Giraffe have unusually high heart rates for their size, at 150 beats per minute. When the animal lowers its head the blood rushes down fairly unopposed and a rete mirabile in the upper neck, with its large cross sectional area, prevents excess blood flow to the brain. When it raises again, the blood vessels constrict and direct blood into the brain so the animal does not faint. The jugular veins contain several (most commonly seven) valves to prevent blood flowing back into the head from the inferior vena cava and right atrium while the head is lowered. Conversely, the blood vessels
Blood on the Cat's Neck is smart or drunk. Jack Helbig of the "Chicago Reader" described it as a "darkly sarcastic, gloriously messy absurdist play about an alien [...] who comes into the world naked and guileless and learns to play all our dangerous games." Kerry Reid of the "Chicago Tribune" says that Fassbinder's dark world view is shallow, but still fresher than the similar worldview of more recent filmmaker and playwright Neil LaBute. Blood on the Cat's Neck Blood on the Cat's Neck or Blood on the Neck of the Cat is an absurdist 1971 play originally written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It was