NOVA: Cat Tales (full episode)

[IcyPeas]

or you can watch it "on demand" if you have that option.

Worshipped as a goddess, condemned as satanic, and spun into a stunning array of breeds, cats have long fascinated humans. But did we ever really domesticate them? And what can science tell us about our most mysterious companions?

https://www.pbs.org/video/cat-tales-lhavhy/

[rampartc]

1. thanks immensely, icypeas

I had meant to watch this on pbs last night but the nature show on weasels came first. I remember most of the weasels but must have fallen asleep before the end.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

2. Some fascinating things about history and evolution of domestic cat, BUT.....

The whole thing about how inscrutable, unreadable, aloof cats supposedly are..... they should have educated viewers about how expressive cats really are, how to read their body language.... instead of repeating centuries old b.s. about cats being so "mysterious."

They talk about an experiment which studies cats facial expression...and conclude that because the cat doesn't have as many muscles in the faces as do humans and dogs... that somehow that means they lack facial expressions and therefore are unreadable?????? Without seeming to realize that the cat expresses itself a myriad of other ways besides the face. Position of body and movement of the tail, erectness of fur, vocalizations, all are part of how a cat expresses itself.

Besides, anyone who is in tune at all with their pets and cats in general have NO PROBLEM reading the facial expressions. I can tell the blissed out, eyes half closed look, as well as the eyes wide and panicked look. Just because the experimenter cant read it, doesn't mean its not readable.

What a wasted opportunity. They could have gotten a "cat whisperer" on there to tell us how to read the cats body language.

The worst was that cat show where you see and hear cats stressing out but these idiot owners are totally oblivious. Those folks could use a lesson in feline body language too.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Yes, that bothered me too.

There have been studies on cat facial expressions. Here's an example: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/how-good-are-you-reading-your-cat-s-facial-expressions I took the quiz, which shows only the cat's face and asks what emotion the cat is expressing, and I got 100% correct. You have to look at the position of their ears and people aren't used to doing that.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

4. Yes! Ears are a huge part of cat communication. I once wore a pair of cat ears for my Halloween

costume, and my cat was absolutely FREAKING OUT - meowing his fool head off and staring up at me like suddenly I had transformed from a human into a gigantic cat.

Im not sure what I was saying with my ears, but he was definitely reacting.

Oh look - all three of us who posted in this thread have the same tabby cat avatar! How funny.

[sl8]

5. I thought the message at the end of the quiz was odd

On average, 85% of the participants in our study scored these 8 videos correctly.

So if you scored 6 or 7: well done!

And if you scored 7 or 8, you might be a “cat whisperer”: someone able to judge even the most challenging of cat faces. If you want to find out, go to next level: Cat faces mini-quiz - advanced level

If 85% scored the 8 videos correctly, then why would a score of 6 or 7 be very good. I'm wondering if they made a mistake in the first sentence.