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- Oct 30, 2005
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Some of you have seen my photos thread in which I posted pictures of the strange cat-like creature I have, called a Galofie. (If you haven't, the thread is HERE.) I call mine "Sofie Galofie".
Now, a few folks naturally expressed skepticism over whether a Galofie isn't really just a cat, but many people wanted to know more about these rare animals.
I have told you about the odd, bird-like squawking noises they make. In fact, I made a recording of my Galofie to prove it! Just CLICK HERE to hear her. (It's an MP3 file.) I did NOT make that up; I assure you, that is the sound of a real, live Galofie!
And while it may not sound like it from that squawk, the interesting thing is that Galofies are actually very melodic creatures. In fact, scientists in the Galofagus Islands have heard groups of Galofies "singing" in unison at night. Apparently they even have their own kind of songs, not unlike birds.
When my wife and I found about this, we decided to see if we could train our Galofie to sing. Well it took a lot of hard work, but over time we've trained her to sing in key! It's sort of like training a parrot; the trick is to play them a tune over and over again, and after a while they just pick it up and start repeating it back naturally!
So far we've trained our Sofie Galofie to sing several songs. One of them is Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube". A musician friend I know was so impressed that he insisted Sofie should perform live with an orchestra! Well, knowing how shy and introverted Galofies are, we never thought it would work. But with much patience (and numerous trips to the orchestra hall), we finally managed to get her to perform - with one of the best orchestras in the world, for that matter!
So here's a short clip of her performing Strauss's "Blue Danube" with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. CLICK HERE for the MP3.
Man, was ol' Herb ever surprised! I bet he never thought he'd get a chance to conduct a Galofie!
Now, a few folks naturally expressed skepticism over whether a Galofie isn't really just a cat, but many people wanted to know more about these rare animals.
I have told you about the odd, bird-like squawking noises they make. In fact, I made a recording of my Galofie to prove it! Just CLICK HERE to hear her. (It's an MP3 file.) I did NOT make that up; I assure you, that is the sound of a real, live Galofie!
And while it may not sound like it from that squawk, the interesting thing is that Galofies are actually very melodic creatures. In fact, scientists in the Galofagus Islands have heard groups of Galofies "singing" in unison at night. Apparently they even have their own kind of songs, not unlike birds.
When my wife and I found about this, we decided to see if we could train our Galofie to sing. Well it took a lot of hard work, but over time we've trained her to sing in key! It's sort of like training a parrot; the trick is to play them a tune over and over again, and after a while they just pick it up and start repeating it back naturally!
So far we've trained our Sofie Galofie to sing several songs. One of them is Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube". A musician friend I know was so impressed that he insisted Sofie should perform live with an orchestra! Well, knowing how shy and introverted Galofies are, we never thought it would work. But with much patience (and numerous trips to the orchestra hall), we finally managed to get her to perform - with one of the best orchestras in the world, for that matter!
So here's a short clip of her performing Strauss's "Blue Danube" with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. CLICK HERE for the MP3.
Man, was ol' Herb ever surprised! I bet he never thought he'd get a chance to conduct a Galofie!
