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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here, Friendly, intelligent, and huge. Main

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Speaker 1: Coons are a rugged, long haired cat breed that's become

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Speaker 1: a favorite of feline fans everywhere. From the breed's mysterious

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Speaker 1: origins to its oddly doglike behavior. Main Coons aren't your

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Speaker 1: average everyday house cats. First off, they're the largest of

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Speaker 1: all domesticated cat breeds. They gain as much as two

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Speaker 1: pounds that's about a kilogram per month during their growing cycle,

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Speaker 1: which ends at about four years of age, which is

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Speaker 1: more than quadruple the maturity time of other breeds. While

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Speaker 1: most adult cats weigh about seven pounds that's around three kilos,

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Speaker 1: main coon mail cats tip the scales up to twenty

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Speaker 1: five pounds or eleven kilos. Females typically weigh in at

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Speaker 1: about twenty pounds or nine kilos. Main Coons are also

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Speaker 1: some of the world's longest domesticated cats in terms of

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Speaker 1: physical length as well as in terms of time since domestication.

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Speaker 1: Both male and female main coons typically reach up to

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Speaker 1: forty that's a meter in length from their noses to

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Speaker 1: the tips of their bushy tails, and although the main

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Speaker 1: coon is often regarded as America's first domesticated breed. Its

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Speaker 1: ancestry is shrouded in mystery. Advances in genetic testing could

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Speaker 1: help identify the main coon's ancient relatives, which may have

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Speaker 1: accompanied the Vikings on their exploratory voyages. There is one

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Speaker 1: origin story, however, that may have resulted in the breed's

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Speaker 1: distinctive name. Captain Charles Coon kept long haired cats on

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Speaker 1: board when he sailed from England to New England ports

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Speaker 1: during the late seventeen and early eighteen hundreds. Legend has

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Speaker 1: it that when Coon anchored his ship in New England ports,

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Speaker 1: his cats would slip away to mate with local feelines.

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Speaker 1: Although it is steeped in speculation, this long standing folk

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Speaker 1: story purports that these long haired kittens were referred to

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Speaker 1: as Coons cats. The main Coon's origins may be murky,

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Speaker 1: but its future looks clear. The main Coon was declared

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Speaker 1: the official state cat of Maine, and as of eighteen,

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Speaker 1: the main coon was the fifth most popular breed in

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Speaker 1: the United States. A main Coon even had a pivotal

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Speaker 1: role in the Harry Potter films, as Mrs Norris, the

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Speaker 1: pet cat of custodian Mr Filch her claim to fame,

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Speaker 1: besides starring in one of the hottest film franchises of

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Speaker 1: all time, was stopping on command as she paced the

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Speaker 1: halls of Hogwarts. Many main coons can be trained the

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Speaker 1: way that you train a dog. This intelligent and eager

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Speaker 1: to please breed exhibits a few dog like tendencies, such

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Speaker 1: as following their owners between rooms and the capacity to

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Speaker 1: and interest in responding well to training. With the assistance

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Speaker 1: of training techniques like using a clicker that makes a

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Speaker 1: clipped in distinct sound followed by treats, a main coon's

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Speaker 1: behavior can be harnessed. Though despite popular perceptions, just about

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Speaker 1: any cat can be trained using these tools if you

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Speaker 1: keep at it, and that training can help keep house

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Speaker 1: cats stimulated, satisfied, and physically fit. Most cats have an

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Speaker 1: aversion to getting wet, but not so main coons. Equipped

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Speaker 1: with water asstant for these beelines don't mind taking a bath,

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Speaker 1: are known for joining humans in the shower, and will

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Speaker 1: even go for a swim. For example, Tissi, a five

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Speaker 1: year old being coon from Pennsylvania, made headlines for taking

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Speaker 1: laps in her family's swimming pool, something she likes to

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Speaker 1: do on a regular basis During the summer months, and

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Speaker 1: in two thousand four, a main coon named Little Nikki

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Speaker 1: became the first pet animal to be cloned commercially. After

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Speaker 1: Little Nikki died at the age of seventeen, his Dallas

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Speaker 1: area owner paid fifty thousand dollars to have Little Nikki's

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Speaker 1: DNA transplanted into an egg cell. A surrogate mother cat

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Speaker 1: carried the embryo, and Whila, a kitten similar in appearance

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Speaker 1: and personality to Little Nikki. Today's episode was written by

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Speaker 1: laur L. Dove and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff

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Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.

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