That is not a "scientific fact". That is just something somebody wrote for the likes.
My favourit scientivic fact is that tiktok i saw some kid made and is the only source of that fact.
Eh, any time someone ascribes motivations to animals, my butthole spasms.
The best that should be said is that the behaviors they exhibit are similar to the behaviors they exhibit for kittens or sometimes sick cats.
Somehow, somebody decided that meant they think we're bad hunters, and the idea took off because it's funny, but you can't know what goes on inside the thoughts of other humans reliably, much less other animals.
There's competing possibilities that the cats are showing off their kills to their social group, which is not only a common behavior when cats are young, but when they're mated, but you don't see people crowing about them bringing us food to get in our pants.
Overall, cats seem to treat us like other cats. Not exactly the same, but with less distinction than other domesticated animals. Horses, as an example, have a much wider distinction, for equally unprovable reasons.
My personal pet idea is that any sufficiently social animal, including humans, is instinctively going to seek out groups. They/we will negotiate the lack of a unifying language as best as possible, but with plenty of misunderstandings. It isn't so much that other animals see us as being the same as them. It's that they don't really have the need for the distinction; there's the in group (pride, pack, clan, whatever you want to call it) and out groups. When dealing with the family group, any animal will perform the same basic behaviors that their instincts tell them to.
Domestication just means that a given type of animal has developed or been bred to have, a stronger instinct for social bonding than wild animals, to the degree that they'll accept other species as family easier.
To add to this, an outside observer would say humans think their pets are little humans, throwing birthday parties, dressing them in clothing, talking to them.
You can pry Mr. Scruffles' humanity from my cold, dead hands!
Mr Scruffles tax?
Magnificent.
Well, some do seem to think that.
I think the difference between cats and dogs is mainly tens of thousands of additional years of co-operative evolution. Cats are amazing but dogs you can almost assume can understand your emotions and care, that comes from the absurd length of time dogs and humans have been friends, it is a relationship that far predates other domestication by an immense length of time.
I think cats can often understand your emotions... they just don't care lol
It's also worth noting that there's good evidence that cats self-domesticated, much more than dogs did. This will also have an impact on the relationship, with cats basically doing cat things for us on their terms and dogs doing dog things for us on our terms.
Ancient Egyptians: That cat makes a great point.
I’m pretty sure my cat understands that people are not cats. She hisses at any other cat she sees, but has no problem with people.
It’s because the other cats might actually be a threat, whereas the furless elongated ones are just terribly incompetent.
Cats have a completely different language when interacting with humans. They mostly just meow around us
I have doubts that any credible and serious scientific discovery would involve this degree of anthropomorphism when it comes to assigning motivation to an animal's behavior.
But let's say I ended up with a hecking case of brain worms who devoured the vast majority of my critical thinking skills and was able to completely ignore that first point, this still doesn't quite compute. If you've ever had cats and/or dogs in your life, then you are probably also aware that each one has its own unique personality and behaviors. Even if we assume that they have human-like rationalizations and emotional capacity, does it even make sense to believe that they all uniformly perceive people in the same uniform manner?
It's based on way too many reinterpretations of descriptions of studies into how cats communicate. Basically cats without human interaction will only meow as kittens communicating to their mom and their mother might meow back, and as they grow older they will learn to communicate with each other purely by body language and pheramones. Cats who interact with humans have learned that meowing at us like kittens gets our attention and is effective at communicating with us.
Some have interpreted that to mean cats see us as really strange kittens, which of course gets miscommunicated by well meaning people repeating something they half-remember. It seems the reality is just cats have learned to adjust their behavior to better coexist with humans.
Impressively, cats and their humans also will develop complex enough communication that humans can interpret the need of the cat purely from their meow
At least this is my memory of research I half-remember reading about
I love research telephone :D
I have come to accept the research telephone. Yeah, my understanding of the actual research is filtered through countless interlocking individuals and who knows how many narrative frameworks. The best I can do, without just getting a degree in the field, is to try to sample as many of these narrative interpretations as possible.
When I see the point made that we believe science like a new religion, I cannot help but see the glimmer of truth in that interpretation. Ok, sure, fine by me. I trust the mechanism of passive-aggressive peer review more than any holy text or hierarchy of clergy.
some have interpreted that to mean cats see us as really strange kittens,
Not just the meowing. Bringing dead animals is also thought to be related to maternal instinct or some other social behaviour.
I do agree though that people are running with this stuff further than the science has verified.
My cat definitely treats people differently than other cats. She's not territorial with people, but if she sees a cat outside she gets fussy.
I mean, she knows I'm much better than her at opening wet food cans.
“This cat is awful, but I’ll keep it around because it knows how to open the food stones.”
All I'll say is cats meow at humans and they don't meow at other cats except their own mom. To me this instantly defeats this take.
It's just a fun post though so I'm not judging.
I have 2 cats. One of them meows at people, cats, dogs, birds, butterflies, toys...
The other only meows when she's suffering horrible torture, like being picked up, or needing to scratch at the door the times without it opening.
Cats meow at other cats besides their mother too. It's a complete myth that they don't.
I kind of am judging. Misrepresenting how science works and what it can and can't do ia a dangerous game on the age of intentional misinformation. Even if you're just trying to be cute and fun.
You know what, you're right, framing it as a "scientific discovery" isn't cool.
How to say you are not a cat owner without saying you are not a cat owner.
Is that how it works? I've had dogs try breeding my leg, cats not so much. That anecdote presents an opposite case.
Ive seen a dog hump inanimate objects so I don't think thats a great gauge.
Cats have standards.
My cat hates every other cat it meets, but loves every person it meets. I think it knows the difference.
You clearly weren't interacting with horny cats.
Horny cats might randomly bite your ankle (if male) or enrich your nights (and your neighbours') with the song of their people (if female), but I've never seen a cat trying to hump a human (or anything other than another cat).
Dogs? Sure. Endangered New Zealand flightless parrots? Yeah. Once. On video. Cats? Not once.
Am science. Can confirm.
Then why do all cats I have licked back at acted so surprised and offended?
Because amongst cats grooming is a show of dominance.
So my cat's grooming me is asserting dominance over me? The bitch.
He's your mom now, dawg
You're the mom now, cat!
Creepy smooth tongue
I'm not so sure my cats and dogs identify as different species tbh
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