Wednesday, February 4, 2009

On the Social Behavior of Cats

Recently, I have been studying human cat relations. I would like to share my findings with the general public, so that they may become aware of the subtle nature of cats, and better understand them.
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Domestic cats are classified as felinus sylvestris domesticus or something like that. One should know that their senses are almost all above ours for independent survival in the wild. They have been domesticated for about 8000 years, hoewever, it seems that they have changed little in those millenia.
A "socialized" cat as we call a cat that has been introduced to humans, and has had a wide experience with its environment, usually will greet the human(s) in one or more ways.
**Tail posistions, flicks, wags, and other movements are nearly as versatile as our fingers when we use sign language. Cats communicate messages quickly with their tails, but many expressions are subtle and are often overlooked by humans.
-Humans use sign language when they cannot speak or hear, but sign language is very distinct and identifiable by us because: 1. our hands are in front of us, and at our listener's attention. 2. Having 5 or so fingers flailing around is much more exciting than 1 large tail flicking and moving. Its not as interesting to us, so it becomes more subtle and hard to catch.
*Many common signs we have learned from cats' tails are:
a. greetings
b. emotions
-Although cats do not have a specified language, as some humans seem to think the "meows" are, they talk with their bodies more than humans generally.
-Cats also have a more relaxed societal structure than ours; that is not to say more primitive.
We observe chimps and other primates has having complex socio-political structures. Well, cats do too, but it is far less obvious in the domesticated house cat with only a human or one or two other cats around.
*Cat social structure revolves mostly around resources, and dominance over those resources.
-Although they often bicker, cats seem to be more willing to share resources with others, even if they are limited.
-In a housecat, the cat often picks a favorite human or type of humans. Ex: the son of the house, or only likes women. That human becomes the cat's property, part of its territory, and a viable resource---as well as a companion if the cat knows you well.
a. That being said, it depends on the cat whether it is protective of you, being it's territory, or sees you as a protector, a guide, or simply a giant it can use fo its own purposes.
-Like people, all cats have different personalities. They share the same traits of the feline species, (just as we do with primates); they are intelligent creatures, and recognize much more than people think. Cats have been observed to understand the differences between mamalian familes, and will give nearly the same responses to an orangutan as a human.
-One or rarely two cats will usually assert dominance over the others when in a multicat household or clouder. (clouder-name for a group of cats, ie:flock of birds) The dominant cat in a clouder is often male, and if the food is being provided by a human source, will often let others eat from his resources as long as he gets his fill. In this case, the feeder is human; the cats have not caught the meal on their own, and therefore it has slightly less value than if it was a fresh kill.
However, food is still food. If there are not enough resources, then fights may occur.
In the household, the dominant cat may be male or female, and may have more disputes between each other if they feel their bowl is being threatened. Perhaps they just dont like each other, or in this sense, the provider is human, but the dominant cat may have claimed the human for itself.
**As one can see, cats have a good sense of judgement and what I call "cat-math". They cant be expected to do differential calculus--most humans can't either, but thats only because its writen and based in our number system. Cats don't understand nor respond to foriegn systems. They just don't care, but they do have their own form of math for practical uses.
Cat math comes into play when they gauge the distance they need to jump on to the favorite chair, or across roofs.
-It also helps them gauge how much food is available for all cats. If the resource amount doesn't add up to the number of cats, then there might be a fight to deter the others. The cats deterred are not random, but based on familiarity and family ties, etc.
What's more interesting is that they can calculate this nath all in their heads too. Its usually very accurate, and doesn't use numbers whatsoever. After all, numbers are a human thing.