When I am in a silly mood, I like to tell my daughter very important facts about the world around us.
For instance, one day we were travelling in the car on one of our adventures and talk turned to the animals of Africa.
I started to describe one of the lesser known carnivorous cats of the Savannah.
The Jagular.
The Jagular is cousin to the Leopard and the Cheetah. It is a heavy cat and has patches of dark brown on golden fur, it's tail is thick and long and helps it balance. The Jagular is the laziest predator on the African Plains. It does not run up and catch it's dinner, it doesn't even hide in the grass and ambush it's prey. It climbs up trees and waits. When a suitable prey animal comes along for shade in the heat of the day, the Jagular drops out of the tree on top of the animal, which is so surprised that it immediately drops dead from shock. (Imagine what you would feel like if a Leopard sized fur coat fell out of a tree on you in the middle of the day in Africa!)
When the Jagular has eaten his fill, he is too fat to get back up into the tree. How does he get up there? Jagular trampolines of course. You can see them, bouncing up and down like Tiggr, trying to get enough height-th to get back into the tree. When they get back up, they spnd much of their time asleep from the exertion. The next time you watch a program about the mammals of Arfica, watchout for the trampolines, there's sure to be a Jagular around.
I wonder when Mr Attenborough will make a program about them?
