (Britannica).

A Greek poet, Thespis, has the reputation to be the very first actor since he engaged in dialogue with the chorus leader. The great antique playwrights such as Aeschylus and Sophocles gradually added actors and diminished the number of choral performers, shifting the spotlights’ trajectory. The role of the chorus was very specific: ‘while the tragic protagonists act out their defiance of the limits subscribed by the gods for man, the chorus expresses the fears, hopes, and judgment of the polity, the average citizens. Their judgment is the verdict of history.’ (Britannica) The chorus was like the reversed concept of a mirror. Their image was creating the audience’s, they were guiding the spectators through their catharsis.

Here was a little bit of history on the origins of theatre…revealing that musical theatre is particularly close to the original theatre! Musicals are often mocked for commenting what just happened in a scene thanks to a song, but it is practically what the Greek chorus was doing. Besides, the concept of a chorus, even if it is not a mandatory component of modern theatre nowadays, unveils the essence of theatre. Such essence makes theatre special, incomparable with cinema. Theatre is a form of art which is alive, and created on the moment, in front of us, but also by our own eyes, by us. It is born out of interactions. The first interaction happens between the director and his actors and the last interaction – the one between the actors and the audience gives the final push. The concept of a chorus helps to visualise this last interaction because the modern audience is the new chorus. No matter if the play breaks the fourth wall, the feelings triggered in the spectators create an atmosphere nourishing the actors. The nature of these feelings varies from a representation to another, ensuring the spectator's role as key and final.

Theatre is alive, this is the main difference with cinema. Theatre happens in one place, at a very special moment and the representation is punctual as well as unique. When it is being produced, it is a human interaction. Because it is alive, the spectator cannot see the details of an actor’s face unless the actor breaks the fourth wall and come to them. Because theatre is alive, there is a need for a special deal to be accepted by the audience.

This deal seals their participation in the creation too. The deal is this of accepting the illusion even if the change of settings is not hidden, even if it is noticeable that an actor plays two different roles…Theatre works its magic only if the audience accepted beforehand that they are about to be gently fooled.

As for cinema, the illusion is different, complete, thanks to a distance. Cinema isn’t alive in the same manner as theatre. The screen is the distance.

The illusion is more complete since cinema is pre-fabricated: the illusion has to be perfect once in front of the spectator’s eyes. This pre-fabricated aspect allows a concentration on details. The acting can be particularly subtle since the camera can establish close-ups and visit the actor’s most discrete facial expressions, emotional manifestations. This is the specific livelihood of cinema; another kind of intimacy than is encountered in the theatre space, not linked to an interaction but to a voyeur-like perspective.

Cinema was born from the invention of photography and its improvements throughout the 19 th century. Nevertheless, the basic idea of cinema – or capturing movement, the illusion of movement – was already reflected upon by philosophical or scientific thinkers during Antiquity. But the

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advancements achieved towards our modern idea of cinema happened near the end of the 19th century, and altogether they form the steps which lead to a door opened by the French Lumières Brothers. Firstly in 1874, French astronomer Jules Janssen invents the first chronophotographic device – from the Greek ‘kronos’ meaning ‘time’, ‘photos’ meaning ‘light’ and ‘graphein' meaning 'to record'. A chronophotographic device, therefore, aims at recording images which show time passing by. Janssen's device is a revolver which prints a part of its photographic plate at regular intervals. Secondly comes the French Etienne Jules Marey takes upon Janssen’s idea but is the first one to use sensitive film in 1888 – a turning point among all the improvements. Then, Thomas Edison also adds a few ameliorations to Janssen’s device. Most importantly, Edison created the kinetoscope, a box in which images from a camera can be projected. However, only one spectator can visualise the images in Edison’s box. Finally, the French Lumières Brothers are to be considered as the creators of our cinema in 1895. They were the ones taking the images out of the box thanks to the brilliant idea of taking inspiration into the intermittent movement of sewing machines to conceive the device which will project images on a widescreen. The Lumières Brothers also are the inventors of one concept: the cinema theatre. This is it! Images are projected on a screen, in a dark room, in front of spectators who paid to access the screening.

The main essential difference between theatre and cinema is about their imprint in time. Cinema isn’t unique like theatre, not as secretive. Cinema is eternal: one can watch a movie at the cinema, at home, forever once it has been released for the first time in the dark rooms. Life is captured forever. The idea of capturing life as we see it – that is to say in movement – and saving it is at the heart of cinema. Perhaps because of this, cinema is seen are more real – in a naturalistic meaning - and therefore, somehow, superior to theatre. Perhaps because cinema is, before becoming the art in front of the camera, a major technical advancement, it is seen as the ultimate form of art to display human life and concerns. However, is naturalism even the goal of theatre? Theatre’s tools for décors are meant to tend towards magic rather than reality. On the other hand, cinema cannot be reduced to capturing reality, it can be more magical too.

In the end, theatre and cinema, as shown by their history and evolution are just two different types of canvas. Emotions are real in both and they both provoke emotions for the spectator. This is what matters the most. The reasons why each of us goes to the cinema or the theatre is personal – here are different reasons that one can only put into words for themselves. Nevertheless, cinema and theatre are independent from one another: they are products of very different goals, different combination of props, different technical tools and different natures of interactions between actors and viewers. They both deserve celebration and appreciation, theatre isn’t erased by the presence of cinema, cinema isn’t the improvement of theatre. Like every form of art, cinema and theatre are profoundly human. We have a duty not to forget them, to preserve them, to celebrate them. In the context of Covid-19 and the economic consequences of the lockdown, cinema and theatre are going to struggle very particularly.

Theatre is often seen as a very occasional, sometimes prestigious activity and might not be at the forefront of people’s minds after such a crisis.

Even if big platforms like Netflix and Disney+ helped people going through the lockdowns, the cinemas, and in particular independent local cinemas which try hard to offer the most diversity in terms of movies, are so important. Please - this is when I intrude my own text – if you have the means, go back to the cinema, go back to the theatre as soon as you can!

Composed by, Déborah Lazreug, Undergraduate of English Literature and History of Art at the University of Aberdeen

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Meenageries Picture a grand imperial menagerie, a place for which mysterious and exotic beasts are acquired and displayed so that the nobles and monarchs can flex their vast wealth and luxuries. Today’s zoological parks are a far cry from the notion of displaying animals as status symbols, or living trophies from hunting trips, such that the Victorians were highly fond of. Instead, over time, they have sought to replace the image of unenriched animals in bare prison-esque cages with luscious, stimulating enclosures and a focus on the health and welfare of their captive charges. While the modern zoo prides itself on being a place of learning, conservation and research, a certain stigma remains attached to zoos as animal prisons, and various questions are often raised by those opposing animals in captivity – Are what zoos doing right and are they doing enough? With many actively decrying zoos and the work they carry out, it makes one wonder if they can ever escape the ghosts of their past.

There is no denying that animal welfare conditions have drastically improved over the last few decades in most modern zoos. Accredited establishments such as those recognised by the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) must maintain high standards of animal welfare in terms of housing, nutrition, husbandry, and enrichment. Member zoos and their staff are dedicated and passionate about making life the best they can for the animals in their care and continue to improve standards further. Even so, anyone who has visited zoological parks will almost certainly have noticed that some animals fare better in captivity than others.

Generally, herbivores such as deer, antelope and friends cope well in captive situations and, with careful attention to avoid anthropomorphising, appear content with their surroundings. Certainly, stereotypical behaviours (that is, behaviours that are repetitive and with seemingly no purpose) are not as prominent in most herbivores as they are in carnivores. There is almost a guarantee that if you have visited a zoo even recently, you will have noticed that pacing around the enclosure in the same pattern is very prominent in animals such as big cats and bears. While some think that no animals should be in captivity, there are some species that, despite the increases in care and welfare, do indeed continue to do poorly in zoos compared to their wild counterparts.

Perhaps the most notable examples come from elephants and cetaceans (whales and dolphins). Although some species of cetacean are better suited for captivity than others, there are those which seem to suffer immensely. While you could make the argument that it was somewhat sensationalised, the 2013 documentary ‘Blackfish’, highlighted the inadequacies of captive environments for killer (orca) whales, and the questionable ethics of having them perform tricks in shows for the public. Similar to elephants, these animals roam miles every day and of course, being in a zoo prevents this. Where most animals enjoy longer lifespans in captivity, orcas and elephants are exceptions to this rule. Both species can achieve similar lifespans to humans in the wild, but in captivity, the average lifespan of both is just under twenty years old. In the case of captive orcas, it likely does not help matters that these highly social creatures are kept alone or in pairs causing extreme stress. Coupled with the tanks being inappropriately sized for an animal that will roam for miles daily, studies have shown that stereotypical behaviours such as continuous teeth grinding across the walls of the tank until the tooth root is exposed can lead to severe infections in animals already weak from stress, causing premature death. The number of elephants with stereotypical behaviours such as head bobbing and swaying is also disproportionate compared to other animals. Although BIAZA guidelines state that elephants should be kept in small herds, many are kept with unrelated individuals which creates unnatural social hierarchies and thus, stress.

Whether you agree with the documentary contents or not, ‘Blackfish’ was a true watershed moment for animal welfare and has to this day irreparably damaged the reputations of SeaWorld and other facilities which hold cetaceans. Some countries have banned cetacean shows as a result, and others have prohibited keeping captive cetaceans entirely, though unfortunately breeding and shows continue in areas such as Russia and China.

Another criticism zoos often face is that their education, research and conservation work is simply not enough. While many zoos carry out research on their captive populations, results are often not applicable to wild populations and have in the past created misconceptions that continue to propagate through the public, for example, the notion that wolf packs had ‘alphas’ arose from studies of captive packs, created through unrelated individuals living together and forming social hierarchies which would likely not exist in the wild. In reality, wolf packs consist of small family units: a male, a female and their offspring, with older siblings remaining with their parents to help rear younger animals before dispersing and forming their own packs. However, research on captive populations is now often conducted in order to improve the lives of captive animals, either physically or behaviourally. Many zoos now do also promote research into wild populations and fund researchers and their conservation work.

On the education and conservation side, many zoos hold talks throughout the day for people to come and learn about some of the animals.

Generally, these talks will have a large focus on the threats the particular animal is under in the wild and how the public is able to help them. Other aspects of education in zoos come from information boards around enclosures. Anecdotally, visitors reading them for more than 5 seconds are few and far between. On a more scientific note, various work has been completed by researchers over the years on the educational and conservational impact of zoos. Studies have found that often, education in zoos referring to captive breeding and conservation projects they may be involved with elsewhere on the globe creates a disconnect between visitor and animal. On the other hand, other studies have shown that zoos can provide visitors with the ability to learn about and form emotional connections with animals, which in turn leads to a change in attitude and thus more environmentally conscious behaviour. However, it is difficult to know whether this translates directly into conservation benefits and whether permanent behavioural changes relating to conservation can be attributed to a visit to a zoo. A great deal of research is currently being undertaken to improve the long-term education and conservation impact of zoos on visitors and it is generally recognised that a multi-faceted approach must be taken. Emotional engagement is paramount, and follow-up resources provided after the fact can also go a long way to encouraging visitors to become knowledgeable about the species they have seen and to become a part of conservation efforts.

While this would seem remarkably easy for charismatic animals such as the giraffe, elephant and gorilla which have enjoyed a great deal of conservation attention lavished on them, this is actually far from the truth. A recent study from 2018 highlighted that despite their popularity and

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efforts from zoos to promote conservation messages, there exists the paradox that some of the most charismatic animals are benefitting least from said efforts. Although it is difficult to define what exactly designates an animal 'charismatic' status, the study focussed on ten animals which were the most popular based on a survey given to schoolchildren, across forms of media and animals which featured most heavily in zoos. The researchers believed that this paradox exists because people are simply unaware of the plight of these species because they are everywhere in our daily lives, for example in toys, cartoons, and advertisements. In one week, volunteers saw up to thirty-one individual occurrences of each of the ten animals. Seeing these animals on a day-to-day basis has, according to the study, created a disconnect to and ignorance of the dire status of their populations in the wild. The only exceptions to this are the polar bear, tiger and panda which are very much poster children for the effects of climate change, the uses of animal parts in traditional medicine and the conservation movement in general, respectively. Overall, it would suggest zoos are perhaps not doing enough, or require a different approach to combat these misconceptions of wild animal population statuses.

There have been criticisms of zoos not doing enough to aid conservation efforts in terms of reintroducing captive-bred animals. Reintroductions can be expensive and highly complex with a multitude of factors to take into consideration, and even then, success is varying. Captive-bred animals generally have had little exposure to various skills they would need to survive in the wild, for example, hunting or predator avoidance. Opponents of zoos also argue that many zoos breed animals which are not endangered in the wild, and thus undermine their own conservation message. While this does seem contradictory, breeding animals which are not threatened alongside those which are helps to maintain a captive population in case something does go horribly wrong, and also aids the issue of captive populations not always being sustainable, i.e. with breeding, collection of wild animals is not needed to maintain the captive population. Although obtaining animals from the wild for zoos is thankfully more a relic of the past as well-managed captive breeding programmes, advances in artificial insemination techniques and ongoing conservation of the animal in its native environment have been established for many kept species, harvesting from the wild for zoos, unfortunately, does still occur. However, this either tend to be mostly for animals such as certain fish which can be extremely difficult to breed in captivity, or in the case of small population sizes in an attempt to save the species.

While there are a number of lingering questions on whether zoos still have a place in our society as centres of research, conservation and education, it cannot be denied that they are a big part of why we still have certain species with us today. Creatures great and small have benefitted from a captive breeding and reintroduction programme. Classic examples include the Przewalski’s wild horse, which has now regained a foothold in its original range on the steppe of Mongolia, as well as areas where it is non-native, such as Ukraine. By the 1960s, it had disappeared from the wild entirely. Thanks to competition with domestic livestock, hunting and collecting of foals for captivity, the horses were down to only 12 individuals in captivity after a miserable two decades. Captive breeding efforts continued despite this, and by the end of the 1970s, a carefully managed breeding programme was established, and a global effort was made to save them. The numbers of horses continued to grow and despite the current population being descended from only a handful of individuals, the concerted effort of zoos and captive breeding facilities not only increased numbers, reintroduced individuals but also reduced the level of inbreeding. This has meant that there are now about 2,000 Przewalski’s horses worldwide, many roaming free across national parks and wild areas of Mongolia and Ukraine.

The Przewalski’s horse is not the only conservation success zoos have been instrumental in achieving either, it is a similar story with the scimitarhorned oryx, an antelope native to north Africa. It was once abundant, but extreme and unregulated hunting pressures for their long horns meant that the population dwindled. It was deemed to be extinct in the wild only 20 years ago but even before the scimitar-horned oryx was declared extinct in the wild, zoos had been initiating reintroductions across north Africa. Although these populations remained in pens, there has been fantastic progress in more recent reintroductions in Chad, where initially 21 individuals were released into an acclimation pen in 2016. By 2017, they were released into the wild and the next group of individuals moved in to help bolster the population. Zoos such as Marwell and Edinburgh have been heavily involved with this conservation programme for many years.

There are many more examples of species that have been saved from extinction because of the work of zoos, both in terms of captive breeding (insitu) and in the field (ex-situ) conservation, including the fantastic work being done by the Los Angeles Zoo and San Diego Wildlife Park for the California condor, a North American vulture species which became extinct in the wild, largely due to lead poisoning. They have since been reintroduced and although population growth in this species is very slow, numbers are now increasing. A number of less charismatic species have also benefitted from conservation programmes in zoos, for example, a 2018 review found that amphibians made up a sizeable percentage (42%) of released animals from captive breeding programmes in North American zoos. However, the same study also warned that the zoos did need to do more in terms of releasing captive-bred animals and encouraged improved planning and communication between zoological institutions, researchers, and authorities to increase the conservation value of captive breeding programmes. Indeed, the aforementioned success stories are somewhat rare cases. There are still many species being bred in zoos, many endangered, which have never had captive-bred individuals released to the wild. A prime example is elephants, neither African nor Asian elephant zoo-bred progeny has ever been reintroduced to their native habitats.

While the modern zoo certainly does have the potential to live up to its promises related to research, education and conservation, most are worlds apart from the animal prison image that people still have of them. However, there is no doubt that to remain on the good side of public opinion, as well as win over their opposition they must do more to help effectively educate, use breeding programmes for more conservation benefit and further improve animal welfare standards, especially for animals which traditionally do not thrive in captivity. Although there has been progress made on all these fronts in the last few years, there is still much work to do if zoos can ever hope to escape the ghosts of their past.

Composed by, Thea Mainprize, Undergraduate of Zoology at the University of Aberdeen

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Hoow to Pllay Suddenly I am back home. The soft rays of a golden morning sun pass through a large window. They illuminate the room, heating the hardwood floor of the apartment in which I spent my childhood. A long and eventful semester lies behind me and I am allowed to rest for a while. Things are again familiar and safe. Mom's cooking, clean dishes, friends, family and of course, my cat. She is an old lady at this point at 21 years. Despite this, she has successfully retained a substantial amount of sass and is still the unquestioned ruler of the household. She was introduced to the family when I was six and has stuck around since. She practically raised me. Her age does not seem to stop her when I ceremonially pull out her favourite toy from the cupboard. A simple piece of string. At the sight of this, her pupils dilate until her eyes become nothing but a pair of cute black holes, she goes down into a low stance and prepares to pounce. The game is on. As we have done a thousand times before, she chases the string all around the apartment and up on to various pieces of furniture. This time, however, it got me thinking. Does she understand that this is a game or does she think she is actually hunting?

As it turns out, the nature of play among domesticated felines can be surprisingly sophisticated. The behaviour emerges in kittens at quite a young age and is generally divided into two categories, social and non-social play. Out of these, social play is the one that is observed first. It is usually characterized by physical interaction between litter-mates such as pawing, holding on and rubbing against each other. It is also common that cats, especially at a young age, engage in playful aggression. Non-social play develops shortly after this stage. This kind of behaviour would be recognisable to anyone who has ever owned a cat. It is the classic chasing after a toy, a laser pointer or in my case a piece of string. It is here that our feline friends learn their distinct independence and get to hone their predatory hunting ability. Play also provides them with physical exercise and important social bonding. It seems that cats do understand that they are playing, despite that they are acting on their instincts. This is due to the fact that the aggression that they express is far from serious and they become easily bored or uninterested once they realize that the toy is too easily caught or is too hard to catch. Similar behaviour can be observed in most mammals and also in other species such as birds. As one might expect, for us humans, this behaviour has become incredibly complex. This raises a greater question. How do we define a game? What is it, actually?

Most of us are aware of when a game is taking place. When it happens, it seems as if some form of collective, unconscious, understanding or a separate reality is present among the players, provided that they understand the rules. Despite this, the concept is incredibly abstract and can be hard to grasp. Try explaining what a game is to someone who has never played and you will probably find it a near-impossible task. A person that has no understanding of the idea of a game is, of course, unheard of, which seems to suggest that it is such a fundamental part of human existence that it could be on par with things like sleeping or eating. It is not surprising then that the earliest signs of the existence of human games can be traced back to as late as 2600 B.C. The 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the first academics that attempted to tackle this issue. In his Philosophical Investigations from 1953, he concluded that features such as play, rules and competition fail to accurately capture the actual essence of what a game is. Instead, he suggested that the different activities we have come to call games can be connected only through what he calls ‘‘family resemblances’’. That is to say, these features are commonly found in games but no singular feature can be found in every game. This view has lately come to be challenged by many thinkers, ranging from sociologists and anthropologists to video game designers. Let's investigate this question further.

Perhaps the easiest way to begin understanding what exactly a game is would be to clarify what it is not. A game is not the same thing as work for example. First of all, a game seems to at least contain some element of fun or play. This is, of course, something that often seems to be missing in menial office jobs for example, wherein the activity is often repetitive and boring. And although many people, such as professional football players, do play games as a career choice, it does not change the fact that it is, in fact, a game that they are participating in. It also does not stop being a game simply because people are no longer having fun. Rather, the element of ‘play’ seems to be referring to the activity in itself not being 'serious' or productive. Like the kitten litter-mates, the ‘seriousness’ is only feigned. A sports player does not want to hurt or kill his opponents and although it might seem very important to the player and the fans, in the end, winning or losing does not heavily impact a person's ability to live. Furthermore, a game does not happen because it necessarily needs to, it happens because people want to play. Although it might be a fundamental part of human existence, it only seems to arise once relative safety has been established within a group. A game is also, at least in my opinion, not art. The reason for this is that the activity does not usually express aesthetic, ideological or emotional elements in. This leads to a much greater discussion of the exact definition of ‘art’ and is a topic for another day. Games often take place within a definite time and space, for example, the 90 minutes of a football match or on a chess table. A game without rules also seems to be completely impossible, at least I fail to think of any good examples.

Even the simple game of my cat chasing the string has rules that both of us seem to understand. I hold the string and she tries to catch it. There also seems to be a certain degree of uncertainty involved. Although one might conclude that at least one of the players of a card game will win, it is not determined from the beginning which one of them will be the victor. So, what is a game? My humble opinion on the matter is this; it is a playful activity in which the participants follow a certain set of rules towards an uncertain future. Whether or not there need to be several players involved is up for debate. Is a puzzle that you attempt to solve on your own a game? I do not know.

This reminds me of another, quite modern, phenomenon. Namely that of ‘Alternate Reality Games’ (ARGs). These strange games often take the form of interactive, global, narratives, created by an organization or company and uses the real world as a platform. The players, which usually number up towards hundreds or even thousands of people, cooperatively attempt to solve the puzzle and riddles that are found either through online mediums such as websites, emails and phone calls or on different locations around the world in the forms of posters with a QR code attached for example. This usually results in huge online communities being formed focused on solving the problems presented by the game masters. The

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game also tends to evolve according to decisions made by the players, this process is controlled by the game masters rather than by a fixed algorithm. ARG’s are often organized as a marketing tool for various upcoming forms of media such as movies, series or video games. However, in later years they have gained popularity and have adopted more independent forms. Other than often being slightly unnerving for the poor soul that unknowingly stumbles upon a clue or a riddle from an ARG, they are often extremely effective at organizing large numbers of people on a global scale. This raises an interesting question. Why is it that large, diverse groups of people are able to solve at times seemingly impossible puzzles in a game but we are unable to do so with actual issues? Surely, the advanced communication technology of the modern age ought to be adequate for such an organization. Can we do an ARG on a national level?

Why can't we see problem-solving on a societal scale as a form of game? There are certain clear set ‘rules’ to every problem. For example, we need to organize our hospitals to handle new Coronavirus cases while also taking into consideration the mental health of the healthcare workers and so on. Is it simply because it lacks the element of ‘play’? Does the seriousness of the situation itself make this form of organization impossible?

Maybe the issues are so abstract and complex that they lack a clear time and space in which they take place. Unfortunately, I believe the problem is rooted somewhere a lot deeper than this. I think that the issue is that as a society we no longer want to play as a team. In the West, we are becoming increasingly polarized. Our political systems, our leaders and our media require it. Why would a young, urban leftist, in this day and age, want to even reason with an old, rural right winger for example? He has no reason to be loyal to her, nor do you have a reason to be loyal to the person next to you.

This atomization will not end with ideology and we will continue to separate from each other based on increasingly abstract terms.

Humans are by nature political and we will always seek allies and enemies. However, once upon a time, there was something that could effectively unite a society. Something that transcended political affiliation and connected the individuals of a nation. A base set of values, a spiritual or metaphysical understanding of the world that strung its citizens together. It functioned similarly to the ‘rules’ of a game which all people were willing to follow and formed that collective, unconscious understanding that seems to be so fundamental. That world is long gone of course. It has been replaced by the hustle of modern, everyday life and the shallow, oftenmaterialistic, goals propped up by society, oftentimes based on purely individualistic desires. We seem to have forgotten that we were once on the same team. We faced our issues not as individuals but together. Perhaps we could once again find this spirit, maybe then we could find the element of ‘play’ in our serious issues. Maybe then, we could begin playing the great game.

Composed by, Luke Litvinov, Undergraduate of Philosophy at West Virginia University

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Ann Obbject of Haate The Black Plague of the 14th century marked a time of intense societal challenges, fear, and institutional dogma. The limited scientific understanding at the time meant individuals were easily led to irrational explanations and an unlikely scapegoat to account for the spread of the disease. Cats, particularly black cats, were unjustly blamed for the plague and an anti-cat sentiment began to grow in Europe. Religious leaders falsely accused cats of being ‘‘agents of Satan’’ and as a result, cats were targeted and killed in large numbers. It comes as no surprise that in a time of intense widespread panic, large numbers of people turned to nonsensical explanations. Unjust persecution and the spread of false narratives is an ever-recurring theme throughout history- it has happened in the past and will likely happen in the future. Despite this fact, individuals often fail to realise the similarities between the present day and the times of historical injustice they are quick to criticize. This leads us to the question of whether today, we are also living in a time of injustice and misguided persecution. Is there a group of individuals who are afflicted by the dangers of institutional dogma, much like black cats during the plague?

Most students at the University of Aberdeen will be somewhat acquainted with the Aberdeen Life Ethics Society (ALES). The Aberdeen Life Ethics society is a non-sectarian, philosophical society that aims to educate others about the intrinsic worth of all human life and the harms caused to it by various violent acts, such as abortion and euthanasia. However, what most will not be well acquainted with, is the thirteen-month battle ALES had to face in order to gain affiliation from the Aberdeen University Students’ Association (AUSA).

On 27th April 2018, ALES submitted a new society application to AUSA’s Societies Union Committee. From the date of submission, it took ALES nearly 6 months to receive an eventual decision. The answer to their application was a flat-out rejection. This rejection was based on AUSA’s 2017 pro-choice policy. Passed by the Student Council, the policy entitled ‘‘AUSA is Pro-Choice’’ required, among other things that AUSA offers “no funding, facilitation, or platform” to any pro-life group and forbids the “unreasonable display” of pro-life material on campus.

Given that the pro-life ethic, especially in relation to abortion, is a minority position, the motion unsurprisingly passed by vote of 60-2.

After ALES’ initial rejection by the Societies Union Committee, Alex Mason, founder of ALES, with the help of legal counsel, submitted a 15page complaint to the University regarding AUSA’s unlawful rejection of the society. The complaint alleged that AUSA had violated ALES’ rights of speech and association as protected by the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010. The University declined involvement in the complaint and told ALES to take it up with AUSA. Following this, it took a meeting between ALES and AUSA representatives, a meeting of the Trustee Board, as well as two failed attempts by both members of ALES and free-speech allies to democratically repeal AUSA’s unlawful and discriminatory ‘‘AUSA is pro-choice policy’’. After months of silence from AUSA, the Trustee Board resolved to not repeal the illegal policy themselves. ALES was left no choice but to file a lawsuit against AUSA, which in turn led to successful affiliation of the society. The Aberdeen Life Ethics Society exists as an AUSA affiliated society to this day, despite these trials and tribulations. However, the persecution these students faced for the ‘‘crime’’ of holding what the university deems to be the wrong opinion, speaks volumes about the age we are living in.

For anyone with an ounce of respect for the freedoms that allow them to be at University, the events highlighted above are clearly a disgrace. In particular, the passing of a motion banning certain students from expressing their lawful opinions, demonstrates the impoverished state of the democratic bodies designed to represent all students. Any council member who voted in favour of such unlawful attempts to silence their peers, ought to reconsider their role on what is supposed to be a democratic council. The most alarming part about our student unions discriminatory efforts, is that they are not alone in their actions. This sort of censorship has been well-documented across the UK, with students at Strathclyde, Cardiff, Dundee, Oxford, Glasgow, Newcastle, Stirling, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Warwick, Cambridge, and Manchester being affected. The events that took place here at our university are by no means an anomaly, they are part of a growing intolerance for dissenting opinions.

The response ALES received from both the students’ association and student body demonstrate an unwillingness to deal with a moral question that is recognised by most people as a legitimate debate. The very purpose of university is to freely debate and share ideas in the pursuit of truth.

An important thing to remember is that without the freedom to question biases, challenge social norms, and ask uncomfortable questions, the pursuit of truth is utterly impossible. Perhaps the very institutions designed to promote free thought, as well as the students who attend them, have forgotten the values that lie at the core of what they are supposed to be pursuing. A university without freedom of thought and speech fails to be a university at all; it merely becomes an institution of indoctrination.

The censorship of the abortion debate is not only indicative of a global inhibition of free speech at universities, but it is also indicative of the fact abortion is an inherently moral issue, one that sparks strong emotional response. Abortion proponents like to claim that abortion is nothing more than a harmless medical procedure, comparable to having your appendix removed or a simple dental surgery. However, these assertions are severely misinformed or ill-intentioned attempts to falsely paint the ethical debate surrounding abortion as unnecessary. If discussing abortion was as mundane as discussing vital, morally neutral medical procedures such as appendix removal, then what would be the urgency to silence anyone who dares to discuss abortion in depth from a scientific and philosophical standpoint? The only logical explanation for this type of behaviour, is that abortion advocates seek to silence their ideological opponents because they know if a rational debate were to ensue, support for abortion would likely significantly decrease. If abortion were truly as mundane as any other common medical procedure, no-one would be going to such lengths to silence debate. If you know that you cannot win a debate, the best strategy is to avoid the debate entirely.

What is the truth that Aberdeen Life Ethics Society is attempting to expose that AUSA and some students are desperate to censor? The truth about abortion is that it is a lethal act designed to intentionally and directly kill an innocent human being inside the womb. Every successful abortion ends with a dead human. This is an incontrovertible scientific fact. Anyone with a basic understanding of embryology knows that human life

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begins at fertilisation. Yet, the Aberdeen Life Ethics Society as well as the general pro-life philosophy has been called ‘‘unscientific’’ by embryology students here at the University of Aberdeen. Perhaps, they ought to pay more attention in their lessons.

It is not uncommon to hear pro-abortion advocates espouse with remarkable confidence that pre-born children are ‘‘just foetuses’’, not actual human beings. However, terminology like embryo and foetus that are so often used by pro-abortion advocates to dehumanise the pre-born child, are not representative of what the pre-born child actually is. The terms embryo and foetus are simply scientific ones to denote the age of an individual. Dogs, cats, dolphins, elephants and humans all exist as an embryo and foetus in the beginning of their lives. To accurately determine the species of any embryo or foetus, we must first ask what species the parents are. Since science tells us that all sexually reproducing organisms can only reproduce after their own kind, it follows that two human persons, one male and one female, can only reproduce another human person.

All our lives began at the moment of fertilisation, which is when the male sperm penetrates the female egg. This creates a zygote, which is a new human being in her or his first stages of life. Whilst this new human being possesses genetic information from both the mother and father, the combinations of each parent’s DNA creates a genetically distinct, irreplaceable human being. With these facts in mind, we can be clear about what an abortion truly entails.

It is also typical to hear the use of euphemistic terms when people talk about abortion. For example, the NHS describes abortion in the following way, ‘‘The pregnancy is then removed via suction [...] occasionally, the pregnancy doesn’t pass and a small operation is needed to remove it.”

Notice the use of the word it- what exactly is it? Since the medical definition of pregnancy is the state of carrying a developing (thereby living) embryo or foetus within the female body, when the NHS talks about removing the pregnancy or ‘‘it’’, they are actually talking about ending the life of the developing human inside the mother’s womb. With all of this in mind, a proper definition of abortion would look like this; abortion is the intentional and direct ending of antenatal human life. This is because abortion ends a human life. If someone survives an abortion, that abortion is considered a failure. They weren’t aborted because their life wasn’t ended.

The NHS’ use of purposely misleading language is wholly expected. Telling a woman that her child is going to be starved by way of chemical abortion, poisoned by a digoxin/saline abortion or mutilated via a dismemberment abortion, wouldn’t convince most women to go ahead with the procedure. Knowing this is the case, the NHS and other abortion providing organisations must resort to censoring the true horror of abortion, just as our university has unsuccessfully tried to in the past.

If the abortion debate were allowed to evolve without the constraints of institutional censorship, the ugly truth of abortion would soon be exposed.

Without significant effort from pro-life individuals, the majority of society would recognise abortion for what it truly is, an awful crime against the most innocent and vulnerable members of the human family. The reason I state pro-lifers need only minimal effort to convince society, is because the pro-life philosophy is the most consistent one. Most believe there is no justification to kill an innocent and defenceless human being, therefore the majority of society should be against abortion.

Just like how today we understand that cats are not ‘‘agents of Satan’’ spreading the plague to humans, hopefully a time will come where we see the same development happen with the way wider society views pro-life individuals. We are all living during one of the greatest human rights violations history has ever seen, but where there is injustice, there is also always opportunity for growth in human consciousness. However, this growth can only be achieved when the freedom to express one's thoughts and opinions is fully embraced. Without freedom of speech thriving in the places it is meant to most; society will remain stagnant and injustice will continue. To prevent the unfair persecution that cats faced from reoccurring, we must assess many possible avenues when trying to find the root of any problem. When we haste to draw conclusions, we are often left pointing our fingers in the wrong direction and resorting to drastic and deeply immoral decisions.

Composed by, Peri Dalkic, Undergraduate of Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen

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Daark Viilification In 1233, Pope Gregory IX instigated the first Papal bull of his papacy called the Vox in Rama. It is a decree condemning the satanic cults apparently present in Germany. The Vox in Rama is mostly known for its association of cats with witchcraft. The Papal bull describes the activities of the satanic cult as witches worshipping the devil. The satanic figure being a shadowy half cat and half man figure. Over the years, the Vox in Rama shaped how cats, and especially black cats, are perceived in European society. The animal that used to be praised as a sacred animal in paganism became a representative of hell. This demonization led to an outburst of violence against black cats. The persecution was so violent that it prevented the efficient killing of rats and mice, allowing the bubonic plague to spread. Moreover, the idea that black cats are evil or bring bad luck is deeply rooted in popular culture as the figure of the witch with her black cat is still used for Halloween. For a long time, black cats were persecuted for a reason that was a pure invention to prevent the spreading of paganism and other religions than the mainstream one. Even if all cats were targeted, it is interesting to see how black cats were even more demonized and how long this persecution lasted. This can be linked to the symbolism linked to colours.

Colours play an important role in how the human brain perceives things. Depending on interpretations and periods, colours can be used for both good and evil. Black is seen as an intimidating colour, projecting authority and a symbol of power and sexuality. In almost all cultures, black represents death. It is associated with the feminine side of all things, the ‘‘Yin’’. In terms of the Christian church, it represents everything bad. It is the witches attracting, luring through seduction the believers into following the devil. It is the mystery arousing and seducing the senses. In opposite, white is a symbol of youth, innocence and purity. It is associated with the masculine side of all things, the ‘‘Yang’’. It symbolises everything good, the heavens. The definitions given to black and white permits a dichotomy in society, a division into two contradictory entities: good and evil. In Christianity, this dichotomy permitted to control the masses into following a life without sins by avoiding everything representing evil and following the ‘‘white light’’. But throughout the years, this definition given to colours and this dichotomy installed what could be, unconsciously or not, in part responsible for colourism and racism.

For context, colourism is a prejudice or discrimination especially within a racial or ethnic group favouring people with lighter skin over those with darker skin, as stated in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, and racism is defined as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race; a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles; and a political or social system founded on racism. If the attack of black cats were part of the imagery and symbolism, it also reveals a problematic surrounding the definition of the colour black. In Human History, black represented the night, which was unknown to men. With the discovery of other countries, white Europeans encountered black populations and applied that mindset and colour definition to them. This definition of colour has been feeding racism for centuries. When looking for the definition of the colour black in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definitions give key-words like ‘‘thoroughly sinister’’ or ‘‘evil’’, ‘‘indicative of condemnation’’, ‘‘connected with or invoking the supernatural and especially the devil’’, ‘‘characterized by hostility and anger’’. It highlights the problems surrounding the words association.

Furthermore, Professor Adam Alter from the New York University conducted different studies on the tendency they called ‘‘bad is black’’ effect.

He demonstrated the link created between black and something negative in people's mindset. For example, the studies showed how media tends to run darker photographs of celebrities and politicians when accused of transgression or during a scandal. This phenomenon is also used in history books in the United States; pictures taken during the segregation and marches for Black people rights are printed in black and white when they were originally in colour so that the audience perceives them as something that happened a long time ago. When analysing the content and image used to illustrate articles, they discovered a relationship between the written content and the accompanying photograph. Indeed, articles containing negative content were more likely to appear alongside a darker coloured photograph. Moreover, the researches demonstrated the psychological link between darkness and badness, skin tone and the perceptions of a person, like whether a person committed a criminal act or not. Adam Alter develops the idea that categorical labelling is a human capacity that is used to understand the world we live in better. It was at the same time essential for the development of the human species but it is also responsible for societal issues that we are facing. He then shows that labelling and its cognitive effects studied in the 1930s have linguistic relativity, meaning that the words we use to describe what we see are not passive, they are affecting or determining what we see and perceive.

Likewise, Daisy Grewal, a senior research scientist for people analytics at Intuit in Mountain View in California with a B.A in psychology from the University of California and a PhD in social psychology from Yale University, develops on Adam Alter's article. Based on colourism, the researches show that people tend to perceive someone with darker skin as more likely to have committed an immoral act. It is the “bad is black” effect that Adam Alter develops. It highlights the link between skin tone and perceptions of whether a person committed a criminal act or not.

There is a persistent belief that darkness and badness tend to go alongside. In Adam Alter’s researches, the psychological link between darkness and badness was demonstrated. They ran experiments where participants had to choose between headshots to identify a perpetrator of an immoral act and the other one of a virtuous act. They were shown two headshots of different men, one headshot was artificially darkened and the other one lightened.

The participants also had to indicate the ‘‘colour of the soul’’ of each man represented on the headshots. The participants had a spectrum of colour ranging from black to white and had to choose a shade that would represent the soul of the man that committed the moral act and the one that committed the immoral act. This exercise that might seem a little odd is supposed to be a ‘‘metaphorical representation of how closely participants associate colour with badness, apart from either skin tone or race’’, to quote Daisy Grewal. The researchers proceeded to measure the participants’

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racial attitudes and ‘‘feelings’’ towards people of colour like Native Americans, African Americans and Muslim Americans. Finally, the results emphasized that participants that showed more negative feelings towards people of colour chose the artificially darkened headshot as the culprit of the immoral act. This might seem unsurprising but what is really interesting is that no matter what racial attitudes the participants had, the headshot that was chosen as the criminal was more likely to have a darker coloured soul. The participants who thought the soul of the criminal was darker was more likely to think that the man who committed the immoral act was the darkened headshot. This highlights the fact that dark skin is associated with evil in the mind of people who saw a link between darkness and badness. It proves that people associate dark skin with negative personality traits. The research also proves that the reverse is true: light skin is more likely to be associated with positive adjectives than dark skin.

This ‘‘bad is black’’ effect is deep-rooted in human nature and psychology. Definitions in the human language tend to associate darkness and wickedness. Daisy Grewal says that ‘‘Across time and cultures, we tend to portray villains as more likely to be active during night-time and to don black clothing’’. She finally underlines the fact that ‘‘these mental associations between colour and morality may negatively bias us against people with darker skin tones. If this is true, it has far-reaching implications for our justice system. For example, eyewitnesses to crimes may be more likely to falsely identify suspects who possess darker skin.’’ With governments biased against people of colours like the US, it creates problems at the root of the country. The US is based on the idea that the constitution and the laws established did not include people of colour.

Even if the laws were changed and revoked it is still at the basis of it and how it was created.

It is a case of institutionalized racism; ‘‘racism that has become part of the normal behaviour of people within an organization’’. Racism is inherent to the US government that was based and built on slavery. As an example of an organization within the government, we can talk about the police and for what purpose it was originally created. In the South, the police were created to control the slaves since the economy depended on them.

The police were purely present for the preservation of the slavery system. They were called ‘‘slave patrols’’ and their roles were to chase runaway slaves and prevent riots. The first one of those slave patrols was created in Carolina in 1704. These slave patrols stopped during the Civil War since the army was the main form of law enforcement. During the Reconstruction after the Civil War where slavery was abolished, the police had a role closer than the one we know today. But many local sheriffs kept a similar function than the slave patrols with reinforcing the segregation and the disenfranchisement of freed slaves. Despite the evolution in terms of laws and also moralities, racism is clearly still institutionalized and there are many names to give to prove that racism in the US and everywhere else in the world is not business of the past. It is a present concern for everyone and is something that has been conditioned in the human brain for centuries so that society knows no evolution in terms of basic human rights.

Composed by, Cécile Fardoux, Undergraduate of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen

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Itt Pooisons Ouur Liives Felines gifted with fur possessing an absorbing darkness were subject to frenzied hate and mass persecution at the hands of humans fuelled by mysticism and superstition about the changing world around them. This regrettable period of our history came during a cold snap in our climate that saw the withering of crops, the freezing of vast stretches of previously sailable ocean, the reduction of Summer and the expansion of Winter.

These hard times followed a period of pleasant warmth, when the land was carpeted with fields of sun-ripened grain, seafaring was easy, the shortening of Winter and the lengthening of Summer. Climate Change is a key topic of our century; its influence upon our lives is a frequent topic in the media. However, it is presented as an entirely new meteorological phenomenon when identical events have happened at multiple points throughout recorded history, casting a doubt on the modern-day idea that humans are a direct influence on the climate of our planet.

The Earth is perpetually enveloped in an ethereal mix of atmospheric compounds which capture sunlight rebounding upwards towards the star ocean upon contact with the Earth. The gaseous blanket captures this reflected heat and causes it to radiate earthbound in a multitude of directions.

This cosmic insulation is a woven mix of mainly water vapour, the stratospheric component of greatest abundance contributed by the evaporation of water from the surface of our planets oceans, nitrous oxide, released initially into the air through the rendering of primordial rock involved in the chaotic formation of our planet, and carbon dioxide, naturally contributed to our atmosphere through animal respiration and volcanic eruption.

Out all of three of these chemical compounds, it is carbon dioxide that receives intense media focus, political sloganeering, and the sharp tongue of climate change activists.

This is due to evidence that the levels of carbon dioxide has been increasingly rapidly since the embrace of the Industrial Age in the early 1800s.

Outside of the breath of animals and being expunged from Earth’s innards from fiery volcanoes, carbon dioxide is the principal by-product from using oil, gas and coal as source of energy. These materials are termed ‘fossil fuels’ due to their origin of being the bodies of fallen prehistoric animals and plants rendered through time, pressure and heat to be magicked into substances yielding a great amount of energy upon combustion.

They are lit with a match and emit a much greater deal of energy in response; this energy efficiency is what has made them the prime choice as an energy source of humans. When burned, carbon dioxide is emitted in great volumes as a main by-product of this process and this has met the ire of climate change campaigners.

This is due to their belief that human action the central cause of the climate changes our planet is currently experiencing. Machines powered through electricity, which is generated through burning fossil fuels to generate steam from great vats of water to turn specialised turbines. This process powers our electronics and if one considers the sheet number of devices, equipment and machines a single person uses in their everyday existence and multiply this by billions of people, the amount of fossil fuel that must be burned to provide this 24/7 supply is monumental, along with the carbon dioxide it produces. This collective increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide as a result of supplying electricity over the decades is said to have ‘thickened’ the Earth’s atmospheric layer, causing greater retention of reflected sunbeams which triggers an increase in Earth’s temperature and thus creates climate change.

Despite the narrative around climate change discussion, that ‘man made’ climate change is a statement of fact without opposition, historical documentation is wholly contrary to the conclusion that scientists have unanimously agreed upon. ‘Warm Period’ is the term attributed to epochs in time when civilisations experienced an increase of the temperatures in the world around them and there exists several of them in documented history. The earliest of these eras was during the time of the Ancient Romans, appropriately titled, ‘The Roman Warm Period’. Almost twothousand years in the future, researchers must use a variety of proxy indicators to calculate findings from this distant time in history, notably the growth patterns within mollusc shells and tree rings. These beings possess near-immortality and hasten their growth in favourable conditions, leaving visual markers as indicators of the environment around them during their long life. Indeed, it was concluded that there was an increase in temperature to foster a more favourable environment for such creatures. A second type of evidence would be surviving historical documents from the era under investigation. Successor of Aristotle at the Peripatetic School, the philosopher Theophrastus wrote that date trees were capable of growing in Greece. If true, then it means that Ancient Greece had an almost identical temperature to Greece of the present day, a Greece that is supposedly experiencing a never-before-seen increase in atmospheric temperatures.

The next Warm Period would not be until over one thousand years later with the arrival of ‘The Medieval Warm Period.’ The medieval times reported to have experienced a great increase in temperatures during 900AD to 1300AD, with scientists again reconstructing the climate of scaled dragons and chivalrous knights through climate proxies and historical documentation. Tree rings proved that warmer conditions were present and historical documentation was thick with writings of bountiful harvests following the end of seemingly never-ending Summers. There is some division in what the exact temperatures of The Medieval Warm Period were, but it could have even been one or two degrees Celsius warmer than now. Being centuries in the future we will never certainly know, but if this is accurate, then reports from climate activists have proven themselves to be nothing but scaremongering, especially since medieval writers speak of their world being one of agreeable weather and agricultural success.

Warmer temperatures also melted much of the Arctic glaciers that had reached down into the North Sea and allowed the conquest of much of Europe by the Vikings. The freed-up waters permitted them easy sea travel and what is missing from the elaborate books of days are reports of a great number of settles submerged beneath rising waters.

If both epochs had temperatures comparable to, if not surpassing, those of our world in the present, then it serves as a silver bullet to the manmade climate change argument. These revolve around the issue of our changing climate are centred around the idea that our industrial emissions, notably those as a result of fossil fuel combustion, are to blame for our current predicament. The existence of similar phenomenon in times of history preceding the industrial revolution nullify the power of this perspective. The Ancient Greeks, Romans, and those living in the medieval times had no mechanised productivity that would require the mass burning of coal, gas and oil. Therefore, there is no possibility that carbon dioxide caused the heightened atmospheric temperatures they experienced.

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The legitimacy of carbon dioxide levels having a contributory role in the changing planetary climate takes a further blow from a graphic on the website of Met Office displaying the hottest and coolest average years in the United Kingdom. It is a horizontal panel with strips of blues and reds of varying intensities, each one signifying a year from 1884 to 2020. Considering the narrative that more carbon dioxide is perpetually increasing year on year, which would mean that the atmospheric layer is becoming denser which would supposedly retain more reflected sunlight to heat the earth, why is the diagram not a steady transition from blue, indicating lower average temperatures, to red, indicating high average temperatures?

At present it is a mix of reds and blues, becoming almost wholly red after the year 2000.

There is also the problem about how humanity would go about solving the proposed issue of carbon dioxide production. Coal, gas and oil are in great demand and always will be until there is a substitute. Climate initiatives are often set by governments, but rarely met with the deadline postponed by several decades due to the impossibility of finding a solution. Such pacts and collective aims are pointless when one looks at carbon dioxide emissions globally and not specifically on a European level. Doing so will reveal that taxes on petrol and investment in wind farm technology and the theoretically miniscule returns they might bring are dwarfed by the carbon emissions produced by industrial powerhouse nations like China. The rippling might of oriental productivity commands a great hunger for energy and fossil fuels are what is on their menu.

Climate activists will make the plea that such countries can be reasoned into their own position, but seeing that investment in renewables in China was dropped from $76 billion in 2017 to $29 billion in 2019, with 2018 seeing the largest Chinese emission volume produced on record, such platitudes seem to fall short. Especially with the United States of America, our worlds global power that often leads on collective global aims, withdrawing from climate initiatives.

There is also a one-track mindset within the subject of climate change; it is wholly a negative phenomenon. This is simply incorrect. I can only believe that this is because we are currently in the midst of our own Warm Period. The Warm Periods of the Romans and the medieval era saw the steady increase in temperature heralding an era of wonderful bounty. For us, food production has been increasing year on year and it can only be attributed to our crops being bathed in the warm light of the sun. This can be seen down south in England, where there is a burgeoning wine and champagne industry. Throughout the ages, vineyards could only thrive within sun-drenched continental nations, but the recent warming of our atmosphere has created perfect conditions for these traditionally French and Italian alcohols within the land of Richard the Lionheart. This newfound industry possesses such vigour that it is valued at almost £300 million in 2020, growing at over 15% annually and is predicted to employ between twenty-thousand and thirty-thousand people over the following two decades directly related to vineyards alone, not to mention the shared prosperity touching people’s lives in the restaurant and hospitality sectors. None of these sunny uplands would have been scalable without the gift of warmer weather.

Economic prosperity like this will be especially valued in the coming months due to the pending economic doom following coronavirus containment measures and the past few months should be the swansong for the mainstream endorsement of climate activism and initiatives.

Denying citizens their right to work forced the British government to enforce a ‘lockdown’ onto the entirety of its population. Measures included limiting the number of people that one could socialise with and set limits on the distance and frequency one could travel from their home. This made normal working life and impossibility for the vast majority of people who had to be placed onto the government’s ‘furlough’ scheme, involving the state subsidising individual worker pay by 80%. However, the lack of revenue brought in by firms during this time has led to the formation of ‘zombie’ employment kept alive by government subsidy alone. Not only has this emptied the treasury, it has deferred a labour market shock when hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people will be put out into the world to find a new job. This will lead to a sudden drop in the volume of money flowing around the economy in the form of a lack of payments for goods and services as people choose to save and minimised their expenditure since an economic hellscape surrounds them. This reduced cashflow has a knock-on effect by a considerable reduction in valueadded tax, which means less money for the treasury to recoup the loss from spending to cover the hole made by the coronavirus furlough scheme in the government’s purse. By Winter, with record levels of unemployment and poverty, the government will be forced to instil clarity in their minds and operate on a pragmatic level. This means embracing all forms of possible employment, like the quickly growing vineyard sector, and curtailing unnecessary spending, with funding for subjects like climate awareness being the first to be rescinded.

Unfortunately, the funding for such activities and education is plentiful. The Scottish government committing over £7 million in funding to a variety of associations and enterprises across fifty-one districts who aim to educate the population on the details of man-made climate change.

Listing on the government website under the title, Scottish Government Funding To Climate Change Projects, most organisations get well over £100 thousand in funding, with a sizable portion reaching near £200 thousand. Flushed with cash, I expected these organisations to be terraforming the areas in which they operate and purchasing carbon-friendly appliances for residents living in their area. They operate no more than occasional film-nights, talks, and workshops, no more than what a society without a budget would do at this university. It is difficult to see how such fiscally reckless behaviour will be tolerated in the approaching economic fallout.

As well as wasting money, discussion and focus on carbon-dioxide-induced climate wastes an inordinate amount of time and energy, diverting millions of hours on winding paths leading to no-where whilst neglecting real action that would have a tangible effect on the world around them.

I am referring to the choice of climate change activism over the realm of ecology. As discussed earlier in this article, there is very little we as a collective group within a country, or even a set of countries, can do about the levels of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere, which implies these levels even matter. However, even as an individual, we can have an enormous impact on the world immediately around us. In June this year, The Mammal Society, published a report stating that a quarter of British mammals where at risk of extinction and the World Wildlife Fund released their own report showing that animals on a global level are experiencing a catastrophic decline. The origins of the demise of these animals were because of habitat destruction through human activity, notably through the logging of forests, draining of wetlands, polluting lakes and rivers and the cultivation of meadows for the purposes of agriculture. Not once is climate change identified as the malignant force. The solution to a changing planetary climate, if there is one, is at the depth of distant, uncharted waters we have no chance of reaching. We need to revaluate the world around us and reach a conclusion about where to go from here. We are nearing the precipice of economic collapse alongside the ruination of our ecological world. We must live in reality; focus on our surroundings and shape them into our vision.

Composed by, Maurice Alexander, Undergraduate of Business Management at the University of Aberdeen

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Wee Arre Noow Raabid Doogs The house cat is a very free creature, they come and go to their owners house as they please, they are after all curious creatures, they don’t have to worry about fences because they can easily jump over them, their owners will often insert a cat flap and leave them to their own devises to go about their daily business as they please. This is in contrast to dogs, who only go walks with their owners on a leash once or twice a day, often have to be caged up and depending on the breed of dog may have to wear a muzzle. This should not be interpreted as prejudice against dogs on my part I am a dog owner myself, it is merely an observation on the contrast between the two great animals. In the last six months the people of this country and many other countries have gone from being free cats to muzzled and dangerous dogs.

Cats take risks when they leave the house, they may be run over by a car, chased by predators or get into fights with other cats and dogs but for most these risks prove to be worthwhile, they can meet new people, explore new environments and learn more about the world around them. This curiosity is very human but in recent months we have been told not be curious or wonder about too much, we have been told not to meet new people lest we infect them or they infect us with the coronavirus.

It all started back in March when international travel ground to a halt and vulnerable people were advised to isolate themselves for 12 weeks then, despite saying a few weeks earlier that we should not expect any major disruption to our lives, Boris Johnson imposed a nationwide lockdown on the entire population of the country. We were all to be treated like dangerous dogs, only to go out for one walk a day, to go to the shops as infrequently as possible, to seek medical treatment and provide help to a vulnerable person (although not speak to or socialize with the vulnerable person in question). Such draconian restrictions had never been imposed on this country in either peacetime or wartime. A few months later as lockdown started to lift we were all told we needed to wear face coverings around our noses and mouths or as Peter Hitchens more accurately called them muzzles, when we entered into shops and went on public transport. All of this in spite of the fact that the medical establishment had told us that wearing face coverings would do more harm than good at the start of the pandemic so why the sudden change.

There has been much debate as to whether the lockdown was necessary in the first place. Evidence showed that when provided with the facts, many people voluntarily socially distanced or stayed at home as much as possible, companies were already beginning to implement home working arrangements. It showed that contrary to government beliefs people did have the ability to assess the risk to themselves and others when making decisions about how to go about their lives.

Let us now look at two contrasting approaches to lockdown; that of New Zealand and Sweden. New Zealand was initially hailed as a success story having gone into a nationwide lockdown on 25th March and coming out of it on 13th May as well as removing all social distancing restrictions on 8th June. After 103 days of not reported cases the country experiences a second spike in August and went straight back into lockdown which ought to have rubbished the idea that the idea that the virus could simply be eliminated with everyone staying at home until it went away. Sweden, however, adopted a more voluntary approach instead of a nationwide lockdown, it placed a ban on high risk events such as gatherings of more than 50 people and advised against international travel. Sweden advised its citizens to be responsible and socially distance but did not legally require them to do so. While the mathematical modelling of the now disgraced professor Neil Ferguson showed that Sweden would suffer 80,000 deaths within six months, it has in fact only recorded 6,000 and Sweden’s chief epidemiologist is confident of avoiding a second wave, something our own medical officers are not so sure about. This is due to increased herd immunity something which countries who adopted the strategy of New Zealand won’t have.

With the onset of mass surveillance through contact-tracing, compulsory face muzzles, government now having the power to enact mass shop closures on a whim without any democratic votes and the latest hate speech legislation proposed by the Scottish government. I would suggest we are now living in the least free period of British history. Even peasants living under medieval kings and lords enjoyed more freedom than we have now. True freedom comes with anonymity, that ability to walk through the streets or go into a pub or a restaurant without anyone asking for ID papers or even knowing who you are, all of that is gone now. The British people fought for over three hundred years to gain freedom, first by making the elected parliament the sovereign body of the land and not the king, then establishing the common law principles of freedom of speech, religion and assembly and then spending over 100 years fighting to gain the right to vote for all men and women and yet we have given all of this up to fight a disease that around 99.6% of people survive.

I hope that we can once again awaken the curious house cat in all of us. That we can regain our love for the world around us and our desire to see and explore it, that we will fight to regain the freedom to go where we choose, spend time with the people that we choose and do this unmasked and unmuzzled.

Composed by, Derek Gardiner, Postgraduate of Law from the University of Aberdeen

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Taales Frrom Beelgium Once upon a time, there lived an innkeeper in the Belgian city of Geel. He was a happy man. His inn was popular and provided ample income for him to take care of his wife and young son. One cold autumn night, however, the innkeeper and his wife were suddenly awoken by the sound of their son crying like he had never done before. When they entered the young boy’s room, they found him writhing in pain, drenched in sweat, repeating these same words over and over again; ‘‘There’s a man on the chest! A man dressed in black!’’ The son pointed to a heavy wooden chest in the corner of the room, but there was nothing to see. ‘‘There’s a cat in my bed! A black cat in my bed!’’ As she did not see any cats, the wife thought it might be a fever dream, so she went to fetch something for the pain and fever. It seemed to help a little bit and the boy sank back into an uneasy sleep.

The following night, the same thing happened. Once again, the innkeeper and his wife woke up to their son’s cries and once again, the managed to pacify him just enough to go back to sleep, after searching his room for anything unusual. Night after night, this continued and night after night, the boy was terrorised by fever dreams. No doctor or priest managed to heal him, so as a final resort, the innkeeper visited the abbey of Tongerlo.

Even before his arrival, strange things happened. The walk, which usually took about half an hour, now took the innkeeper two hours. He became extremely wary and got lost twice. Once he finally arrived, a monk explained to him that his son had been cursed by a witch. He told the innkeeper the witch’s name but warned him never to speak to them. He gave him a talisman and the orders to spend the entirety of the first night in prayer.

That night, the innkeeper was praying in his empty inn when he suddenly heard a sound. At midnight exactly, the door of his inn creaked open and in came the black cat. The innkeeper froze in fear as he saw the slender feline approaching him, but then suddenly, it stopped. It could not get past the talisman! As soon as it looked down to see what lay in front of her, it sprinted out of the inn. Never again did the innkeeper and his wife see the cat. Their son was healed by the morning of the following day and grew up to be a strong and healthy man. *** In Flemish folklore, the cat, especially the black cat, is known as a creature of mystery whose soft, padded paws tread the narrow line between good and evil. They are shapeshifters, tricksters with ties to hidden worlds unknown to us. Often, as in the story recounted above, they are not true cats, but something else in disguise. Witches supposedly shapeshifted as cats to go out and cause mayhem without being noticed, making people sick, stealing children or even killing people. The disguise was not foolproof, however, as injuries sustained in cat form carried over to the human form of the witch, so when people suspected a cat of being a witch and beat or burned it, the witch would be easily recognised by their injuries.

Other times, water devils and other spirits were said to appear to their prey as cute cats stuck in swamps, rivers or other treacherous locations.

They were impossible to catch, so whoever tried to save them would get stuck in the swamp or fall into the river. At other times, they would hinder the paths of travellers or harass drunks. Although these stories are usually based on local ‘sightings’ and every region has its own tales, one trickster spirit named ‘Kludde’ is known in the entirety of Flanders. This spirit, one of whose many disguises is the form of a black cat, hides under bridges, ready to pounce at passers-by and climb on their shoulders, weighing them down for the rest of the journey.

Still, not all supernatural cats were viewed as evil. Some of them just wanted to be left alone, only bothering those who bothered them first. There are numerous tales of cats warning those with intentions to hurt them, not to test their powers, for they are not as helpless as they seem and this would only result in unnecessary damage. One could even view them as protectors of cat- and witchkind, as senseless violence against cats was often followed with brutal consequences for the perpetrators, including sickness, curses and even death.

Although it is difficult to pinpoint these tales in time and place exactly, certain recurring themes might give us a clue as to how they originated.

Some were cautionary tales, warning people to not venture into swamps or go to close to the river, whilst others, like the story of the innkeeper, encourage piety and frequent prayer. Others appear a little less moralising and more so like the tales of a drunken journey home, during which getting lost or stumbling around as if carrying a weight on one’s back are not unlikely occurrences. Bespectacled with beer goggles, a cat could easily become something greater and of course, a bit of added sensation is always required when recounting stories. These tall tales formed a part of oral traditions that continued well into the 19th century, but as superstitions died, fewer stories were told and those that were not recorded went lost.

Despite the fleeting nature of Flemish folk tales, one tradition continues that keeps some of the mystery alive. Every three years, on the second Sunday of May, the city of Ypres celebrates its Cat Festival. There are three main parts to this event, the first of which is a parade with floats, dancers, musicians, costumed characters and giants. It is divided into five ‘chapters’, the first of which addresses the worship of cats as supernatural creatures throughout history. Then follows a brief history of Ypres, as re-enacted by people in historical costume. This is followed by a show about cats in language and legends, which includes depictions of sayings and popular stories. After this comes a celebration of cats around the world.

The parade is closed with a chapter devoted to ‘the cats of Ypres’, featuring recurring characters such as the giants ‘Minneke Poes’ (‘Minneke’ being a common pet name for cats), her husband ‘Cieper’ and most recently their five kittens.

The second main event, and perhaps the strange tradition for which the city is most known, is the throwing of cats. After the parade, the city jester climbs up the belfry of the Cloth Hall and throws stuffed toy cats into the crowd waiting below. The exact story behind this tradition remains unconfirmed, but the accepted version is that it was a way of getting rid of excessive mousers from the Cloth Hall after its goods were sold in spring. Mice did severe damage to the wool and broadcloth stored here, so cats were purchased to keep the mouse population in check. Of course, these cats reproduced rapidly and soon overcrowded the halls. When exactly the practice of throwing cats from city towers started is difficult to

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pinpoint, as different chroniclers give conflicting dates ranging anywhere between the 12th and 15th centuries, but it is certain that it was a wellestablished tradition by the mid-16th century. On ‘cat Wednesday’ of every year, the date for this day is unknown, cats would be thrown from the belfry. The number of cats thrown was symbolic of the city’s prosperity that year, with fewer cats symbolising a more prosperous year. The exact reason for this is unknown, but perhaps it had something to do with how many cats the city could afford to keep.

Another part of the origin story, which is strongly debated, that could potentially tie into the symbolic aspect, was that there was an element of superstition present. This is rather difficult to trace as there is no real record of such a thing, but it is completely plausible that superstitions associated with other cat-related activities bled into the cat throwing, which became an annual tradition that took place during city fairs linked to religious festivities. ‘Cat festivals’ were a common occurrence in medieval Western Europe and commonly featured the torture and killing of cats, particularly cat burning and possibly cat throwing as well. This was regarded partially as entertainment and a way to trim down large populations of stray cats, but mostly had strong superstitious significance. The church associated cats with witchcraft and heresy, and such festivals likely came into existence under the influence of such ideas. One supposed motivation for burning cats was that the devil could not stand to see his feline disciples suffer and could be compelled to stay away or perform favours. These superstitions did change over the years and the original intentions behind such traditions may have been lost completely, but it is plausible that the act of cat throwing in Ypres became linked to such festivities and so gained a folkloric significance. This is hinted at in the final act of the contemporary festival, which is the burning of a witch on the market square.

Today’s Cat Festival is not a direct continuation of these medieval traditions. The final throwing of living cats happened in 1817, the last victim of which actually survived and sprinted away from the crowd. Between that year and the First World War, no notable traditions continued, apart from the playing of the carillon on ‘cat Wednesday’. It was only on March 13 th of 1938 that the first version of what became today's Cat Festival took place. As is the tradition at Belgian village fairs, a cycling race was held in the morning. Later in the day, a small parade featuring a jester, some musicians and some other costumed participants carrying a stuffed cat made their way to the belfry, where children's games were played and plastic toy cats were thrown from the belfry. Small annual fairs were held every year until the Second World War. After the destruction brought onto the city by the war, the Cat Festival was redesigned to give Ypres a new cultural significance, and in the early 1950s, the festival became the large-scale celebration that it is today. Up until the 1980s, it drew in such large crowds from all over the world, that the city was more known for its Cat Festival than for its war tourism. Although the latter has taken over in popularity and the festival became a triennial event in 1991, Ypres still remains known as the ‘Cat City of Belgium.’

Ypres is not the only city with curious traditions featuring felines. If the tales are true, a runner-up for the title of the Cat City of Belgium would be the city of Liège, where cat racing was a sport and cats had a brief stint as postmen. Several newspaper articles from the late 19 th century describe cat racing tournaments, which took place during the January carnival. Much like in pigeon races, cats would be let loose at a certain distance from their homes. The first cat to return home was the winner and its owner would be rewarded with a hamper of sausages, ham and other gifts, sometimes cigars and even a silver spoon. This sport was briefly popular in the second half of the 19 th century, but its popularity declined as people began to see the cruelty of the sport.

During the height of its popularity, cat racing did inspire the Belgian Society for the Elevation of the Domestic Cat to try out a mail delivery system in which cats functioned somewhat similar to carrier pigeons. A report in the New York Times from 1876 describes how 37 trained cats were set loose outside of the city with waterproof bags tied to their collars. All of them supposedly returned in less than 24 hours and the Society was more than satisfied with the result. Still, a feline postal service was never truly set up, presumably because it was just not as reliable and efficient as the existing system.

It must be noted that the accounts of Liège’s cat homing habits come mostly from foreign newspapers and treat the subject as a curiosity, so whilst there is probably truth to the matters, the exact details remain unknown and everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Omitted in this article are the many conflicting details of which cats won races, their unbelievably fast record times and miraculous returns. There is little information on when the sport was truly at the height of its popularity and whether or not it was ever outlawed.

Thankfully, not all cats throughout Belgian history were treated cruelly. Cats have been beloved pets for centuries and are the most popular furry companion today. The last bits of superstition are dying out and cats are regarded as nothing other than friendly companions to young and old. Whilst some mourn the disappearance of tradition in the Cat Festival, where traditional majorettes and dancers are more and more being replaced by more thrilling acts, and folklorists desperately try to scrape together remaining stories in a futile attempt to preserve them, the cat as a cultural icon is going nowhere. The Cat Festival becomes more elaborate every year, never straying from its albeit strongly mystified origins, and the legacy of folk tales is visible in comics and other works of Belgian fiction, where they remain loyal companions of both good and evil characters – think of Gargamel and Azrael for an internationally known example.

Superstitions may be a thing of the past, but the mystery and elegance of the feline never lose its ability to inspire.

Composed by, Loki Anne Thompson, Postgraduate of Museum Studies at the University of Aberdeen

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Feline Bestiary

This page aims to be a collection of portraits documenting all the cats that can be seen across the city of Aberdeen.

The Feline Bestiary of Aberdeen is furnished with photographs submitted by the general public.

Those behind this Autumn 2020 issue of the Journal of Matters Relating to Felines: President: Editor: Writers: Logo Design:

Maurice Alexander Cécile Fardoux Peri Dalkic, Derek Gardiner, Déborah Lazreug, Luke Litvinov, Thea Mainprize, William Price, Loki Anne Thompson Sonia Garyayev

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journalofmattersrelatingtofelines@outlook.com @journalofmatters Journal of Matters Relating to Felines @journalofmatter