Another beast from the Bestiary, the cat.

Today, another dip into Aberdeen University's Bestiary written and illuminated in England around the year 1200 AD. This is what it has to say about the domestic cat.

Of the cat. The cat is called musio, mouse-catcher, because it is the enemy of mice. It is commonly called catus, cat, from captura, the act of catching. Others say it gets the name from capto, because it catches mice with its sharp eyes. For it has such piercing sight that it overcomes the dark of night with the gleam of light from its eyes. As a result, the Greek word catus means sharp, or cunning. 

Thomas, our cat, abandoned the catching of mice as a way of life long ago. The quintessential modern cat, he has learned that the easiest way to catch your food is to sit at the 'fridge door and look up pleadingly into the eyes of the great door opener in the sky.