Catwatching Read online

  Annotation

  Desmond Morris is a professional zoologist and studied animal behaviour with the famous Dutch ethologist Niko Tinbergen at Oxford University.

  He then moved on to become Curator of Mammals at London Zoo, where he established his own behaviour research group. Although for the past twenty years he has in his books (from The Naked Ape to Bodywatching) concentrated on the human species, his professional eye has constantly been focused on animals and their fascinating behaviour. The most recent fruits of this interest are the bestselling Catwatching ('No cat lover should be without it." – Doris Lessing, New Scientist) where he answers the following questions and many more:

  Why does a cat purr?

  Why does a cat like being stroked?

  Why does a cat tear at the fabric of your favourite chair?

  Why does a cat roll over to lie on its back when it sees you?

  Why does a cat rub up against your leg when it greets you?

  Why do some cats hop up on their hind legs when greeting you?

  Published by Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1986 This disk version of 'Catwatching' has a hard page break before each new question. Your computer's search facility should enable you to find the title of a question.

  * * *

  Desmond MorrisContents

  Introduction

  Why does a cat purr?

  Why does a cat like being stroked?

  Why does a cat tear at the fabric of your favourite chair?

  Why does a cat roll over to lie on its back when it sees you?

  Why does a cat rub up against your leg when it greets you?

  Why do some cats hop up on their hind legs when greeting you?

  Why does a cat trample on your lap with its front paws?

  Why does a cat bury its faeces?

  Why does a cat spend so much time grooming its fur?

  Why does a cat wag its tail?

  Why does a tomcat spray urine on the garden wall?

  How large is a cat's territory?

  How sociable are cats?

  Why do cats keep crying to be let out and then cry to be let in again?

  What does a cat signal with its ears?

  How do cats fight?

  Why does a cat arch its back when it sees a strange dog?

  Why does a cat hiss?

  Why does a cat wag its tail when it is hunting a bird on a lawn?

  Why does a cat chatter its teeth when it sees a bird through the window?

  Why does a cat sway its head from side to side when staring at its prey?

  Why does a cat sometimes play with its prey before killing it?

  How does a cat prepare its food?

  How efficient is the cat as a pest-killer?

  Why do cats present freshly caught prey to their human owners?

  Why do cats eat grass?

  How does a cat use its whiskers?

  Why do cats' eyes glow in the dark?

  Why do cats' eyes contract to a vertical slit?

  Can cats see colours?

  How does a female cat deal with her new-born kittens?

  How do kittens avoid squabbling when feeding from the mother?

  At what rate do kittens develop?

  Why does a cat move its kittens to a new nest?

  How do kittens learn to kill?

  Why does a kitten sometimes throw a toy into the air when Playing?

  When do cats become sexually mature?

  How fast do cats breed?

  How do cats perform their courtship?

  Why does the tom grab the female by the scruff of the neck when mating?

  Why does the female scream during the mating act?

  Why do cats sneer?

  How does a cat manage to fall on its feet?

  How do cats behave when they become elderly?

  Why does a cat lick its face when it is not dirty?

  Why do cats react so strongly to catnip?

  How does a cat find its way home?

  Can cats predict earthquakes?

  Why do we talk about catnaps?

  Why are cat-owners healthier than other people?

  Why is a female cat called a queen?

  Why is a male cat called a tom?

  Why is a brothel called a cathouse?

  Why do we say 'he let the cat out of the bag'?

  Why do we speak of not having a 'cat-in-hell's' chance?

  Why do we speak of someone 'having kittens'?

  Why does a cat have nine lives?

  Why do we say 'there is no room to swing a cat'?

  Why do we say 'it is raining cats and dogs'?

  * * *

  Desmond Morris

  Catwatching

  Contents

  Introduction

  Why does a cat purr?

  Why does a cat like being stroked?

  Why does a cat tear at the fabric of your favourite chair?

  Why does a cat roll over to lie on its back when it sees you?

  Why does a cat rub up against your leg when it greets you?

  Why do some cats hop up on their hind legs when greeting you?

  Why does a cat trample on your lap with its front paws?

  Why does a cat bury its faeces?

  Why does a cat spend so much time grooming its fur?

  Why does a cat wag its tail?

  Why does a tomcat spray urine on the garden wall?

  How large is a cat's territory?

  How sociable are cats?

  Why do cats keep crying to be let out and then cry to be let in again?

  What does a cat signal with its ears?

  How do cats fight?

  Why does a cat arch its back when it sees a strange dog?

  Why does a cat hiss?

  Why does a cat wag its tail when it is hunting a bird on a lawn?

  Why does a cat chatter its teeth when it sees a bird through the window?

  Why does a cat sway its head from side to side when staring at its prey?

  Why does a cat sometimes play with its prey before killing it?

  How does a cat prepare its food?

  How efficient is the cat as a pest-killer?

  Why do cats present freshly caught prey to their human owners?

  Why do cats eat grass?

  How does a cat use its whiskers?

  Why do cats' eyes glow in the dark?

  Why do cats' eyes contract to a vertical slit?

  Can cats see colours?

  How does a female cat deal with her new-born kittens?

  How do kittens avoid squabbling when feeding from the mother?

  At what rate do kittens develop?

  Why does a cat move its kittens to a new nest?

  How do kittens learn to kill?

  Why does a kitten sometimes throw a toy into the air when playing?

  When do cats become sexually mature?

  How fast do cats breed?

  How do cats perform their courtship?

  Why does the tom grab the female by the scruff of the neck when mating?

  Why does the female scream during the mating act?

  Why do cats sneer?

  How does a cat manage to fall on its feet?

  How do cats behave when they become elderly?

  Why does a cat lick its face when it is not dirty?

  Why do cats react so strongly to catnip?

  How does a cat find its way home?

  Can cats predict earthquakes?

  Why do we talk about catnaps?

  Why are cat-owners healthier than other people?

  Why is a female cat called a queen?

  Why is a male cat called a tom?

  Why is a brothel called a cathouse?

  Why do we say 'he let the cat out of the bag'?

  Why do we spe
ak of not having a 'cat-in-hell's' chance?

  Why do we speak of someone 'having kittens'?

  Why does a cat have nine lives?

  Why do we say 'there is no room to swing a cat'?

  Why do we say 'it is raining cats and dogs'?

  Introduction

  The domestic cat is a contradiction. No animal has developed such an intimate relationship with mankind, while at the same time demanding and getting such independence of movement and action. The dog may be man's best friend, but it is rarely allowed out on its own to wander from garden to garden or street to street. The obedient dog has to be taken for a walk. The headstrong cat walks alone.

  The cat leads a double life. In the home it is an overgrown kitten gazing up at its human owners. Out on the tiles it is fully adult, its own boss, a free-living wild creature, alert and self-sufficient, its human protectors for the moment completely out of mind. This switch from tame pet to wild animal and then back again is fascinating to watch. Any cat-owner who has accidentally come across their pet cat out-of-doors, when it is deeply involved in some feline soap opera of sex and violence, will know what I mean. One instant the animal is totally wrapped up in an intense drama of courtship or status. Then out of the corner of its eye it spots its human owner watching the proceedings.

  There is a schizoid moment of double involvement, a hesitation, and the animal runs across, rubs against its owner's leg and becomes the housekitten once more.

  The cat manages to remain a tame animal because of the sequence of its upbringing. By living both with other cats (its mother and litter-mates) and with humans (the family that has adopted it) during its infancy and kittenhood, it becomes attached to both and considers that it belongs to both species. It is like a child that grows up in a foreign country and as a consequence becomes bilingual. The cat becomes bi-mental. It may be a cat physically, but mentally it is both feline and human. Once it is fully adult, however, most of its responses are feline ones and it has only one major reaction to its human owners. It treats them as pseudoparents. This is because they took over from the real mother at a sensitive stage of the kitten's development and went on giving it milk, solid food and comfort as it grew up.

  This is rather different from the kind of bond that develops between man and dog. The dog does see its human owners as pseudo-parents, like the cat. On that score the process of attachment is similar. But the dog has an additional link. Canine society is group-organized, feline society is not. Dogs live in packs with tightly controlled status relationships between the individuals. There are top dogs, middle dogs and bottom dogs, and under natural circumstances they move around together, keeping tabs on one another the whole time. So the adult pet dog sees its human family both as pseudo-parents and as the dominant members of its pack.

  Hence its renowned reputation for obedience and its celebrated capacity for loyalty. Cats do have a complex social organization, but they never hunt in packs. In the wild most of their day is spent in solitary stalking. Going for a walk with a human therefore has no appeal for them. And as for 'coming to heel' and learning to 'sit' and 'stay', they are simply not interested. Such manoeuvres have no meaning for them.

  So the moment a cat manages to persuade a human being to open a door (that most hated of human inventions), it is off and away without a backward glance. As it crosses the threshold the cat becomes transformed. The kitten-of-man brain is switched off and the wild-cat brain is clicked on. The dog, in such a situation, may look back to see if its human pack-mate is following to join in the fun of exploring, but not the cat. The cat's mind has floated off into another, totally feline world, where strange bipedal apes have no place.

  Because of this difference between domestic cats and domestic dogs, catlovers tend to be rather different from dog-lovers. As a rule they have a stronger personality-bias towards independent thought and action.

  Artists like cats; soldiers like dogs. The much-lauded 'group loyalty' phenomenon is alien to both cats and cat-lovers. If you are a company man, a member of the gang, one of the lads, or picked for the squad, the chances are that at home there is no cat curled up in front of the fire.

  The ambitious Yuppie, the aspiring politician, the professional footballer, these are not typical cat-owners. It is difficult to picture a rugger-player with a cat in his lap – much easier to envisage him taking his dog for a walk.

  Those who have studied cat-owners and dog-owners as two distinct groups report that there is also a gender-bias. Cat-lovers show a greater tendency to be female. This is not surprising in view of the division of labour that developed during human evolution. Prehistoric males became specialized as group hunters, while the females concentrated on foodgathering and child-rearing. This difference led to a human male 'pack mentality' that is far less marked in females. Wolves, the wild ancestors of domestic dogs, also became pack-hunters, so the modern dog has much more in common with the human male than the human female. An anti-female commentator could refer to women and cats as lacking in team-spirit; an anti-male one to men and dogs as gangsters.

  The argument will always go on – feline self-sufficiency and individualism versus canine camaraderie and good-fellowship. But it is important to stress that in making a valid point I have caricatured the two positions. In reality there are many people who enjoy equally the company of both cats and dogs. And all of us, or nearly all of us, have both feline and canine elements in our personalities. We have moods when we want to be alone and thoughtful, and other times when we wish to be in the centre of a crowded, noisy room.

  Both the cat and the dog are animals with which we humans have entered into a solemn contract. We made an unwritten, unspoken pact with their wild ancestors, offering food and drink and protection in exchange for the performance of certain duties. For dogs, the duties were complex, involving a whole range of hunting tasks, as well as guarding property, defending their owners against attack, destroying vermin, and acting as beasts of burden pulling our carts and sledges. In modern times an even greater range of duties has been given to the patient, long-suffering canine, including such diverse activities as guiding the blind, trapping criminals and running races.

  For cats, the terms of the ancient contract were much simpler and have always remained so. There was just one primary task and one secondary one. They were required to act firstly as pest-controllers and then, in addition, as household pets. Because they are solitary hunters of small prey they were of little use to human huntsmen in the field.

  Because they do not live in tightly organized social groups depending on mutual aid to survive, they do not raise the alarm in response to intruders in the home, so they were little use as guardians of property, or as defenders of their owners. Because of their small size they could offer no assistance whatever as beasts of burden. In modern times, apart from sharing the honours with dogs as the ideal house-pets, and occasionally sharing the acting honours in films and plays, cats have failed to diversify their usefulness to mankind.

  Despite this narrower involvement in human affairs, the cat has managed to retain its grip on human affections. There are almost as many cats as dogs in the British Isles, according to recent estimates: about five million cats to six million dogs. In the United States the ratio is slightly less favourable to felines: about twenty-three million cats to forty million dogs. Even so, this is a huge population of domestic cats and, if anything, it is probably an underestimate. Although there are still a few mousers and ratters about, performing their ancient duties as vermin destroyers, the vast majority of all domestic cats today are family pets or feral survivors. Of the family pets, some are pampered pedigrees but most are moggies of mixed ancestry. The proportion of pedigree cats to moggies is probably lower than that for pedigree dogs to mongrels. Although cat shows are just as fiercely contested as dog shows, there are fewer of them, just as there are fewer breeds of show cats. Without the wide spectrum of ancient functions to fulfil, there was far less breed specialization in the early days. Indeed, there w
as hardly any. All breeds of cat are good mousers and ratters, and no more was required of them. So any modifications in coat length, colour or pattern, or in body proportions, had to arise purely on the basis of local preferences and owners' whims. This has led to some strikingly beautiful pedigree cat breeds, but not to the amazing range of dramatically different types found among dogs. There is no cat equivalent of the Great Dane or the Chihuahua, the St Bernard or the Dachshund. There is a good deal of variation in fur type and colour, but very little in body shape and size. A really large cat weighs in at around eighteen pounds; the smallest at about three pounds. This means that, even when considering almost freakish feline extremes, big domestic cats are only six times as heavy as small ones, compared with the situation among dogs, where a St Bernard can weigh 300 times as much as a little Yorkshire Terrier.

  In other words, the weight variation of dogs is fifty times as great as in cats.

  Turning to abandoned cats and those that have gone wild through choice the feral population – one also notices a considerable difference.

  Stray dogs form self-supporting packs and start to breed and fend for themselves without human aid in less civilized regions, but such groups have become almost non-existent in urban and suburban areas. Indeed, in modern, crowded European countries they hardly exist anywhere. Even the rural districts cannot support them. Ifa feral pack forms, it is soon hunted down by the farming community to prevent attacks on their stock.

  Feral cat colonies are another matter. Every major city has a thriving population of them. Attempts to eradicate them usually fail because there are always new strays to add to the pool. And the need to destroy them is not felt to be so great, because they can often survive by continuing their age-old function of pest control. Where human intervention has eliminated the rat and mouse population by poisoning, however, the feral cats must live on their wits, scavenging from dustbins and begging from soft-hearted humans. Many of these back-alley cats are pathetic creatures on the borderline of survival.

  Their resilience is amazing and a testimony to the fact that, despite millennia of domestication, the feline brain and body are still remarkably close to the wild condition.