Source: Tadpole staves
Author: Tadpole Jun
Full text links:
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Excerpts:
Professor Kuo Zing Yang, an experimental psychologist, has conducted a 10-year study on this issue.
The results show that kittens raised by cat mothers mostly live in the harsh outdoor environment, and hunting is an essential skill for survival, so kittens will learn to hunt and catch food with their mothers from an early age.
Cats catch mice
Kittens, who were raised by humans from childhood, have a good living environment, sufficient food, and have not received hunting education. Even if the mother cat can hunt, if the kitten is not deliberately taught to hunt the mouse, the kitten will not regard the mouse as a "mortal enemy".
As for why we often see cats chasing mice, and even many funny cat sticks are made into the shape of mice, it may be related to the cat's instinct to chase moving objects.
You know, cats are very sensitive to moving objects, any moving object will arouse their interest, and mice often appear as such "moving objects", cats will naturally rush to pounce on it.
Tease the cat
In fact, even if it is not a mouse, the cat will have the instinct to "chase". From this point of view, the act of "grasping" is pure instinct. But from another point of view: if cats classify mice as food that can be fed, purposefully catch mice, and even use various hunting skills, just like Tom catch Jerry, then this is a common acquired behavior.
The results of the behaviorist study also confirm the above statement: if the cat grows up with the mouse at the age of 2-7 weeks, it will not kill the same kind of mouse in adulthood, and will even think that the mouse is the same as itself. If Tom had lived with Jerry since childhood, there would be no such thing as "scratching".
Further reading:
Why are dogs more humane than cats and more affectionate to human owners? 》
Excerpt:
So why do dogs have deeper, more human feelings, or more humanity, than cats do for humans? From a scientific point of view, it is related to a substance called oxytocin.
Cute kittens
Oxytocin, which is a mammalian secretion, is a hormone in the body. It is well known that when mammals (including humans) face childbirth, oxytocin is naturally secreted, and this hormone can promote the contraction of uterine tissue, speed up and assist in childbirth. Researchers also found that oxytocin is also produced between men and women in love. If they have a little more oxytocin, their feelings are deeper and more secure, and they will not break up easily. When the amount of oxytocin drops, their feelings gradually become indifferent. And these are actually a function that mammals have evolved.
oxytocin
The researchers drew some conclusions by comparing the levels of oxytocin that rose after cats and dogs played with humans.
Studies have shown that after playing with human owners, the amount of oxytocin in cats' bodies increased by 12% compared to before playing. After dogs play with human owners, the amount of oxytocin in their bodies far exceeds the level of cats, and they increase by 57% compared with before playing.
That is, dogs have several times higher oxytocin than cats.
In general, only when parents and children are accompanied by each other day and night, or between husband and wife, oxytocin will rise by more than 50%.
"Pinch the back of the cat's neck, it will become obedient, what if you pinch the tiger?" 》
Why do some cats and other pets, which were originally in a playful state, immediately become obedient once they are pinched by their owners to the back of their neck meat? This response is thought to be a conditioned reflex, which has a term for it called "pinch-induced behavioral inhibition."
First, let's look at the word "pinching" in the act, which causes pets to behave differently, that is, they usually become quiet, as if they are suppressed by some force. In fact, not only cats, but also mice, will also have this kind of "pinch-induced behavior inhibition". Some biologists anesthetized the necks of mice and then pinched the back of their necks to lift it, and found that these small animals had almost no "pinch-induced behavioral inhibition" phenomenon. Once the effects of anesthesia have passed, pinching the flesh of their necks again, they will immediately become quiet, motionless at the mercy of others.
The reason why cats have "pinch-induced behavioral inhibition" is because their environment in infancy causes this reaction, which is a conditioned reflex. Most of the animals that use the back of the neck of the cub to carry it, the cub basically has this conditioned behavior during the growth period. Humans who don't have to hold or pinch the back of the baby's neck meat to carry it, babies will not have this behavior inhibition of stopping crying as soon as the back neck meat is pinched.
The mother cat carries the kitten cubs
However, human babies have another expression of behavioral inhibition, that is, they like to be held by adults. Mothers see children crying, they go to hold them, at this time the baby is held because in the placenta is accustomed to the mother's heartbeat, plus some babies are more familiar with the unique smell of the mother's body, they think that they now have the mother's thoughtful attention, so they have a sense of security of being protected and cared for, so as to stop crying behavior. This is also an acquired behavioral inhibition.
"Enlarge the cat 10 times, and fight with the tiger who can win?" 》
Zoologists have studied the case, like some small carnivores, assuming they weigh less than 20 kilograms, they generally prey on animals smaller than their own size for food; and those carnivores that weigh more than 20 kilograms like to hunt animals that are much larger than their own size. So cats weigh far less than 20 kilograms, so they're good for catching smaller mice, and tigers often hunt larger bison or even brown bears.
"I oppose legislation for cats and dogs, legislation for animals is never a reflection of a country's level of civilization"
For example, netizens "a layer of autumn rain and a layer of cool" message said:
Mahatma gan said, "A country's attitude toward animals determines the moral height of this country." Every life is worthy of awe, and the establishment of companion animal protection laws is a manifestation of the progress of civilization.
I firmly oppose this netizen's message. The so-called Mahatma Gandhi, which is only suitable for living in the strange soil of the South Asian subcontinent, historically opposed science, opposed all industrialization, opposed the modernization of national defense, opposed the study of foreign languages, and was an out-and-out ideological conservative. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Gandhi also advised our Government to renounce resistance to the aggressors. For such a "mahatma", I can only think that his "morality" must be different. As for his statement that "a country's attitude toward animals determines the moral height of this country", there is no fact or logic to speak of. It can only be considered Gandhi's self-talk.