Scientists Discover That Cats Use Physics To Hunt Their Prey
Cats are funny creatures. At times they can be the most lovable companion in the world, then at others, they can completely ignore you as if you are not even there.
Cats are funny creatures. At times they can be the most lovable companion in the world, then at others, they can completely ignore you as if you are not even there. But despite all of this, they are actually more clever than we perhaps give them credit for.
Saho Takagi and his team of researchers set out to prove that cats are able to comprehend some parts of physics, and when they combine this knowledge with their acute hearing, they can easily identify where their next prey may be lying. During the tests 30 cats were videotaped while the experimenter shook a container. Sometimes the shaking of the container would also make a sound, and other times it would not. Once shaken, the container would be turned over in front of the cat to see.
What the team was trying to establish was if the cat was expecting something to fall out of the container once it was turned over. The results confirmed that the cats were more concerned and looked more intently at the container that made noise, which helped them establish which would produce the object once turned over. The cats also stared more intently when an object fell from the container, but there was no noise associated with it.
The results of the study suggest that cats learn by associating things with sounds and in doing so they can predict the appearance of an invisible object. This may have something to do with their natural hunting characteristics and having to hunt prey in dark places means they rely more heavily on other senses, so over time they have evolved to be able to adjust to their surroundings.
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Helena Marsh
Helena Marsh is the Editor-in-Chief at TrendinTech, where she leads editorial strategy and oversees coverage across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise technology. With more than a decade in technology journalism on both sides of the Atlantic, she previously served as a senior editor at Wired UK and covered the technology sector for The Guardian, following the rise of the big platforms, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the regulatory push from Brussels and Washington. Helena holds an MA in Journalism from City, University of London and is a regular speaker at Web Summit in Lisbon and CES in Las Vegas. She believes technology reporting should be rigorous and plainly written, so readers understand what actually changes for them rather than what a company's announcement promises.
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