Post by Kimmikins on Jan 13, 2014 11:33:09 GMT
Story here
With regards to the bringing of gifts, I've also heard that they bring half-dead things back because they think their owners need to practice their hunting skills (I don't know whether this has any basis in fact)
Thoughts?
Cats actually think their owners are just larger, non-hostile version of themselves, according to an expert in animal behaviour.
Biologist Dr John Bradshaw believes when cats are affectionate towards their owners they are just treating them as other cats.
An upright tale is a greeting sign between felines and is also a way of cats showing affection to their owners.
The biologist also believes that despite years of domestication, cats are still wild animals.
He writes: 'The transformation of the cat from resident exterminator to companion cohabiter is both recent and rapid, and—especially from the cat’s perspective—evidently incomplete.'
It has often been thought that when a cat brings home a dead animal it is a gift for its owner.
However, Dr Bradshaw does not agree and believes cat remember they like tinned food when they re-enter the house and so leave the animal on the floor.
Dr Bradshaw is a biologist who founded and directs the world-renowned Anthrozoology Institute, based at the University of Bristol.
He has been studying the behaviour of domestic cats and their owners for more than 25 years, and is the author of many scientific articles, research papers and reviews.
He is also the author of bestseller, In Defence of Dogs.
In the book he writes: 'One of my reasons for writing this book is to project what the typical cat might be like fifty years from now.
'I want people to continue to enjoy the company of a delightful animal, but I’m not sure that the cat, as a species, is heading in the right direction.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2538210/How-cat-really-sees-Felines-think-owners-just-larger-non-hostile-version-themselves.html#ixzz2qHFJ7xEZ
Follow us: @mailonline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Biologist Dr John Bradshaw believes when cats are affectionate towards their owners they are just treating them as other cats.
An upright tale is a greeting sign between felines and is also a way of cats showing affection to their owners.
The biologist also believes that despite years of domestication, cats are still wild animals.
He writes: 'The transformation of the cat from resident exterminator to companion cohabiter is both recent and rapid, and—especially from the cat’s perspective—evidently incomplete.'
It has often been thought that when a cat brings home a dead animal it is a gift for its owner.
However, Dr Bradshaw does not agree and believes cat remember they like tinned food when they re-enter the house and so leave the animal on the floor.
Dr Bradshaw is a biologist who founded and directs the world-renowned Anthrozoology Institute, based at the University of Bristol.
He has been studying the behaviour of domestic cats and their owners for more than 25 years, and is the author of many scientific articles, research papers and reviews.
He is also the author of bestseller, In Defence of Dogs.
In the book he writes: 'One of my reasons for writing this book is to project what the typical cat might be like fifty years from now.
'I want people to continue to enjoy the company of a delightful animal, but I’m not sure that the cat, as a species, is heading in the right direction.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2538210/How-cat-really-sees-Felines-think-owners-just-larger-non-hostile-version-themselves.html#ixzz2qHFJ7xEZ
Follow us: @mailonline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
With regards to the bringing of gifts, I've also heard that they bring half-dead things back because they think their owners need to practice their hunting skills (I don't know whether this has any basis in fact)
Thoughts?
, great post! I like your theory about instincts, which seems to match up to the scientist's one that they aren't really fully domesticated...would you agree with that at all? There must be some element of domestication, or they wouldn't come back to the same house every evening, but I know I've sometimes get the impression that people live with cats on the cat's terms! I'm sure there are the exceptions to this though!