In the Womb: Cats — 4-D Ultrasound Imagery Not to Miss
January 1, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Pets
Most of us have seen ultrasound images of humans, but not felines. Get ready.
The latest installment of National Geographic Channel’s In the Womb: Cats series will air on Sunday, January 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. (The nice people at NGC sent me an advanced copy to review.)
In the Womb features never-before-seen in utero images of cats, lions, a cheetah, several breeds of dogs, and wolves! If you want to see In the Womb: Dogs, tune in an hour earlier at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
In the Womb: Cats contrasts cat and lion mating, conception and fetus development. You’ll follow fetus images all the way to day 63 when the Bengal cat gives birth and day 110 when the lioness gives birth. And yes, you’ll see the birthing scenes as well. I love how the lioness who’s about to give birth takes a minute to paw at the camera before settling down.
One of my favorite scenes in the show is when a kitten fetus wipes its paw across its mouth, practicing the grooming that is to come. Another highlight is getting to view a cheetah fetus! What cute and tiny spots.
I also learned some interesting facts while watching the show. For instance, cats eat the placenta soon after giving birth to help encourage milk production and feelings of trust.
It’s thought that the oxytocin from the placenta may stimulate bonding in the mother cat and keep her from rejecting her kittens. In the Womb also shows why lions can roar, but not purr and why cats can purr but not roar. But those are just a few examples.
If you’re free on Sunday night, I recommend watching NGC. The fetus images are stunning, but you’ll also see some adult cat cuties mixed in as well.
If you watch In the Womb, please come back and tell us what you thought!
Images via the National Geographic Channel.
wow. This is pretty cool. I like that last image a lot. Very interesting, maybe my P&B readers would like this. Hmm. Good score.
That’s wild! I was hoping to see like 6 of them all smooshed together and entangled.
Tracee, you can see all of them together on the show. Of course, the lions have more room because there aren’t as many! : )
Jennifer, Thanks. I do wonder that your P&B readers would think… Hmm.
These are blatantly not ultrasound images. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a human ultrasound but let’s be honest those aren’t exactly the highest resolution.
The film makers used CGI to acheive these images (perhaps based on ultrasound scans). This quality could not have been achieve otherwise, as breaching the amneotic fluid to place a camera inside would have disastrous consequences.
Klyk, this isn’t the same type of imagery used in the typical ultrasound image of humans you’re thinking of.
This article from NGC might clear this up:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0225_050225_tv_ultrasound.html
Well… I think I agree with Klyk. I read the article you linked to, but still don’t think the images above are the same thing. Like Klyk said… the images above are probably CG images and videos created using the 4D ultrasound recordings. My sister and a co-worker have both had the 4D ultrasound done and while the images are amazing and very lifelike they are still very much monochromatic… not Hi-def color images like the above images. I could see how the 4D ultrasound could be used as a 3D model for animators to reconstruct amazing lifelike animations.
Currently there are 3D and 4D ultrasounds. Both have similar imagery, but 4D also records movement in realtime.
Look at these examples of 4D and 3D imagery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1uKCchuIjM
http://www.4d-ultrasounds.com/3d-ultrasound-photos/index.htm