• switcheroo@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    I’m fine with that. Better that being a tall ape descendant slash servant.

    Cats are great. 😊

  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works
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    2 hours ago

    I can pick up my cat and hold them, my cat can’t pick me up.

    Who’s boss now? grabs the cat and cuddle them with a warm embrace

  • Aggravationstation@feddit.uk
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    8 hours ago

    I’ve heard this a few times and doubt it. At least with my cat. He howls at other cats and tries to attack them. He loves humans.

  • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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    9 hours ago

    I don’t buy this because cats will react totally differently to cats than people. Regardless of posture. If my cat sees someone walking down the street she doesn’t get angry. If my cat sees a cat outside she’s already on the defense.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      I think people are leaving out purring and kneading as behavior. Both are kitten behaviors. Suggesting to humans they click into “kitten mode”

  • bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de
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    12 hours ago

    I’ve been wondering if that actually holds any water - or is it just some outdated, poor-quality study (or Sunday newspaper article) that was quoted so many times that everybody believes it now?

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      If it were the case, how would one prove it or even show evidence for it? And similar question for if it isn’t the case, how would you disprove or show evidence against it? I’m not even sure how one would prove that cats have a concept of species.

      • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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        9 hours ago

        Yeah it’s so dumb. Cats obviously don’t think the things over ten times their size that walk on a different amount of legs are the same as them.

        Further, another “fun fact” I see a lot (equally questionable) is that cats meow only to communicate with humans, not cats. But that’s mutually exclusive with cats thinking humans are the same as them.

        • BeeegScaaawyCripple@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          my cat has a specific meow for each of us (including my wife’s cat) when she just woke up and is looking for a specific someone for post-nap cuddles. her “hey, Orange Dumbass! where are you!” is definitely a meow tho.

        • some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          All cats are communists, obviously. They have no respect for concepts of “ownership” and expect to be housed and fed according to their needs.

          • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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            3 hours ago

            And according to their means they WILL return the favor in equivalent services of pest control and cuddles (cuddles and pest control may not be available in your area)

  • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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    13 hours ago

    A dog is an herd animal and need an lider to follow, a cat (except lions) are lone hunters, they don’t even have the concept of an lider, the can have anarchistic groups and friendships when they have with it advantages to obtain food.

    The dog thinks, he takes care of me and feeds me, he must be a god

    The cat thinks, he takes care of me and feeds me, I must be a god

    • Redfox8@mander.xyz
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      7 hours ago

      Dogs don’t need a leader - the whole alpha male wolf thing has long been disproven, by the original author none the less. Dogs are highly social and live in groups, yes, but there’s no boss dog. Very few animals have a concept of a leader. In fact I’d argue that none do and it’s a totally human idea.

      I like your cat/dog thinking idea though. Cats very much think ‘me me me’!

      • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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        3 hours ago

        This isn’t quite true, wolf packs do have leaders: the pack’s mom and dad.

        Most wolf packs are a breeding pair and their children, and the children will break off and form new packs over time. Every time you hear pack you should legitimately just translate it to “family”

        • Redfox8@mander.xyz
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          2 hours ago

          I’d argue that parents are different to a ‘leader’ as we perceive them, or as I read was suggested in the comment. Children will stick with their parents, up to the point at which they’re ready to start their own family, like you say, but is that leadership in the same sense?

          But yes, I agree, pack = family is accurate.

        • Redfox8@mander.xyz
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          2 hours ago

          Is that leadership or just breeding and/or social dominance though? Do they tell others where and when to hunt e.g.? I’m not so knowledgeable about seals of any species so a genuine question.

  • falseWhite@programming.dev
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    24 hours ago

    he believes cats are semi-feral and that they think we are cats too

    Ok, so it’s just something someone believes, it’s not very scientific… They don’t really provide much evidence other than belief

    • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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      12 hours ago

      Cats don’t see you as cat, but also not as someone superior, they can see you as friend, but you have to gain it, if not, you are only an tin opener and food supply. They are anarchists by nature.

      • falseWhite@programming.dev
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        12 hours ago

        They are more like little dictators.

        What the article implies is that they do not understand that we are different species. The relationship between cats and humans is a whole other area. But I don’t believe cats are stupid or have somehow evolved to believe humans are the same species as them.

        • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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          10 hours ago

          Certainly they are far from beeing stupid, but they simply don’t have an concept of leaders or hirarchy. You can even train them to do tricks, but it is more difficult as with dogs, not because they are more stupid, but because they must see a reason and have the desire to do it. It’s in their nature, in nature it’s up to their own strategy and decisions whether they’re going to eat or not, there’s no herd or a leader that tells them what to do. This is the difference with dogs, nothing to do with intellectual capacity, perfectly equivalent, females are usually somewhat smarter than males, but just as in dogs, there are individual differences, as it also happens with us humans.

    • REDACTED@infosec.pub
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      18 hours ago

      When I had a dog, I used to think my dog thinks he will grow just as big as me and will join my daily routine, which was a bit depressing when you think about it

    • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
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      24 hours ago

      Probably this is yet another case of a journalist spinning yarn out of some poor researcher’s paper summary, and then being quoted out of context.

  • Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    No, they have absolutely no idea about nuclear war and apparently no clear sense that we might be some other species, despite not quite having the strokably hairy torsos they enjoy.

    Speak for yourself, my torso hair is luxurious.

    • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      12 hours ago

      This will totally dox myself to anyone who might be in or know someone in an old friend group.

      I’m a very furry person - I joke that I put the hair suit in hirsute - but at least it’s soft! Years upon years ago, I had a one night stand with my then future partner’s (now ex’s) best friend. It was bad. Really, awkwardly bad. The kind of bad where I woke up the next morning and, instead of trying for another go, groaned inwardly because they were still there, a living reminder of how bad it was.

      I took out my phone and hastily messaged my best friend, asking her advice on politely dealing with this. Unbeknownst to me, my guest was awake, messaging my future partner. She described being barely awake in the early morning, petting my cat. I didn’t have a cat or any pets. As she became more aware, she realized she was petting my chest.

      Apparently some humans think I’m a big stupid cat too.

      P.s. She also thought the sex was awful.

    • Uli@sopuli.xyz
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      23 hours ago

      My cat knows about nuclear war. He simply hasn’t chosen to exercise the knowledge.

      • Ignotum@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        True, it’s common knowledge that all cats know the exact time and date when the first bombs are going to fall, leading to the fall and eventual extinction of the human race
        But they all refuse to tell us because they’re silly furry goobers

      • EffortlessEffluvium@lemmy.zip
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        12 hours ago

        I would insist on a regular inspection protocol. Cat could have an underground relocation system for averting defensive preemptive strikes.

  • Fedegenerate@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 day ago

    Easy test at home. Bring a strange human into your house, note the reaction. Bring a strange cat into your house, is the reaction the same? If not then cats are smart enough to mark a distinction between people and cats.

    • lectricleopard@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      I agree and disagree. If you did a large enough trial with many animals and people, for each of many test cats in homes, then the data might show this. I just think that even if this hypothesis is true, the reaction to every cat/person won’t be the same for a given test cat. That could be a noisy signal.

      • Fedegenerate@lemmynsfw.com
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        23 hours ago

        It was more a plea to cat owners that know their cat. The cats I know don’t tolerate cats on the street outside their house, let alone inside, plenty of people around though. I’m sure there’s exceptions, I don’t know cats well. As a rule, I think they’re intolerant of strange cats being in “their” space, less so humans. We don’t smell like cats, we don’t sound like cats, we don’t act like cats. Cats aren’t dumb (except orange ones), they know we aren’t cats (even the orange ones)

        • DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          I have never seen a cat beg another cat for food. I have seen plenty of cats beg humans for food. I am pretty sure cats are smart enough to realize we are not cats. For one, we have hands we can use to open doors and give pets

        • lectricleopard@lemmy.world
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          22 hours ago

          I see what you mean. I have 3 cats, all girls and spayed. Our neighbor has an outdoor cat (socially acceptable animal cruelty imo), a boy and intact.

          They make goo goo eyes at each other through the windows. I dont know what would happen if I let them out, but they look like they’d be friends.

            • lectricleopard@lemmy.world
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              6 hours ago

              They live much shorter lives outdoors. Im not sure how someone could not care about the length of life of something they care about.

              • quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                3 hours ago

                Maybe they care more about their quality of life than their life span. I my opinion it is the other way around, the socially acceptable cruelty is to have them confined their entire lives, doesn’t matter how big and comfortable is the cage.

            • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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              10 hours ago

              One of the big things is their robust appetite for murder. Domesticated cats destroy bird populations. At minimum they should have a collar with a bell.

              • ganryuu@lemmy.ca
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                5 hours ago

                It’s not as clear cut as this, a lot of the studies that suggest this don’t stand up to scrutiny, with for example some having numbers of estimated birds killed by cats over the total estimated bird population. Also the fact that the majority of kills by cats are already weak or sick animals, animals that would die soon either way, and not really affect the total population. The only ones that seem legit and suggest an effect on the population are from small islands.