Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 117 posts

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#101

Post by brightsize »

randallsquared wrote: post #75
ssebastianj wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I've learned over the years ( and five cats) is: Never touch a cat when he/she is taking a sunbath. It's a trap!

I live with two cats who both think that you rubbing their bellies while they're sleeping is only their natural due, and they often protest when you stop.

Agreed, that part of the article is simply wrong. My neighbor's big fat fluffy cat comes over whenever it sees me outside and immediately flops over on its back and starts rolling around. It seems to luxuriate in having its belly rubbed, and crave touch in general. Flop and roll, belly rub, get up, rub something, flop and roll, belly rub, over and over. Eventually it's had enough, goes over and scratches a tree, then waddles off.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#102

Post by PeterWhittaker »

npsimons wrote: post #71
objclxt wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in both the U.S. and the U.K. it's interesting to see the two different attitudes to cats. In the UK, letting your cat outside is the norm. The shelter I adopted from wouldn't give you a cat unless you were able to let it out (or the cat had feline AIDS and needed to be kept indoors for protection). But it's the complete opposite in the U.S, and although that makes sense in some places (a lot more predat…

Where I live, if you let your cat(s) outside, sooner or later they will be eaten by coyote or mountain lion. I am not exaggerating. There's also the issue of cats decimating the local bird population: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill

Or fishers. Nasty things, fishers.

(We've had a lot of "missing cat" signs on the group mailboxes lately. Woods nearby. Expanding populations of fishers, coyotes, wolves, etc. Did I mention I'm 15 minutes from Parliament Hill? Bears downtown, -35 C winters (with serious wind and a whole lotta snow), +35 C summers (with 90+% humidity), wild beasties in the woods.... I really love Ottawa. I mean, I must. No rationale person would live here otherwise.)

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#103

Post by junto »

GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #95
puzzlingcaptcha wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you honestly think that some agricultural community hundreds of years ago had nothing better to do than hunt down anti-social cats? It's speculation, and sources suggest the opposite is true, the cats were were simply tolerated: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702791/#__sec6t... Increase of reproductive success is not an evolutionary pressure and is irrelevant in the context of the comment I was reply…

Lots of teenage boys in agricultural communities today seem to have plenty of time to hunt down and kill cats.

To be fair it is only in the last 200 years that teenage boys were not working harder than we can even imagine. Take a look at the 'workhouses' in the UK at the start of the industrial revolution. Children worked and worked hard. There was no time for frivolity. People died young and it was hard to put food on the table. If anything cats, feral or not would be happily hunted for a little extra meat.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#105

Post by aetherson »

puzzlingcaptcha wrote: post #86
aetherson wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presence of humans increases the reproductive success of domesticated cats (because they get supplemental food and shelter and protection from predators), and decreases the success of non-domesticated cats (because humans are happy to kill antisocial feral cats).

Do you honestly think that some agricultural community hundreds of years ago had nothing better to do than hunt down anti-social cats? It's speculation, and sources suggest the opposite is true, the cats were were simply tolerated: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702791/#__sec6t... Increase of reproductive success is not an evolutionary pressure and is irrelevant in the context of the comment I was reply…

I didn't say they "hunted them down," I said they were happy to kill them.

And increase of reproductive success of a very similar population puts all kinds of evolutionary pressure on the less-advantaged population, as they compete for the same things. But more to the point, regardless of the exact words that your parent poster used, they clearly did not mean a very narrow definition of evolutionary pressure.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#106

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

junto wrote: post #103
GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of teenage boys in agricultural communities today seem to have plenty of time to hunt down and kill cats.

To be fair it is only in the last 200 years that teenage boys were not working harder than we can even imagine. Take a look at the 'workhouses' in the UK at the start of the industrial revolution. Children worked and worked hard. There was no time for frivolity. People died young and it was hard to put food on the table. If anything cats, feral or not would be happily hunted for a little extra meat.

I'm in agreement with you, but I think the dark satanic mills were a bit of a low point.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#108

Post by vladnyc »

GFischer wrote: post #91
click170 wrote: post #78

The BBC just did a 3 part special called Cat Watch where they follow the lives of several cats in a small town in the UK, attaching small cameras to the cats to see what they get up to, and demonstrating things like how cats use their whiskers to "see" things right in front of them because their vision is poor at close range and how they communicate with us. I recommend it if you're a cat person.

I agree, it's an amazing documentary, obligatory if you're a cat person: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnbRoRmRV2c (I normally don't watch long videos).

blocked :( This video contains content from BBC Worldwide, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#109

Post by click170 »

vladnyc wrote: post #108
GFischer wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, it's an amazing documentary, obligatory if you're a cat person: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnbRoRmRV2c (I normally don't watch long videos).

blocked :( This video contains content from BBC Worldwide, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.

It's still on TPB.

People ask why I don't use Youtube. This is a big contributing factor.

Just torrent it and send a polite email to the BBC asking them to make it available in your area, or watch it on BBC iPlayer if it's available to you.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#110

Post by bayesianhorse »

probablyfiction wrote: post #29
bayesianhorse wrote: post #5

On Youtube there is a channel called "Cat Mojo" by someone called Jackson Galaxy. He also has an animal planet show called "My Cat From Hell". His approach to behavioral problems in cats is quite fascinating. And it seems to work. For anyone involved with cats, this is a must-see.

I had no idea that Jackson had a youtube presence. I'm going to have to check it out. His Animal Planet show is hilariously awful, though Mr. Galaxy does seem to know how to interact with cats.

I think his show is great and gives a lot of insight into cats. His approach doesn't sound scientific, but on the other hand he isn't over-intellectualizing behavior.
Post reply on HN