# Cat Spray **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 19, 2002, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-spray/99012 "2002-03-19T07:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JoachimLeo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3be4f8/32.png) [@JoachimLeo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoachimLeo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-spray/99012/1 "2002-03-19T07:25:07Z")
Regarding Mr. Adam’s column on “cat spray”, especially his note that, “The hippopotamus, for instance, is said to mark jungle trails by excreting a lethal mixture of urine and feces while twirling its tail like a propeller.” I wish to add my personal observation. I observed this particular behavior of hippopotami myself. No, not in the wild, but, in a zoo (either the one in my home town of Leipzig, Germany, where the eminent biologist Bernhard Grzimek was director then, or in the zoo in Frankfurt/Main, Germany). Either way, this is what I saw: The hippopotami, of course, had a pond to swim in. I saw one of them swim towards a rather large rock at one end of this pond, point its rear end at it, and let loose with a prodigious spray of feces, while “wagging” its tail so fast that it looked as if it were going around like a propeller. The sight was so remarkable and startling that I still remember it quite vividly, all these many years later (I’m now 71 years old). While I did not then connect this action with a marking of territory, it makes eminent sense now. I would not doubt for a moment that that is what hippopotami do in the wild, as well, for reasons stated. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2002, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-spray/99012/2 "2002-03-21T09:15:27Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank thee for posting thy comment. Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in thy post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL). Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link: [What’s up with cat “spray”? (05-Mar-1982)](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_011.html) The column can also be found on pages 11-12 of Cecil Adams’ book «[_The Straight Dope (1984; reissued 1986, 1998)_](https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/dopestore/buystuff.bat#tsd)». ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2002, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-spray/99012/3 "2002-03-21T09:16:55Z")
JoachimLeo, I consider you to be a lucky person. When recently I visited the San Diego (California, USA) zoo I had the chance to see a mother and baby hippopotamus, and was disappointed that the mother did not demonstrate the defecating/twirling propeller tail behaviour.