The largest animal in our home is a cat, a six-year-old girl named Hana. Hana is a Norwegian Forest Cat, a longhair native of Norway. Hana was raised by my wife’s parents and moved into our home in March of this year for reasons beyond my control. I was afraid to live with her because I had a scratchy feeling when I visited my wife’s parents’ house and touched her, which seem that I am allergic to cats. However, I have been able to live with her for the past few months without major allergy attacks.
Hana is easy to take care of because she can use the cat litter box well, and the only trouble she has is cat hair on her clothes. Hana’s ecology is very interesting. As they say, cats are “sleepers,” and she certainly sleeps well and has an interesting sleeping pattern. She sleeps in a supine position with her belly showing, talks in her sleep, and sometimes snores loudly. She seems to identify his family members and understand their personalities, and she responds to each of them differently. Hana usually seems to have no interest in me, although she does lean in close to me with a sweet voice when she begs for her favorite wet food. However, when I come home late at night, she greets me affectionately, which is a great comfort to me.
The animal that has lived in our house for a long time is a frog named Bell-chan, whose age is unknown. Bell-chan is a bell-throated frog, native to South America, and more than five years old, since my son took him in five years ago, saying that he felt sorry for him after he had been on display in a store for so long. He is about the size of the palm of your hand, solid, fat, and heavy. He is not jumping around and always stays still, so it is understandable that he has this body shape. His gesture of always staring at something is very cute.
The amazing ability of Bell-chan is that it is so quick to prey on prey that its large body does not match its size. When presented with food in front of him in a forceps, he suddenly opens his large mouths and take a bite without any premonition. His movements are like those of sumo wrestlers. He sometimes hangs from a forceps as it engulfs the forceps as well. In summer, his predatory power of the forceps becomes very strong, and the height at which he jumps increases. He sometimes make loud cries, sometimes in response to human calls. The way that he stays still and monitors its surroundings closely gives one a sense of the wildness that has lived in South America.
Including the tortoises, ants, goldfish, and other animals kept by my children, our house is a small zoo. It is my hobby to observe animals while imagining what the animals are thinking.
URL：
Department of Neurosurgery, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine
https://neurosur.kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp/#
Photo 1: Hana bracing herself for the camera
Photo 2: Hana was attacked by the camera while she was sleeping.
Photo 3: Bell-chan on an empty stomach, waiting for predation