Cat café study reveals feline grasp of physics

[WhiteTara]

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0615/Cat-cafe-study-reveals-feline-grasp-of-physics


A study performed largely in Japanese cat cafés showed that house cats are highly attuned to the laws of physics while hunting.
By Lucy Schouten, Staff June 15, 2016

Anyone who has seen a cat staring at them intently has probably wondered – does that cat know more than it is letting on?

The answer, according to a Japanese study published online Tuesday, is probably yes.

Researchers tested a house cat’s knowledge of physics and cause-and-effect logic, reporting the feline’s surprisingly high scientific competency in the Springer journal of Animal Cognition.

The team’s previous work with cats showed the felines listen for objects hidden inside or nearby a can, a pipe, or cluster of bushes. Researchers theorized this ability helped make house cats the effective hunters they are because they use their highly attuned hearing to predict the location of hidden prey.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. If cats are so good at physics why are they constantly doing gravity checks?

It's like they're not convinced gravity will work every time so they have to keep pushing stuff onto the floor, just to be sure.

[missingthebigdog]

2. Those aren't gravity checks.

Your things are safer on the floor. If you leave them on the table, or the windowsill, ANYTHING could happen to them.

[Igel]

3. They're experimenting.

The jury's still out on whether humans "get" cause and effect and can weigh plausible vs implausible explanations as to cause.

A lot don't.

[yourpaljoey]

4. That is all part of their sweet

They always bees sweet and never sassy

[Solly Mack]

9. Those aren't gravity checks. That's a cat critiquing the decor.

[trotsky]

11. Right answer.

[Solly Mack]

12. It is their house. :)

[Carni]

16. That's not a gravity check

Your shit is in their way lol

[Aerows]

19. ^This^ n/t

[1StrongBlackMan]

26. BabyGirl 1SBM blessed us with a Grand-kitten ...

and that was one of the first things I noticed ... she seems intent to push everything she can reach to the floor.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. Maybe she wants to be sure the gravity bill has been paid?

I don't know why they do that. I once had a cat who woke me up every morning by passive-aggressively shoving stuff onto the floor. Normal cats just stand on your face and screech, but not that guy.

[1StrongBlackMan]

28. We have three dogs ...

So we keep Rosie's (our grand-kitten) litter box and food bowl in BabyGirl's room with the door closed. Rosie has stuff figured out ... when the bald guy with the fur on his chin stands up, if he goes left ... that means food, maybe, but definitely an opportunity to knock stuff off the shelves in the kitchen ... If he goes to the right, that means access to the litter box and HER food, which means she stands in the door way, stretching to reach her bowl but not going all the way into the room, lest no one will be watching her eat.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. Cats are smart in their own strange ways.

At least in the ways that involve acquiring food. When I get up and turn to the right I get followed by cats because that's the direction to the kitchen. However, it's also the direction toward the powder room, so if that's where I'm going instead of the kitchen, I get visited (and complained to) in the bathroom (the door doesn't latch). I love cats, they're crazy little buggers.

[tonyt53]

5. Ah, but those were JAPANESE cats. US cats prefer to get caught on video and become famous

[Gabi Hayes]

6. cat's study in progress....real world physicis!

https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+caterpillar&biw=911&bih=391&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwi2rtSroarNAhUSa1IKHaJbB48Q_AUIBigB&dpr=1.5#tbm=isch&q=cat+physics+jokes&imgrc=_

[joeybee12]

7. I knew my cats were smarter than me...

That's why I let them run this place!

[clarice]

8. Schroedinger's cats? nt

[packman]

10. Of course my cats understands physics more than me

never would have doubted it. Probably a hellofa lot more too.

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[shenmue]

13. Squeeeeeee

[progressoid]

14. Some cats are philosophical.

[Chellee]

25. "Don't tutch the butt."

[frazzled]

15. I've always noticed my cat

making what seem to be concerted calculations about whether a jump is possible. Whether this indicates an "understanding of physics" is debatable, because she is otherwise sometimes dumb as a rock.

The cat likes to jump from the floor to the top of the fireplace mantle (about 3 1/2 feet from a slightly raised base) and from there sits and observes, sometimes making a small adjustment in her position before making a perfect jump (about 4 more feet) to the top of a built in cabinet, where she perches to surveil the room.

She's a tiny cat, and now some 15 years old, but still does this, though less frequently and taking longer to calculate the possibilities. Still, it seems to me there's a lot of physics-type cogitating going on there.

It's interesting, but she is otherwise a pretty annoying cat.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. That's exactly what they do.

[frazzled]

18. LOL, precisely!

The perfect cartoon: did my cat pose for it or yours?

[Aerows]

20. Not mine.

I can't get her to come down off of the garage roof between the hours of 6 and 8pm (I'm serious - she sits up there like clockwork).

At 8:01pm, she is waiting by the door so that her person will let her in. Treats must be included, because the kitty must have a buffet.

[frazzled]

22. Because besides physics acumen, they also have internal atomic clocks

You don't even need a clock or wristwatch in your house when you have a cat. Do you think they'll take over the world some day?

[Aerows]

23. I know that they shed

based upon daylight hours rather than heat or cold.

I think mine has already taken over my world, to be honest.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. Mine are a bit slow. They still use slide rules.

[Aerows]

24. I used to think my cat liked to sit in my computer chair

because it was warm and reminded her of me.

Now, I'm not so sure.