This week I wanted to look into whether cats are self aware. First off, what does it mean to be self aware? According to biologyinsights.com, self awareness is the ability of an organism to perceive itself as an individual entity. They say that beyond just being conscious, or aware of external stimuli, this means that you are aware that your body is seperate and under your control, which is bodily self awareness. Going deeper, there is more complex self awareness which means you can think about your own thoughts. A common test used by scientists to investigate self awareness in animals is called the mirror self-recognition (or MSR) test. This is also sometimes called the mark test or red dot...
A little while ago I was looking into the saying that cats have 9 lives, and saw that one of the reasons for that saying is that cats have a remarkable ability to land on their feet and survive falls from great heights. But, do cats ALWAYS land on their feet? And how do cats land on their feet? Do cats always land on their feet? Cats have remarkable agility and instincts to right themselves when falling, but no, they aren't always able to land on their feet. According to diamondpet.com, the height of the fall comes into play. They cite a study from the July–August 1998 issue of Annals of Improbable Research where an Italian researcher tried to figure out how...
I thought it would be fun to look into cat expressions, like "Cat got your tongue?", and so this week I decided to look into the phrase "kitty corner". (Also a name I had in mind for if I ever opened a brick and mortar store... of course it would be on a corner!) What is the meaning of kitty corner? First off, I wanted to define kitty corner. It means a position diagonally across from something and is usually used when describing a location or giving directions. For example, you might say the drug store is kitty corner from the gas station. The drug store is not directly across the street, but on the corner diagonally across from the...
I'm sure you have heard the saying that cats have 9 lives, but do cats actually have 9 lives? Let's look more into this popular saying! Why do they say cats have nine lives? According to cattitudedaily.com, there is an old English proverb that says "A cat has nine lives. For three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays." Petsradar.com says one possible origin of the saying is from English ships when cats would survive falling overboard and climb back onto the ship, causing sailors to think they had come back to life. But, some say the saying goes back much further than that - all the way back to ancient Egypt! TheGuardian.com says that...
There is a famous quote by Christopher Hitchens that goes: “Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.” Last week, I looked at some attributes of cats that are dog-like. This week, with that quote in mind, I thought it might be fun to look at some attributes of cats that are God-like. After all, cats have been held in high esteem and even worshipped since the days of ancient Egypt, and even before! ...
