Cats and dogs are probably the animals we come into contact with the most, and we all have a certain understanding of their habits. We know that dogs are often quiet when mating, but cats are different, and their mating often makes a heart-rending sound, so the question is, why do cats make such a terrible sound?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > the reproductive strategy of cats</h1>
Cats are members of the feline family, and we have the impression that most felines will pursue polygamy, but in fact, cats implement polygamous reproductive strategies.
The reason why male cats adopt a strategy of multi-mating is easy to understand, because male cats do not need to expend any energy in addition to sperm when breeding offspring. The energy consumed by the production of sperm is low, so even if there is more mating, it is not difficult for males, but it can increase the number of their cubs, so that even if some cubs do not survive for some reasons, there are still some individuals who can pass on their genes.
The situation of female cats is just the opposite of that of male cats, which only produce a limited number of egg cells at a time, which means that even if they mate with multiple males, they can only produce a limited number of offspring, and will not increase the number of offspring.
In addition, the mother cat pays a higher amount of energy in the process of breeding offspring, they not only have to bear the pain of pregnancy, but also the cubs have almost no viability when they are born, and they need the mother cat to provide food and vigilance services. It can be seen that the energy consumed by the female cat when reproducing is very high.
Because many females are like female cats, when reproducing offspring, the energy paid is very high, so most of them will carefully choose mating objects, such as: female peacocks will only mate with gorgeous males with gorgeous feathers, and males with dull feathers are difficult to get the favor of the opposite sex, so their genes are difficult to pass on, and over time they are eliminated by natural selection, and because of this, today's male peacock tails are very gorgeous, and female feathers are simple and unpretentious.
The female deer will pay special attention to the male antlers, of which the individual with the larger antlers can get the favor of the opposite sex, so the individuals with larger antlers are more likely to pass on their genes, so today's male deer almost all have antlers, and it is difficult for the male deer without antlers to pass on their genes.
That is to say, due to the sexual selection of females, there is a "sexual dimorphism" in some species, that is, between male and female sexes, in addition to reproductive organs, there are also characteristics that can distinguish sex at a glance.
The cat, on the other hand, is difficult to distinguish its gender from its appearance, mainly because the cat adopts polygamy. Because the energy consumed by the mother cat to reproduce is very large, in order to improve the survival rate of the cubs, they will try to diversify the genes of the kittens in the same litter as much as possible, so that even if some individuals cannot adapt to the environment, some individuals can still survive.
There have been scientists who, in a litter of 5 kittens, found 4 different fathers, which means that the female cat has dated at least 4 members of the opposite sex.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > cat howls? </h1>
Since cats adopt a polygamous strategy, both females and males will attract the attention of the opposite sex as much as possible during the estrus period.
Among them, the strategy adopted by the male is to pee, using the smell to attract the attention of the opposite sex, while the strategy adopted by the female cat is howling, which is why we often hear the sound of the cat howling at night.
Under normal circumstances, after the female cat howls, it will attract the surrounding males to come, and after they come, they will fight for the female's mating rights, and then the victorious party will get the female's mating rights.
During mating, the female cat is actually very painful, because the male cat has keratin synapses on the genitals, which can make the female cat unusually painful. However, the synapse has two benefits, one is that it can take out the sperm left by the previous male cat in the mother cat, and the other is that it stimulates the brain of the female cat to promote egg cell maturation.
It turns out that the female cat did not ovulate when she was in heat, and it needed a certain amount of stimulation to ovulate. It's just that because mating is very painful, the female cat will turn her head and attack the male after mating, which is why we will hear the sound of fighting again after hearing mating at night.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > summary</h1>
Different creatures face different survival pressures and evolve different survival strategies. Among them, the howling of the cat during estrus is to attract companions, while the howl during mating is due to pain.