Thanks everyone, for all your interesting comments and book
recommendations. :-)
I decided to look up cat reproduction rates. I found this article,
about the Devon Rex breed of domesticated cats:
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:EO-3eppZ8FgJ:www.catvet.homestead.com/Devon_Rex_Project_Final_Report.rtf+cat+reproduction+statistics&hl=en
Effect of Season
In this study, there was an influence of season on the distribution of
the 193 litters of Devon Rex born in the northern hemisphere
catteries. Most litters were born between March and September (67%),
a time of long day length, and the fewest litters were born from
October to February (33%), a time of short day length.
So, it does look like with this type of cat there is an unequal
distribution of sun signs.
In the RTF version of the file,
http://www.catvet.homestead.com/Devon_Rex_Project_Final_Report.rtf ,
there's a graph showing the number of litters born by month. To
make it easier for anyone interested to see this graph, I uploaded
a screenshot of it to my Photobucket:
Loading Image...So - it looks like cats of that particular breed are born all year
round, but with some seasonal variation.
This page mentions:
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:Mus9xVgstaUJ:familyfun.go.com/parenting/learn/activities/expert/petvetcatgestation/+cat+gestation+period&hl=en
Cats generally have pregnancies lasting from 58 to 65 days. They can
become pregnant at as early as six months of age and go into heat
twice a year, in the spring and the fall.
This page discusses wildcats (Felis silvestris):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/pets/cats.shtml
Wildcats mate in February and March and after a gestation period of
63-65 days, females give birth to 2-6 young.
This page discusses African wild cats (Felis lybica):
http://www.krugerpark.co.za/Kruger_National_Park_Private_Concession_Lodges-travel/africa_african_wild_cat.html
Mating occurs between July and January, with a gestation period of
65 days. Young are born between September and March. Average litter
size is three.
So, it looks like there are some cat species which have a diminished
range of sun signs.
To engage in some idle speculation... I think even if there isn't an
even distribution of sun signs, the sun signs might still apply just
as well (provided astrology works at all, and works for animals as
well).
There's a pretty uneven distribution of Pluto signs among humans
(no one living with Pluto in Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, and
maybe Taurus), yet I think most astrologers take Pluto signs into
account(?)
My feeling is that, just because a lot of people/other entities share
a chart factor in common (like a Pluto sign, or Neptune sextile Pluto)
doesn't necessarily mean it applies any less to any of them.
Also, I think some variation could be provided to the meanings of
various very common chart factors by the fact that even if two people
(or other entities) have the same sun sign (or whatever), they might
have that planet's dispositor in a different sign entirely.
Thus, even if all Felis silvestri tend to be born from April to
June and thus only can be Aries, Taurus or Gemini - maybe it's not
quite so limited as it appears on the surface if you only look at
the sun sign.
All those Aries wildcats could have their sun's ruler, Mars, in any
sign of the zodiac. The Taurus wildcats could have Venus from Pisces
to Cancer (if I'm not mistaken), while the Gemini wildcats could have
Mercury from Taurus to Cancer.
It's definitely not as broad a range of possible chart factors as
humans have, but, maybe it works for them. :-) In turn, all these
dispositors could be themselves ruled by planets in other signs...
I don't know if I'm right in thinking this, but I tend to look at the
dispositors of planets as being quite important in determining their
overall meaning. If I see two people with sun in Cancer, I can't
bring myself to assume they're necessarily supposed to have much of
anything in common until at least I've compared their moon signs, and
hopefully many other chart factors.
I also think that possibly planets in their own signs of dominion
might be the most likely of any planets in a chart to play out in a
"textbook" fashion in any given chart, since they're not disposited
by anything else. (But even then, much variation is provided by
aspects, house placement, etc.)
OK, that's all I have to say for now (at least in this thread).
Inspiration rarely strikes me, so pardon me if I'm very quiet... :-)
Blahhh
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My websites:
http://astroblahhh.tripod.com/astrology/statistics/index.html
http://badremixer.tripod.com/