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> There are lots of things that have tried to be cats—other groups of mammals that have evolutionarily converged on cats. Marsupials have tried to be cats. An e

> There are lots of things that have tried to be cats—other groups of mammals that have evolutionarily converged on cats. Marsupials have tried to be cats. An extinct group of carnivorans called creodonts have tried to be cats. Weasels have tried to be cats. There’s all kinds of stuff that has tried to be a bit catlike in different ways—mongooses, things like that. But they kind of dip in and dip out of being cats, and they can’t really outcompete cats in their space. They haven’t lasted. All of those things that have tried to be cats, they do other things, too, and those things are fine. But there aren’t a lot of things that are around today that do a very good job of being a cat. Er... okay? And what exactly does this mean? I wish they defined "catness," in this sense, so we knew what it meant for a species to approach it. As it is, the above paragraph essentially tells us nothing.

dist-epoch 3y ago
I think they mean that cats are the apex predator in their respective weight category (small animals, big animals)
- retrac 3y ago
  To catness I would add solitary. Without it we might include wolves. (Though some big cats are more social, they still mostly hunt solo.) I would also add (almost) exclusively carnivorous, otherwise we might include bears. It should also like to sit in cardboard boxes.
slacka 3y ago
Cat fluff piece. Owl’s are far more “evolved” to their predatory niche. In addition, every land animal of prey are on are on the menu for wolves. Cat’s lack of social evolution greatly limits their choice. So much for perfection. Wolves have taking their social evolution one step further by allowing them to join forces, co-evolving with man. This cat biologist could use a lesson from a human evolutionary biologist.[1] There is a good chance we wouldn't be where we are today, if it weren’t for that perfect combination. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/dogs-humans-evolved-together-study-suggests-1c9924394 https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/dogs-humans-evolved-toge...
- mr_toad 3y ago
  Wolves might have co-evolved with humans, but domestic cats outnumber domestic dogs and they’ve barely done any evolving.
- steve_gh 3y ago
  Owls are bird hardware with cat software
peteradio 3y ago
I've never had a weasel crap in my garden nor a mongoose piss all over the inside of my garage. I imagine those are the things the researcher is talking about.

dist-epoch 3y ago

I think they mean that cats are the apex predator in their respective weight category (small animals, big animals)

retrac 3y ago
To catness I would add solitary. Without it we might include wolves. (Though some big cats are more social, they still mostly hunt solo.) I would also add (almost) exclusively carnivorous, otherwise we might include bears. It should also like to sit in cardboard boxes.

slacka 3y ago

Cat fluff piece. Owl’s are far more “evolved” to their predatory niche. In addition, every land animal of prey are on are on the menu for wolves. Cat’s lack of social evolution greatly limits their choice. So much for perfection. Wolves have taking their social evolution one step further by allowing them to join forces, co-evolving with man. This cat biologist could use a lesson from a human evolutionary biologist.[1] There is a good chance we wouldn't be where we are today, if it weren’t for that perfect combination. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/dogs-humans-evolved-together-study-suggests-1c9924394 https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/dogs-humans-evolved-toge...

mr_toad 3y ago
Wolves might have co-evolved with humans, but domestic cats outnumber domestic dogs and they’ve barely done any evolving.
steve_gh 3y ago
Owls are bird hardware with cat software

peteradio 3y ago

I've never had a weasel crap in my garden nor a mongoose piss all over the inside of my garage. I imagine those are the things the researcher is talking about.