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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCat café study reveals feline grasp of physics
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0615/Cat-cafe-study-reveals-feline-grasp-of-physicsA 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 cats knowledge of physics and cause-and-effect logic, reporting the felines surprisingly high scientific competency in the Springer journal of Animal Cognition.
The teams 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
(115,576 posts)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
(1,233 posts)Your things are safer on the floor. If you leave them on the table, or the windowsill, ANYTHING could happen to them.
Igel
(35,270 posts)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
(2,166 posts)They always bees sweet and never sassy
Solly Mack
(90,758 posts)trotsky
(49,533 posts)Solly Mack
(90,758 posts)Carni
(7,280 posts)Your shit is in their way lol
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)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
(115,576 posts)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
(31,849 posts)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
(115,576 posts)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
(5,737 posts)Gabi Hayes
(28,795 posts)joeybee12
(56,177 posts)That's why I let them run this place!
clarice
(5,504 posts)packman
(16,296 posts)never would have doubted it. Probably a hellofa lot more too.
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shenmue
(38,506 posts)progressoid
(49,933 posts)Chellee
(2,090 posts)frazzled
(18,402 posts)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
(115,576 posts)frazzled
(18,402 posts)The perfect cartoon: did my cat pose for it or yours?
Aerows
(39,961 posts)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
(18,402 posts)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
(39,961 posts)based upon daylight hours rather than heat or cold.
I think mine has already taken over my world, to be honest.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,576 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)because it was warm and reminded her of me.
Now, I'm not so sure.