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Cat behaviour, Intelligence and memory INTELLIGENCE OF CATS - |
| The knowledge attained by cat by means of observation, trial and error is retained for whole life. According to the research work done at University of Michigan and the Department of Animal Behaviour at the American Museum of Natural History in USA , memory of cats is about two hundred times more than that of dogs. Memory of cats is found to be more than Monkeys and Chimpanzees. A cat never forget in its life.Cats retain information obtained by means of observation throughout their life.Cats learn by observation, imitation, trial and error just like human beings do. Cats try to keep themselves clean. Cat's are nature's cleanest animals. Cats spend about thirty percent of its life in grooming themselves. Cats are social animals like human beings. Like human beings, different cats have different personalities. Cats are the most independent out of all domestic animals. They communicate by means of their body language, facial expressions, table gestures, head, eyes, ears, tails, scent glands, trample by paws, salivation and different vocal sounds. The body language of cats is expressed with more than sixty gestures. The Language of cats is universal. For example, dilated pupils of eyes of a cat means fear while partially closed eyes means relaxation. An angry cat will have narrow pupils. Trampling by paws means affection and love. Erect ears of a cat pointing forwards means relaxation while ears folded backwards means warning. Cats knead their paws when they are happy. A cat never meow at another cat because cats use this sound for human beings. Slow calm flaps of tail of a cat means satisfaction while quick swings of tail means warning. The tail of a cat held vertical with its tip stiffly held upright means a very happy cat in greeting mood and a cat exposing its stomach means trust and vunerability. A cat arch its back when it is threatened by another animal. Although the cat is a relatively small animal, it can frighten enemies by arching its back, bristling, and hissing. Cats use about hundred different types of sounds for communication while dogs use only about ten different types of sounds for communication. Researchers have noted some sixteen vocal patterns in cats. The basic cat sounds are purring, meows and hisses. Cats can readily vary these sounds, thus seeming to talk.A cat meeting with another cat can emit more than fifty different sounds for communication which vary in tone from harsh to acute.The cat possesses a sweet sound, the Purr, which it uses to express joy, momentary well being and affection for its owner. It is a musical sound repeated at length when the cat is happy. Purring also occurs in cats that are injured and in pain. Cats can distinguish between shapes of letters of alphabet of language like human beings. Cats can distinguish between complex shapes such as circles, squares, triangles etc. Cats can also distinguish colours. Out of all animals, only cats have the skill of jumping from great heights by rolling their body in air, so that they tend to land on all four feet on the ground, without injuring themselves. Cats survive fall from great heights.A cat named Andy survived fall from 16th floor of a Miami apartment building. Cats have been the subjects in a number of studies involving weightlessness. The studies have shown that under conditions of weightlessness, a cat is unable to right itself, but will float about in any position. Cats seem to defy gravity. A cat can survive fall from height of hundreds of feet. After a fall, a cat always land on its feet on ground. A frightened domestic cat can run at speeds of upto thirty miles per hour. A cat can jump upto seven times its height. Cats are excellent climbers.A cat always hunt alone whereas dogs always hunt in groups because stalking, hiding and pouncing cannot be successful in a group. A kitten at six weeks of age can hunt alone.Cats have fourteen times more smelling power than human beings. Cats mark their territory with the help of scent glands by means of rubbing and scratching. All cats defend their territory and cats does not tolerate competition within its own territory. The territories of cats can be as large as hundred acres or more for rural cats and as small as a few feet for city cats. The territory of cats are the safe places for sleeping, eating, hunting, defecating and playing. Like human beings, cats are territorial by nature. Scent glands are located on various parts of cat's body including their faces, feet and base of their tail. Scent glands contain molecules called Pheromones. By means of rubbing their faces on various objects, cats are releasing Pheromones. Pheromones affect number of behaviours like reproduction and establishing territory. All cats scratch for whole life because scratching removes dead nail material from their claws and establishes their territory by marking with the scent glands at the bottom of their feet. Training a cat is very easy because cats are very intelligent animals. Cats can learn many activities by observation like human beings. The observation power of cats is greater than all domestic animals.Cats can learn dozens of activities. It is not necessary to train a cat to use litter box because mother cats train their kittens to use litter box. Cats can also be trained for using toilet. A kitten can learn to use toilet at the age of just three weeks. A cat of more than six months age can be easily trained to use toilet. Cats can be trained for walking and dancing with the help of two legs.The earliest written record of a cat dancing with a person dates back from 1692. Cats can be trained for various exercises like aerobics and Yoga.Cats are born meditators. Cats can draw paintings without training. In USA and New Zealand paintings drawn by cat artists are sold in exhibitions. The cats draw paintings since ancient Egyptian times. Some good looking paintings drawn by artist cats are sold for more than ten thousand dollars. A good looking painting drawn by a cat was sold for seventy five thousand dollars.Cats can be trained for playing Piano, violin and other musical instruments. Cats can be trained to walk on a leash. Cats learn many activities by observation. Cats of four to five months old are easiest to train. Cats can learn dozens of activities like handshaking with paw, begging, opening door, turning on lights, jumping through hoop, opening windows, opening refrigerators, playing musical instruments, eating food with the help of their paws, ringing bell, acting dead, rolling on floor on command, hide food in boxes and walking on a leash. Cats quickly learn tricks like fetching a toy or object, sitting on command, jumping through a hoop and walking on a rope. Cats can easily learn many tricks. The cat pays attention to those things that are related to its own interest. Sometimes cats also learn something on their own without observation or training like grabbing doorknobs to get out, hiding food in boxes, opening windows to get in and opening refrigerators to eat food. The cats has an innate sense of curiosity. It is aware of strange objects, contents of an open drawer and objects in motion. The cat or kitten, more than any other animal, is full of trepidations. The cat or kitten first puts a paw toward a new thing, touches it timidly, then proceeds more decisively, and only after that smells it, but the dog or puppy, curious to know the world, smells everything that comes its way. During World War I, cats were sent by the British army to sea to test submarines and some cats were sent to trenches to warn about gas attacks. Cats have the ability to use biological clock, earth's magnetic field and angle of sun. Out of all other mammals only cats have homing instinct. Cats can return back to their owners home from thousands of kilometers away without any help because of its sharp memory. Cats love their owner's home. A cat of USA returned back alone from New York to its owner's new home in California after walking a distance of two thousand three hundred miles without any help. A cat of USA named Sugar returned back alone from California to its owner home in Oklahoma after walking a distance of two thousand and four hundred kilometers without any help. Cats like to play games like chasing light, hide and seek and many ball games. Cats enjoy playing with toys and watching television. Many video cassettes specially designed for cats are now available in the market. The cat toys include action toys, toy mouse, soft toys, Ping-Pong balls, catnip toys, race n'chase, feather toys, kitten mitten and balls. Cats are strongly attached to catnip.The catnip is used in making many cat toys.Cats have also been employed in many glamorous jobs. Bob, the weather cat is regular on a television station in Oregon wore sunglasses on bright days and earmuffs and a scarf when the weather turned chilly. Cats can return back to their owners home from thousands of kilometers away without any help because of its sharp memory. Cats love their owner's home. A cat of USA returned back alone from New York to its owner's new home in California after walking a distance of two thousand three hundred miles without any help. A cat of USA named Sugar returned back alone from California to its owner home in Oklahoma after walking a distance of two thousand and four hundred kilometers without any help. Cats like to play games like chasing light, hide and seek and many ball games. Cats enjoy playing with toys and watching television. Many video cassettes specially designed for cats are now available in the market. The cat toys include action toys, toy mouse, soft toys, Ping-Pong balls, catnip toys, race n'chase, feather toys, kitten mitten and balls. Cats are strongly attached to catnip.The catnip is used in making many cat toys.Cats have also been employed in many glamorous jobs. Bob, the weather cat is regular on a television station in Oregon wore sunglasses on bright days and earmuffs and a scarf when the weather turned chilly. The amount of love that a mother cat provides to her kittens is highest as compared to all other animals. The stray female cat is excellent mother. Cat understands when the moment of giving birth is near. When the time of giving birth is near, the female cat begins to appear agitated and meows in a strange way, sweet and musical, a kind of request for help and response to what is approaching. The female cats try to give birth in a corner where she can eventually defend herself and newborn kittens from dogs and other animals. After giving birth the mother cat will immediately free each kitten from the sac, lick it, clean it and gently dry it. After giving birth, the female cat transfer her litter from one hiding place to another in order to protect it from dogs and other animals. The mother cat clean and feed the newborn kittens. The mother cat teach its kittens to play, to hunt, to climb, to clean and to use toilet. When living outdoors, the cat learns to protect itself from the cold and rain by taking refuge in a doorway basement or in abandoned box. When the end of life of cat is near, cat try to find a secluded spot in which to die with dignity, either under a bush, in the trunk of a tree or a crumbled hut so as not to disturb or be disturbed in the moment of the most quiet sleep. Many cats are now working in movies. Morris was the famous cat who worked on television.Toonces, a male cat was so much intelligent that he was able to actually drive car, truck and tractor. Toonces liked to ride bicycle. Toonces was also able to communicate in English by means of typing. Toonces worked in 1988 in NBC's Saturday Night Live in which he actually drove cars. Toonces was one of the most talented cats on television. Toonces worked at Saturday night live with many familiar celebrities. A cat named Pepper was a motion picture cat who starred next to the comedian Charlie Chaplin. Britain's best known television cat was Arthur. Arthur starred in more than three hundred television commercials between 1966 and 1975. Thomas Alva Edison Inc. manufacturing company of scientist Thomas Alva Edison earliest movies showed two cats fighting boxing in a ring. Many cats are now working in movies. |
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