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This is inane. Why is a cat friendly towards human visitors, yet hostile towards feline ones? We show human signs affection towards cats, why wouldn't they use
by duopixel 13y ago
This is inane. Why is a cat friendly towards human visitors, yet hostile towards feline ones? We show human signs affection towards cats, why wouldn't they use their own body language towards us?
- georgemcbay 13y agoI haven't read the book this is based on so maybe that makes it more clear, but reading just the article I agree this is inane. I grew up with cats and have a cat now and they clearly act differently not only when it comes to strange humans vs strange cats, but also humans of different types, eg. genders (my cat trusts human females inherently but it takes her a long time to trust males, I adopted her from a shelter when she was 2 and assume she used to be abused by a male or something). All that aside, cats do use their own body language towards us quite a bit, like the head-bump, the "making biscuits" thing and the slow eye blink. But they also customize things for us as well, like I've read other researchers who say cats don't meow (in a non-growl way) with each other after they are kittens, that is reserved for talking to humans.
- gizmo686 13y ago>I've read other researchers who say cats don't meow (in a non-growl way) with each other after they are kittens I remember reading that domestication tends to cause juvenile traits to carry into adulthood.
- krrrh 13y agoIt's called neotony. Domesticated dogs rarely howl, and domesticated cats rarely roar. Both of them keep the urge to play much longer than their wild counterparts. One interesting side-note is the idea that humans are also domesticated animals, and that we self-domesticated. A large part of what makes us human is that we maintain a degree of brain plasticity as we age and don't ever fully become adults. A fascinating piece of evidence for this is the way that baby chimps resemble baby humans, both in looks and behaviour. http://www.gmilburn.ca/2009/03/30/chimpanzees-and-neoteny/ http://www.gmilburn.ca/2009/03/30/chimpanzees-and-neoteny/
- linker3000 13y ago"Domesticated dogs rarely howl" You clearly haven't met our neighbours and their delightful King Charles Spaniels.
- auctiontheory 13y agomy cat trusts human females inherently but it takes her a long time to trust males Huh. What's your best guess how she tells males and females (of another species: humans) apart?
- simcop2387 13y agoI'd guess largely on some visual cues like facial hair and some ol'factory ones.
- ricardobeat 13y agoMost likely by smell, that is how they identify each other and other animals, since their daytime vision kind of sucks. Sometimes they can tell when you're arriving way before you get to the door.
- maxerickson 13y agoCats purr for humans. And they like to nest with humans. There is room for the cat to be deferential to the much larger human and less so to the similar sized cat. There are also cats that don't much like visitors.
- philwelch 13y agoBecause other cats are cat-sized so your cat thinks he can take them, but he knows better than to start a fight with a giant.
- lazyjones 13y ago> Why is a cat friendly towards human visitors, yet hostile towards feline ones? My (normal size) cat was friendly to human visitors as long as they were really big (100Kg+). It occasionally attacked other human visitors, presumably because they were easily scared. So perhaps it's just trying to assert dominance, regardless of species, but based on its estimated chance to succeed.