#cat science

and in stairs like DUNKDUNKDUNK

It's because cats are technically a non-newtonian fluid. The more force they are under, the more solid they become. You can see this in action when you try to put a protesting cat into a carrier or when you see them melt in relaxation.

The X chromosome in cats determine their fur color. This gene has two alleles, one for orange fur (XB) and one for black fur (Xb). Females carry two X's and males carry one X, allowing female cats to have two colors while restricting male cats to one. Therefore, it is extremely rare for calico males to exist!

Klinefelter Syndrome (XXY)

Male cats with an extra chromosome (X)

Allows for the expression of both orange and black pigments

Infertile

Extra X chromosome interferes with sperm production

Chimerism

Two embryos fuse together early in development, leading to a single individual with cells from both embryos

Allows for tricolor pattern in males

Sometimes fertile (depends on if the combination affected the reproductive organs)

Only one of their colors will be passed on to offspring

Mosaicism

Individual cat has two or more genetically different types of cells within their body

XXY cells and XY cells found in the body

Sometimes fertile

Only one of their colors will be passed on to offspring

Birthmark

Might be a patch of a different color or shade on the skin or fur

Does not result in a true tricolor pattern, but still causes variations in fur color

Fertile

When a cat sits down on you or next to you and seems to purposely face away from you, it might be because, in a cat colony, they position themselves facing away from each other so they can watch for threats.

But here's the thing:

When CATS do it,

They tend to look like they're sneering, shocked, offended, etc

So, unrelated, Aiden smells everything he intends to eat or drink to check for poison by habit. And to smell it better, he opens his mouth, but also scrunches up his face like a cat does. For years Lambert thinks Aiden is just a picky asshole who is never satisfied by ANY food given to him, while Aiden is genuinely just trying to smell his food. He just happens to look absolutely disgusted by doing it.

Despite being still fairly feral at thirteen years strong, my boy Casper the orange tabby floof displays multiple traits of domestication: bold white markings, long exquisitely soft hair, and an orange coat which would only ever rarely ever occur in the wild. Also, allergies.

There Was Another Domestic Cat!

I hate that I'm only now in 2024 learning about this rad 2016 cat science find (frustrating that it wasn't more publicized,); there's evidence in China that there was once a second species of domestic cat, Prionailurus bengalensis, or the Asian Leopard Cat. Fellow cat nerds will recognize that this is the same wild species that was hybridized with the domestic cat to produce the famously active and beautiful breed known as the bengal cat, however these ancient domestic cats evidenced in the study share no relation to the modern bengal. Modern domestic cats notably descend from the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica.)

The evidence of the domesticated version of the Asian Leopard cat is primarily wear patterns on teeth still connected to jaw bones found in China which do not show up in fully wild kitties. This basically means that these domestic cats were eating a diet which their wild brethren do not consume.

To me, the idea of a second ancient species of domestic cat is extremely intriguing and I will most definitely need to draw a concept if what these cats would have looked like with the calling card bold white markings and other domestic traits which inevitably appear in domesticated animals, as shown in the Russian Silver Fox Project which eventually produced completely domesticated foxes. It would also be very interesting scientifically to see the full ancient domestication of the Asian Leopard Cat reproduced although with thousands of modern domestic kitties in need of homes this experiment is likely never going to happen (which is for the better with so many far more suitable modern purr machines available for adoption.)

Domestication of modern domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus/Felis catus) likely took place on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus some 10,800 years ago with the cats quickly spreading to Egypt and China where they became beloved fixtures of temples, homes and palaces. Today thanks to artificial selection these kitties exist in miriad beautiful breeds and coat patterns but more importantly, modern kitties are noble, affectionate, and extremely social companions of the educated, responsible human household.

https://youtu.be/QdzggIE29wo?si=QtB54m8mWjma2ev_

The tldr of the vid above is a cat owner pulled a deliberate prank on her 5 cats, she invited a female friends who looks similar to her and let her friend pretend to be her. In the end, only 2 (technically 3) cats out of 5 figured it out. Cats aren’t particularly good with eye sight so your cats might just distinguish you via your voice. :D

I have several thoughts on this, and because I take cats too seriously I have to say the women in the video didn't prove anything. The cats acted like normal cats who are given food by a friendly human, there was no experiment design here with "If the cats believe the impostor to be their owner, they will do X. If they correctly identify the impostor, they will do Y", instead there was only reading into their body language.

I think, if you want to know whether cats can identify people based on sight alone, the best approach would be an eye-tracking study (it should be doable on cats provided a cooperative cat and the right type of equipment) where the cat was provided with audio of its owner and other humans speaking, and images on the screen, and then you see where the cat fixates.

As it happens something similar has been done: cats learn the names of their friend cats, a study conducted using eye-trackers: meaning the stimuli provided to the cats was visual, so they had to recognize their friend cats from sight alone. (Not that this was the point of the study)