5 ms·

I once thought I saw a kid abusing a small cat. He picked it up and threw it across his front lawn, quite far. I started running over to stop him ... and then s

by progne 3y ago

I once thought I saw a kid abusing a small cat. He picked it up and threw it across his front lawn, quite far. I started running over to stop him ... and then saw the cat run back to the kid, who did it again. They did it a few more times by the time I walked by. They were playing fetch with the whole cat. What's the evolutionary explanation for that?

catchnear4321 3y ago
dopamine
saagarjha 3y ago
Abuse, or play? I would guess the cat wouldn’t run back to be thrown if it didn’t like it.
- groestl 3y ago
  That's the point.
raincole 3y ago
> What's the evolutionary explanation for that? The simple answer is that being thrown make the cat practice how to land. But the actual answer is probably that creatures like cats are big enough to contain a lot of evolutionary noises and legacies that it can do random shit.
benjijay 3y ago
My cat often enjoys being thrown short distances, we restrict this to "onto the bed/sofa" but I imagine she would be mostly okay with the floor too
- mcv 3y ago
  Kids too. When swimming, my son loves to get thrown by me. And sometimes also in other throw-safe environments. If people like it, why not cats?
  - aoeusnth1 3y ago
    Definitely kids. My sons will always ask me to throw them on the bed, on the couch, in a bounce house, drop them on the floor, and just love it. I imagine a high trust relationship with a cat could also develop to that point as well.
blamestross 3y ago
I had a cat who loved to be tossed across the room (onto the nice safe soft bed) and who would excitedly run back to be tossed again. Just don't ask how we figured it out in the first place... But he was wierd. He liked going on walks on a leash, and demanded a chair at the table when we played boardgames and he would happily sit and watch us play (or sit in the middle of the board until we got him a seat). The first time I met him, he very clearly, intentionally guided me to his brother who was sick (meow, runs towards me, meow then back towards his brother, repeat). We lost him kinda without warning, he got an ear infection that popped his eardrum then he never recovered from the shock. Cats don't communicate pain or discomfort well, so we didn't even realize something was wrong until it was too late. But yeah, consistent recessive outliers are an evolutionary advantage trait. I've seen a lot of arguments that neurodiversity is an evolutionary trait, as having multiple behavior patterns in the population helps with survival. Cats are social animals, which means a similar neurodiversity pressure probably acts on them.
- ComputerGuru 3y ago
  I’m sorry for your loss; that sounds like a phenomenal cat friend!
- denton-scratch 3y ago
  > (or sit in the middle of the board until we got him a seat) I've lived with several different cats whose favourite position was directly between the people and the television. I'm not a cat person (nor a dog person); I know nothing. But I suppose they like human attention, so they sit where the humans are looking.
  - arwhatever 3y ago
    Same here - we have a cat right now who is remarkably adept at precisely blocking the middle 1/3 of the tv where the captions are displayed.
  - recursivecaveat 3y ago
    My parent's cat is a total stereotype and will walk back and forth in front of any monitor, including across your keyboard, until you stop what you're doing to give her your full attention.
corethree 3y ago
What's the evolutionary explanation for the child wanting to throw the cat? Also what's the evolutionary explanation for you trying to save the cat? Personally I think it's genetic drift. In safe environments natural selection by definition is much less strict and thus all kinds of random mutations pass the bar of survival.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  Trust demonstration? Demonstrating trust strengthens bonds. In the wild, that kid might be more likely to defend that cat’s interests when e.g. food ran short.
hypercube33 3y ago
Of all things my dad got cats to fetch celephane wrappers fairly easily. All of our cats were strays or barn cats originally.
- u320 3y ago
  They like how they sound when handled. They have fantastic hearing, so it's not a surprise that it affects how they play.
jncfhnb 3y ago
Excitement is generally rewarding. Don’t need anything deeper than that
elpocko 3y ago
I lived with a black cat some 15 years ago. Whenever it was bed sheet changing time, it was also cat tossing time. He loved being tossed "across the room" (really just a few feet) onto the matress and wouldn't stop coming back to get more.
- traceroute66 3y ago
  > He loved being tossed "across the room" So you swung the proverbial cat ? :)
mrob 3y ago
My theory is that most (all?) mammals evolved a liking for fast movement to counteract the unpleasant exertion that usually accompanies it, and which might otherwise encourage them to sit around doing nothing all day. This is a simpler mechanism (and thus more likely to evolve) that something involving delayed rewards for exertion. If you can get the the fast movement without the exertion, net pleasure is even higher. The cat being thrown probably feels the same as a human driving a fast car or riding a roller-coaster, or a dog putting its head out a car window, or a mouse stopping suddenly on an exercise wheel to let it spin it around.
- Doxin 3y ago
  > or a mouse stopping suddenly on an exercise wheel to let it spin it around. I had never considered they may be doing that on purpose.
mathgradthrow 3y ago
I throw my cat across the room all the time and she definitely doesn't stop walking on my fucking keyboard as a result.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
smolder 3y ago
I did something similar with my cat growing up, tossing him onto the bed or the couch, and he seemed to enjoy it and would keep coming back. Eventually we had a sort of routine where I'd toss him into a backflip and he'd land gracefully. He also played fetch with little paper or foil balls, dropping them near my feet and panting(!) like a dog once he got a bit tired from chasing them. The last interesting behavior to me is that he liked to burrow underneath blankets to sleep next to people, but that one might be more usual. He was a large black and white short-hair cat. I always described his behavior as very dog-like and some people were very surprised by it. Edit: I should have at least tried to respond to your question. I agree with the sibling comments theory about how animals enjoying movement can encourage their physical development.
mgarfias 3y ago
My dad and once had a catch we’d play catch with. That is: we’d toss the cat back and forth between us. He loved it.

by progne 3y ago

catchnear4321 3y ago

dopamine

saagarjha 3y ago

Abuse, or play? I would guess the cat wouldn’t run back to be thrown if it didn’t like it.

groestl 3y ago
That's the point.

raincole 3y ago

> What's the evolutionary explanation for that? The simple answer is that being thrown make the cat practice how to land. But the actual answer is probably that creatures like cats are big enough to contain a lot of evolutionary noises and legacies that it can do random shit.

benjijay 3y ago

My cat often enjoys being thrown short distances, we restrict this to "onto the bed/sofa" but I imagine she would be mostly okay with the floor too

mcv 3y ago
Kids too. When swimming, my son loves to get thrown by me. And sometimes also in other throw-safe environments. If people like it, why not cats?
- aoeusnth1 3y ago
  Definitely kids. My sons will always ask me to throw them on the bed, on the couch, in a bounce house, drop them on the floor, and just love it. I imagine a high trust relationship with a cat could also develop to that point as well.

blamestross 3y ago

I had a cat who loved to be tossed across the room (onto the nice safe soft bed) and who would excitedly run back to be tossed again. Just don't ask how we figured it out in the first place... But he was wierd. He liked going on walks on a leash, and demanded a chair at the table when we played boardgames and he would happily sit and watch us play (or sit in the middle of the board until we got him a seat). The first time I met him, he very clearly, intentionally guided me to his brother who was sick (meow, runs towards me, meow then back towards his brother, repeat). We lost him kinda without warning, he got an ear infection that popped his eardrum then he never recovered from the shock. Cats don't communicate pain or discomfort well, so we didn't even realize something was wrong until it was too late. But yeah, consistent recessive outliers are an evolutionary advantage trait. I've seen a lot of arguments that neurodiversity is an evolutionary trait, as having multiple behavior patterns in the population helps with survival. Cats are social animals, which means a similar neurodiversity pressure probably acts on them.

ComputerGuru 3y ago
I’m sorry for your loss; that sounds like a phenomenal cat friend!
denton-scratch 3y ago
> (or sit in the middle of the board until we got him a seat) I've lived with several different cats whose favourite position was directly between the people and the television. I'm not a cat person (nor a dog person); I know nothing. But I suppose they like human attention, so they sit where the humans are looking.
- arwhatever 3y ago
  Same here - we have a cat right now who is remarkably adept at precisely blocking the middle 1/3 of the tv where the captions are displayed.
- recursivecaveat 3y ago
  My parent's cat is a total stereotype and will walk back and forth in front of any monitor, including across your keyboard, until you stop what you're doing to give her your full attention.

corethree 3y ago

What's the evolutionary explanation for the child wanting to throw the cat? Also what's the evolutionary explanation for you trying to save the cat? Personally I think it's genetic drift. In safe environments natural selection by definition is much less strict and thus all kinds of random mutations pass the bar of survival.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
Trust demonstration? Demonstrating trust strengthens bonds. In the wild, that kid might be more likely to defend that cat’s interests when e.g. food ran short.

hypercube33 3y ago

Of all things my dad got cats to fetch celephane wrappers fairly easily. All of our cats were strays or barn cats originally.

u320 3y ago
They like how they sound when handled. They have fantastic hearing, so it's not a surprise that it affects how they play.

jncfhnb 3y ago

Excitement is generally rewarding. Don’t need anything deeper than that

elpocko 3y ago

I lived with a black cat some 15 years ago. Whenever it was bed sheet changing time, it was also cat tossing time. He loved being tossed "across the room" (really just a few feet) onto the matress and wouldn't stop coming back to get more.

traceroute66 3y ago
> He loved being tossed "across the room" So you swung the proverbial cat ? :)

mrob 3y ago

My theory is that most (all?) mammals evolved a liking for fast movement to counteract the unpleasant exertion that usually accompanies it, and which might otherwise encourage them to sit around doing nothing all day. This is a simpler mechanism (and thus more likely to evolve) that something involving delayed rewards for exertion. If you can get the the fast movement without the exertion, net pleasure is even higher. The cat being thrown probably feels the same as a human driving a fast car or riding a roller-coaster, or a dog putting its head out a car window, or a mouse stopping suddenly on an exercise wheel to let it spin it around.

Doxin 3y ago
> or a mouse stopping suddenly on an exercise wheel to let it spin it around. I had never considered they may be doing that on purpose.

mathgradthrow 3y ago

I throw my cat across the room all the time and she definitely doesn't stop walking on my fucking keyboard as a result.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

smolder 3y ago

I did something similar with my cat growing up, tossing him onto the bed or the couch, and he seemed to enjoy it and would keep coming back. Eventually we had a sort of routine where I'd toss him into a backflip and he'd land gracefully. He also played fetch with little paper or foil balls, dropping them near my feet and panting(!) like a dog once he got a bit tired from chasing them. The last interesting behavior to me is that he liked to burrow underneath blankets to sleep next to people, but that one might be more usual. He was a large black and white short-hair cat. I always described his behavior as very dog-like and some people were very surprised by it. Edit: I should have at least tried to respond to your question. I agree with the sibling comments theory about how animals enjoying movement can encourage their physical development.

mgarfias 3y ago

My dad and once had a catch we’d play catch with. That is: we’d toss the cat back and forth between us. He loved it.