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In late 2022 and early 2023, various social media users shared what appeared to be a large, long-haired cat sitting in an uncannily human manner on top of a dresser, with its hind legs dangling over the side. Here's an example of the image posted on the platform Reddit: Comments on the post called it a sleep paralysis cat or a djinn, spirits originating in Arabic-speaking cultures that are most commonly referred to as genies in English-language pop culture. Our reverse image searches performed on both TinEye and Google show that the image appears to have been first published on the image and meme sharing and hosting site Imgur in early November 2022. Around that same time, it was also posted on Reddit. Although we aren't cat range-of-motion specialists, the image appears to us to be the result of digital manipulation. Cats' hind legs don't appear to be able get into that position very easily (if at all). The bones and joints in their hips and hind legs naturally form a Z shape, and when they sit, they typically fold their hind legs underneath them. The hind legs of the cat in the image also appear to be too long. Needless to say, we're skeptical, but for good measure we have reached out to some experts to consult about whether it's physically possible for a cat to sit that way. We got an emailed answer from Dr Nathalie Dowgray, head of the International Society of Feline Medicine, the veterinary division of the cat care professional society International Cat Care. Dr. Dowgray expressed skepticism that the image was real, but stated that it isn't impossible for a cat to sit that way: A second veterinarian, Dr. Bruce Kornreich of Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, and director of the Cornell Feline Health Center, agreed with Dowgray's assessment, and pointed to a number of features from the image that had him skeptical of the image's authenticity: Kornreich also pointed to the length of the hind limbs, which appear too long in relation to the cat's body, and some suspicious blurring and light angle issues that added to his suspicion that this isn't an authentic image.
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