On paper, a cat's physical abilities and senses absolutely blow us, humans, out of the water. They need just one-sixth of the light we need to see in the dark and can blink without really affecting their vision due to a specific feature called a nictitating membrane, which might be worth remembering, it could come up during a trivia contest at any point.
Setting aside sight, cats can hear a wide range of sounds, more than humans or even dogs. They need to be able to hear ultrasonic sounds as rodents use them to communicate. Domestic cats, particularly house cats, can create mental images of where their owners are just based on sound alone, hence why it can be hard to sneak up on them.
There are certain myths people maintain about cats. The first is that they are solitary animals. While they do enjoy personal space and alone time, many variants of cats are quite social, most famously, lions, who live in packs. Cats will live in colonies, although they tend to be organized around females and their children. This part is vital to kittens learning, as they tend to figure out hunting and survival from watching their mothers.
The other counterpoint to “cats are loners” is the fact that many of them happily live with us. While they are rarely as active and social as dogs, cats do enjoy people. Similar to hunting, kittens will learn to be ok with being pet and “talked to” by seeing their mother do the same. While cat colonies are not nearly as “established” as a lion’s pride, there are certain roles the animals will take. Male cats, while somewhat absent as fathers, will break up fights among bickering females.
There is evidence to suggest that cats do understand pointing and can even follow our gaze, although, in typical cat behavior, they will understand something only when it’s particularly valuable to them. After spending some time with a person, they will also learn their facial expressions, tones of voice, and even their own name and the names of other animals.
Even friendly cats are ok being left alone for long periods, probably why they are very popular pets in urban areas. It’s worth adding that they do bring a host of benefits to their owners, from lowered chances of a heart attack to less psychological stress. As ridiculous as the behavior visible here really is, let’s face it, most of us find it pretty endearing when cats are just being weird little guys.
What makes them somewhat weird, beyond the antics seen here, is the fact that cats do enjoy having their own territory, free of humans or other cats, but will put up with “intrusions” because they get bored too easily. Over long periods of time, solitary cats can even “forget” how to communicate with other cats, which would probably make for a great cat sitcom if we could understand what they were talking about.
