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Research into how felines are able to effectively act like liquids reveals that felines use an unusual awareness of their body shape and size to fit into the tightest spaces. Scientists have announced that it is possible.
Some animals are known to decide whether they can pass through space based on knowledge of their size and shape.
But Peter Pongratz, an animal behaviorist at Hungary’s Eötvös Lorand University, said the role this self-awareness plays in helping cats integrate into a space has never been examined before.
African black-footed feline (Cleveland Zoo)
Cats display an amazing range of cognitive abilities. They follow human signals to find food, respond to cues, for example, or act on vocal cues from cats.
In a new study published in the journal iScience, Dr. Pongratz evaluated how 30 cats fit into progressively decreasing openings of the same height or width.
He used a setup similar to one recently used to test this behavior in dogs.
“Dogs slow down and hesitate before attempting to enter uncomfortably small openings, whereas cats exhibit this change in behavior before attempting to pass through even the narrowest openings. “I didn’t,” he said.
When a cat “jumps over” it was thought that the cat refused to use the opening.
Girl carrying kitten in fishbowl (AFP, via Getty)
However, the cats slowed down before passing through the shortest part of the narrow opening. Felines appear to follow careful strategies and evaluate their own anatomical features as they navigate these spaces. They also quickly opted for a tried-and-true method of negotiating narrow openings.
“When a cat approaches an opening that is narrow but at a comfortable height, even if it is narrower than the cat’s chest width, the cat probably makes an a priori judgment based on detectable size. Probably not,” Dr. Pongratz said.
For the smallest and uncomfortably short openings, cats seem to rely on their “ability to express body size” to get through, the animal behaviorist noted.
The cats were hesitant to approach because the opening was now shorter than the height of the withers.
“This shows that the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the opening have different importance for cats,” Dr. Pongratz said.
“Cats are almost liquid! Cats selectively rely on body size perception when negotiating short free time.”
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The study raises several questions, including why cats choose a trial-and-error strategy for tall, narrow openings. It is also unclear why they hesitate and appear to rely on body size perception to navigate through the shortest openings.
The study also questions the assumption that cats may slow down to use their whiskers to assess the suitability of the narrowest openings.
Dr. Pongratz would like to further test whether cats rely on other forms of body awareness, such as body weight, in similarly difficult spatial tasks.
