Felidae Pronunciation

I speak the words "felidae" and "carnivora" in this short video to show the pronunciation of these words. These are scientific words that are part of the subject of taxonomy. Taxonomy is concerned the classification of things including the scientific classification of the species of the world, both animal and plant. It is still a developing science as genetic profiling has refined the process of species classification. Early on, species were classified on appearance, anatomy, geographical range and behavior, things that could be seen with the naked eye. DNA testing digs deeper. In general, modern science (2011) has resulted in a reduction in the species and subspecies of wildcat.


Pronouncing "Felidae" and "Carnivora" from Michael Broad on Vimeo.

Do cats learn from other cats?

Mum taught me - Photo by yajico

Yes, cats are "excellent observational learners". They can learn by watching another cat do something and they do this quite quickly. Kittens learn fastest when they watch their mother. This form of learning usually applies to learning hunting skills. The mother starts by bring dead prey back to the nest (den) and then live prey when the kittens are about four weeks of age. Thereafter the kittens might accompany their mother hunting and learn from that experience. If a kitten's mother is present when her kittens are being introduced and socialized to people, they learn more quickly. Kittens also learn social skills from observation. (1)

As humans are surrogate mothers, cats learn from us sometimes. An examples is opening doors. There are many examples of cats opening doors by depressing a door handle having jumped up to it. I remember a video of a cat watching TV. The program showed a boxing match. The cat was waving his arms around as if boxing. Individual cats might learn from watching TV.

Observational learning of social skills is important in groups as communication between cats is important for the well being and survival of the group. Cats learning from other cats is an efficient way to problem solve.

Cats who live together often teach each other certain forms of behavior. A typical example in a household is a new cat learning how to use the cat flap (door) by watching an existing cat use it. My older cat has taught my younger boy cat that the garden is safe to visit and certain parts are good places to rest and watch.

Although mother cat provides the main source of learning, other relatives and particularly fathers play a role. In colonies of ferals cats and multicat households learning social skills from parents and indeed other cats is important for the harmony of the colony.

Some commentators say that learning by watching is not so much about copying mother doing something but more about acting "as a stimulus for the cat to focus attention on the problems..." (2)

See: Cat Training Fundamentals | Cat Clicker Training

Notes:

(1) The Welfare of Cats by Irene Rochlitz - ISBN-13: 978-1402061431

(2) The Cat It's Behavior, Nutrition & Health - ISBN 978-0-8138-0331-9

White Persian Cat

Cristalline is a very beautiful white Persian cat. She is a traditional Persian and she has pale orange eyes.

Cristalline - White Persian Cat - Photo copyright Dani Rozeboom - http://www.worldofdani.com/

This is a great photograph. There are many more photographs of equal quality on Dani's gallery of photographs on her website.

Cristalline is an all white cat. See cat coats white for more on white cats.

Are kittens born blind?

Cristalline - Photo © Dani Rozeboom

All kittens are born with their eyes closed. Therefore kittens are born blind, effectively.

The eyes begin to open at 8 days. The eyes are completely open at 14 days.

The eyes of cats with shorthair open sooner than those with longhair.

All cats are born with blue eyes, which lasts until three weeks of age.

The color that the cat will have as an adult is fully formed at around 12 weeks of age (1).

Note: (1) Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook - Pediatrics - ISBN 978-0-470-09530-0

Are cats left pawed?

Left-handed cat - Photo by pepleo

38.3% of cats are left-handed. 20% are right-handed and 41.7% are ambidextrous. This is the conclusion of a study of 60 cats, entitled "Paw preference in cats related to hand preference in animals and men". Cole, J. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, Vol 48(2), Apr 1955, 137-140.

The reason is put down to "innate anatomical structure" - not sure what that means other than it just happens.

The findings are interesting. Let's not forget that this is a small sample and one study. However, my personal first hand experiences of living with cats is that my old lady cat appears to use both forelimbs equally but favors her left forelimb. This supports the findings.

My three legged boy has lost his right forelimb so he's gotta be left-handed! The Japanese bobtail "Maneki Neko" is left-handed (see below). This is correct based on the research.

Why are cats more likely to be left-handed or ambidextrous than people? Apparently 90%  of people are right-handed. The answer must lie in the wild cat, the wild ancestor of the domestic cat and for us it lies in the primates, our wild ancestors. My guess is that there is a need in cats to have near equality of dexterity of both forelimbs in hunting, climbing and chasing, whereas for humans, in using tools, one hand suffices. Also by favoring one hand it becomes more practiced and dexterous.

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The photo of the Japanese bobtail by Helmi Flick is protected by copyright ©. Violations of copyright are reported to Google.com (DMCA).