Q:  Where in the cats' throat do they make the purring sound?  (Morgan, Somewhere, World)

A:  Cats produce a purring sound in the larynx.  The muscles in the vocal folds of the larynx vibrate rapidly to make a purring noise.   However, it's in the upper neck region (not the throat), emails veterinarian Gerald Weissengruber, professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria.  

"Purring is caused by extremely rapid twitching of the vocalis muscle (running within the vocal folds)," say Gerald E. Weissengruber, G Forstenpointner, G Peters, A Kübber-Heiss and WT Fitch in a Journal of Anatomy 2002 article.

Further Reading:

Hyoid apparatus and pharynx in the lion (Panthera leo), jaguar (Panthera onca), tiger (Panthera tigris), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and domestic cat (Felis silvestris f. catus) by GE Weissengruber, G Forstenpointner, G Peters, A Kübber-Heiss, and WT Fitch, Journal of Anatomy

Q:  What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle?  (Lanney, Sandia Park, New Mexico)

A: There is only one possible difference between the two instruments.  A violin used for fast fiddling, such as, bluegrass, may have the top of the bridge cut so that it's slightly less curved.  This modification makes it easier to play fast music, such as, playing two notes simultaneously (double stops).  With a flat bridge "the player does not have to lift or lower the bow" to change strings or to use longer, sweeping strokes between strings. "Instead, faster string-crossing is simply a matter of flicking the wrist in small, circular movements," emails violinist and fiddler Rhiannon Schmitt of Fiddleheads Violins from Canoe, British Columbia in Canada. 

Otherwise, the two instruments are constructed the same way.

Now, usage is another matter.  "I've heard classical virtuoso Itzhak Perlman refer to his Stradivarius as a 'fiddle,' although it's surely worth millions, and some prestigious instrument collectors may gasp in horror at this moniker!" says Schmitt. 

Style is one more difference.  Fiddlers play bluegrass and the like, whereas violinists play classical music.

Further Reading:

Violin or Fiddle? The Differences Explained by a Player, Rhiannon Schmitt, Fiddleheads Violins

Violin vs. fiddle, Wikipedia

Q:  Can a cow jump???  My friend claimed a cow jumped a couple of feet in the air.  I think not!!  (Dan, Southampton, England)

A:  Can a cow jump two or three feet?  "Easy," emails veterinarian Jeffery W. Tyler, professor and clinical research director at the University of Missouri at Columbia.  Readers (see below) agree.

Though, as Tyler notes, "not as high or as far as more athletic animals", still cattle jump.  Perhaps they share anatomy with their closest cousins:  antelopes, gazelles, goats and sheep — renowned jumpers all.

The Question of the Month (published on the first Tuesday of the month), readers contribute answers:

• Not only can they jump but they can clear a six foot corral fence. We were vaccinating a herd of Santa Gertrudis [a Brahman-short-hair cross] several years ago and by the end of the third day the cows were not exactly amiable to the idea of going through the chute to get their shots. One escaped through the fence, and then jumped the next fence near me. Not only did it jump the fence but it completely cleared it, and the cow weighed well over 1000 lbs. I was a meat cutter at the time living on a 300-acre ranch. I know what cattle weigh, since meat cutting was my profession for twelve years.
  
  Steve Anderson, Wenatchee, Washington
   
• Yes, cows can jump and do so regularly. They tend to get excited when fed, frolicking in the field, penned in close quarters (such as a loading chute) or fed a treat. Normally, they only jump three feet but will go to extremes when chasing food, water, something that they enjoy or running from a threat. I've had them jump, and hang themselves over the gate, on a cattle trailer or jump over ditches at feeding time.

  They will also "celebrate" after feeling bad, such as being afflicted with bloat (gas), which will also make them walk backwards, depending on which of their stomachs is bloated.
  
  Ray Fisher, Albuquerque, New Mexico
   

• As a dairy veterinarian, I can tell you most assuredly that cows can jump, run, kick (hard), and sometimes even dance. I have witnessed cows clear a four foot fence on more than one occasion. The phrase 'the grass is always greener on the other side' actually comes from cows jumping fences to get into the next pasture and the 'greener' grass.
  
  Michael Betts, Hilmar, California
   
• We have raised cows, and cows mostly buck. But we did have a cow with unusually long legs and, when we tried to corral her, she managed to jump over a five-foot wooden slat fence. She didn't even damage or knock down any of the fence. So, yes, cows can jump.
  
  Bernice, Battle Ground, Clark County, Washington
   

• They can jump, because: (1) they can run, and surely will not be stopped by a small obstacle on the field, but would jump over it to get to food. (2) The height of the fences in cow farms suggests that, too.  (3) Years ago in the U.K. a farmer reported death of a number of cows due to an electrical short-circuit in the auto-milk-sucking apparatus with the words, ''I saw the cows jumping up and down like mad, and later I realized they were exposed to electricity...''
  
  Murat Senova, Istanbul, Turkey
   

• Yes they can! A bull is basically a cow, and I see bulls jumping completely off the ground at the rodeo when they are trying to get rid of the cowboy that's riding them!
  
  Lindsey Turner, Centerville, Georgia
   

• Yes, a cow can jump.  I used to live on a farm when I was younger, and my father had cows.  They could jump over a low fence.
  
  Howard Johnson,  Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England
   

• Living on a farm, I have seen cows jump many times, mostly over fences. Does a cow jump for joy? I can't answer that, but I know a cow can jump a four-foot fence.
  
  Kevin Boyleston, Orangeburg, South Carolina
   
• I live on a ranch with a feedlot and YES cows can jump. In fact I have seen critters jump fences and even clear a water tank while trying to elude capture out in the pasture. And have you ever been to or watched a rodeo? What do you call what the bulls are doing?
  
  Meloni Bender
   
• A cow jumped over the moon didn't it, or is that just a silly rumor someone started? 
  
  Carlotta Noble, Vancouver, BC, Canada
   
• Yes cows can jump, just ask the last one that brushed up against the electric fence. The height would depend on the breed and weight of the animal, as well as the age... calves tend to be more frisky and agile.
  
  Donna, Rosedale B.C. Canada

Further Reading:

Family Bovidae:  antelopes, cattle, gazelles, goats, sheep and relatives, Animal diversity web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

(Answered Jan. 1, 2007)