Lost cat baffles experts by finding way home

January 21, 2013 - 3:00AM Sydney Morning Herald NEW YORK: Nobody knows how it happened: an indoor house cat got lost on a family excursion. It managed to return to her hometown two months and 320 kilometres later. Even scientists are baffled by how Holly the four-year old date did it. In November Holly became separated from its owners, Jacob and Bonnie Richter. They were at a motorhome rally in Daytona Beach, Florida. On New Year's Eve, Holly was found in a back yard about a kilometre from the Richters' house she was staggering, weak and very very thin. ''Are you sure it's the same cat?'' the director of the research institute asked. He suspected that ''the cats are just strays, and people just hope it is the same cat. But Holly had an implanted microchip to identify her. Scientists say it is more common to hear of dogs returning home dogs may have the wolves' ability to navigate using magnetic clues. Scientists say that cats can sense smells across long distances. The cats may smell pine trees and know that is coming from the north, so they move south. One scientist wondered if Holly followed the Florida coast by sight or sound did she track a main highway and decided to ''keep that to the right and keep the ocean to the left''? But, he said, ''nobody's going to do an experiment and take a bunch of cats in different directions and see which ones get home''. Roger Tabor, a cat biologist, reported a 1954 study in Germany. Cats were put in a covered circular maze it had exits every 15 degrees. The cats usually exited the maze in the direction of their homes. They did so more often if their homes were less than five kilometres away. Jackson Galaxy, who hosts the TV show My Cat From Hell, spoke of his cat. He was living in Boulder, Colorado. He moved across town. His indoor cat, Rabbi, fled. Rabbi appeared 10 days later at the previous house - he walked five miles [eight kilometres] through an area he had never been before''. Tabor spoke of longer-distance reports: Murka, a tortoiseshell cat in Russia walked to Moscow from her owner's mother's house this was 520 kilometres. Howie, an indoor cat in Australia was left with relatives while his owners went on holiday. He ran away from the relatives and travelled 1600 kilometres to his family's home. As for Holly, was she given a lift all or part of the way? Her paws suggest she was not driven all the way. ''Her pads on her feet were bleeding,'' her owner said. Scientists still say that they haven't the slightest idea how they do this. Anybody who says they do is lying, and, if you find it, please God, tell me what it is.''