femmephobe:

prokopetz:

That thing about how cats think humans are big kittens is a myth, y’know.

It’s basically born of false assumptions; folks were trying to explain how a naturally solitary animal could form such complex social bonds with humans, and the explanation they settled on is “it’s a displaced parent/child bond”.

The trouble is, cats aren’t naturally solitary. We just assumed they were based on observations of European wildcats - but housecats aren’t descended from European wildcats. They’re descended from African wildcats, which are known to hunt in bonded pairs and family groupings, and that social tendency is even stronger in their domesticated relatives. The natural social unit of the housecat is a colony: a loose affiliation of cats centred around a shared territory held by alliance of dominant females, who raise all of the colony’s kittens communally.

It’s often remarked that dogs understand that humans are different, while cats just think humans are big, clumsy cats, and that’s totally true - but they regard us as adult colonymates, not as kittens, and all of their social behaviour toward us makes a lot more sense through that lens.

The like to cuddle because communal grooming is how cats bond with colonymates - it establishes a shared scent-identity for the colony and helps clean spots that they can’t easily reach on their own.

They bring us dead animals because cats transport surplus kills back to the colony’s shared territory for consumption by pregnant, nursing, or sick colonymates who can’t easily hunt on their own. Indeed, that’s why they kill so much more than they individually need - it’s not for fun, but to generate enough surplus kills to sustain the colony’s non-hunting members.

They’re okay with us messing with their kittens because communal parenting is the norm in a colony setting, and us being colonymates in their minds automatically makes us co-parents.

It’s even why many cats are so much more tolerant toward very small children, as long as those children are related to one of their regular humans: they can tell the difference between human adults and human “kittens”, and your kittens are their kittens.

Basically, you’re going to have a much easier time getting a handle on why your cat does why your cat does if you remember that the natural mode of social organisation for cats is not as isolated solitary hunters, but as a big communal catpile - and for that purpose, you count as a cat.

;w;

2 years ago / 173034 
#cat  #oooooh its so cool 
via: vava-chan-take-over-the-world
src: prokopetz
  1. ms-maria-reynolds reblogged this from thevicepope
  2. galactic-martini reblogged this from imagineyimagines
  3. babybluestocking reblogged this from imagineyimagines
  4. imagineyimagines reblogged this from pocket-sized-angel
  5. goodnighthelana reblogged this from pocket-sized-angel
  6. pocket-sized-angel reblogged this from littleaceylala
  7. danaescrazybitch reblogged this from belendigievolutionandhermuses
  8. amanda-enigma-references reblogged this from twinkile
  9. freeformtarsier reblogged this from clotpolesonly
  10. antipelargy reblogged this from prokopetz
  11. thenextromana reblogged this from fayanora
  12. evanescing-lights reblogged this from safyreburning
  13. ashitaka reblogged this from howtoimpersonateanadult
  14. eximperial reblogged this from powerpandaloveseverything
  15. ianswers reblogged this from iamfuckingtrash and added:
    (via Gridllr)
  16. charlieinco reblogged this from in-the-small-things-again
  17. daves-apple-juice reblogged this from localspacedefender
  18. ursaerythraeus reblogged this from calikocat
  19. tmntmoonkitty reblogged this from ivy-basley-ushi
  20. psychobabble-wiki reblogged this from zwischenstadt
  21. dragongirl642 reblogged this from corralfur
  22. thenoblesteed9 reblogged this from eepepsi
  23. eepepsi reblogged this from ggeorgiane
  24. ggeorgiane reblogged this from lapras-lassie
  25. prokopetz posted this
(c)