1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:07,880 Beautiful, elegant, mysterious. 2 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,480 They’re the most popular pet in the world. 3 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:17,400 Cute, cuddly, and fun, but in every way built for the hunt. 4 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,240 One of the big appeals to me about cats, is that they are these little, 5 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,240 little wild creatures that we share our space with. 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,800 Is that touch of the wild what we most admire? 7 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:34,560 Or something we want to change? 8 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:42,640 Can these superlative hunters ever truly be domesticated? 9 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:47,120 I think the cat, if it's going to persist as a popular companion animal 10 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,560 is going to have to change in some way. 11 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,560 What do you really know about the lion in your living room? 12 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,600 A solitary hunter. 13 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:18,360 One of nature’s most capable predators. 14 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:26,360 A symbol of grace, balance, and elegance. 15 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,560 It’s hard to believe that these clumsy kittens 16 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,960 have inherited the hunting prowess of their wild ancestors. 17 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,720 Kittens play a great deal. I mean, it's one of the things 18 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,400 that people find very appealing about them, enchanting even. 19 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:47,400 Kitten play is really just a whole load of hunting type behaviors 20 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:49,280 where they're pouncing on things. 21 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,920 In the wild, play hunting would soon give way to the real thing. 22 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:01,720 Powerful muscles, flexible bodies, 23 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:07,320 sharp claws, the sensitive paws, 24 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,400 even the delicate whiskers all play a role 25 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,480 in the graceful movements of a true hunter. 26 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:22,960 Surprisingly, the cat’s elegant walk is not very efficient, compared to a dog’s. 27 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,360 Their gait evolved not to save energy, 28 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:42,040 but provide the stealth to hide and strike. 29 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:50,680 The same evolutionary demands have shaped some of the cat’s cutest behaviors 30 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:58,200 like the instinct to find a safe place to hide from enemies 31 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,040 and to leap out at prey. 32 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:05,800 Small but powerful 33 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,880 an average house cat can leap five times its own height. 34 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:16,200 Some even more. 35 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:28,160 Climbing a tree in pursuit of dinner can prove dangerous. 36 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,600 One slip could end in disaster. 37 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,120 Even if they fall upside down 38 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,560 they can turn and land on their feet in as little as 30 centimeters. 39 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,040 That's not as simple as it sounds. 40 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,440 In fact at first it seems to defy the laws of physics. 41 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,920 As the cat begins falling, her legs rotate 42 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,960 allowing her to perform a seemingly impossible mid-air adjustment, 43 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:01,920 all in a fraction of a second. 44 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:07,760 Before hitting the ground all four legs reach out to act as shock absorbers. 45 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:13,240 An ability useful for survival, in forest or high-rise jungle 46 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:15,920 where their curiosity can trip them up. 47 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:22,320 I'm Dr. Koharik Arman, one of the veterinarians here 48 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,480 at Cats Only Veterinary Clinic located in Vancouver, BC. 49 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:30,040 This is the time of the year now that we start to see 50 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:32,560 what's called high-rise syndrome. 51 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:38,040 And what that refers to is cats falling or jumping off of balconies 52 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:40,920 and then ending up with injuries. 53 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,840 Sometimes they come out unscathed 54 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,080 and people always joke about those nine lives that cats have, 55 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,640 and sometimes it seems there's a bit of truth to that. 56 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,560 Cats can fall from really quite high buildings and they've got a very effective 57 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,160 and, presumably, completely instinctive, spontaneous 58 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,760 and very rapid strategy for dealing with that. 59 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:05,000 If they are-- do feel themselves falling a long distance 60 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,800 they are actually able to parachute. They stick their legs out 61 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,200 literally sideways, which then stretches the skin of the belly, 62 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:13,680 which does slow their progress down. 63 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,560 Like their large carnivore cousins, 64 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:23,360 domestic cats spend most of their time between hunts resting. 65 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,080 They spend at least half their time asleep. 66 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,640 But when they move, they can move quickly. 67 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:36,360 A house cat can run almost 50 kilometers an hour, at least for a short burst. 68 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,200 And they have some unique physical features 69 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:42,640 that can get them out of tight spaces. 70 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,720 They have what are called floating clavicles, 71 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:51,200 so their collar bones are not fixed in place to their skeleton. 72 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:56,040 They're floating in their muscles and that's how they can squeeze themselves 73 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,560 into and out of very narrow spaces. 74 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:04,040 And also they have a compressible rib cage, which helps in that department too. 75 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,320 A cat's evolutionary history as a predator 76 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:10,600 that stalks and pounces for the kill 77 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:17,320 is evident in how they play, how they move, and even in how their senses work. 78 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,440 I'm Dr. Kelly St. Denis. I own the Charing Cross Cat Clinic. 79 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:28,360 It's an all cat clinic which makes a really nice environment for us 80 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:32,640 and especially for the cats. So these kittens were born seven days ago. 81 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,720 When kittens are born, they are able to already smell fairly well 82 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:41,760 so that allows them to find the nipple so that they can nurse and get milk. 83 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:46,360 They don't really hear very well, and they certainly can't see at newborn age. 84 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:49,560 Their ears are flapped down and their eyes are closed. 85 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:54,720 At about five days of age, they are able to hear and very gradually we can see 86 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:57,080 that their earflaps are starting to come up 87 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,960 so that they will be able to hear much better by three weeks of age. 88 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:05,200 Despite being born deaf, 89 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:09,880 it's their sense of hearing that best reveals their wild ancestry. 90 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:18,280 A cat's ears can swivel to help them locate the source of a sound, 91 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,920 pointing backwards, forwards or sideways. 92 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,760 Once mature, they can hear two octaves higher than a human 93 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:31,600 and a full octave higher even than a dog. 94 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,120 Cats can hear the squeaks of mice. 95 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,080 And it's probably very useful to them in hunting that they can hear 96 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:41,400 what we call ultrasound, which is being generated by their prey 97 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,880 and enables them to track down their prey and locate it better. 98 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:51,320 Their ability to hear ultrasonic squeaks too high pitched for human ears 99 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:53,400 isn’t the biggest surprise. 100 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:58,360 Based on their physiology, they shouldn't be able to hear the low frequencies. 101 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,840 To a biologist the really remarkable thing about a cat's hearing 102 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:04,920 is not that it can hear the squeaks of mice, 103 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:10,640 but that it can hear human voices, in particular low-pitched male human voices. 104 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,240 Come here, Mirza. Come. Good boy. 105 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,640 Which the size of its head and the size of its ears, 106 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:19,200 therefore dictates that it shouldn't be able to hear. 107 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:29,640 It’s not only the range of their hearing that makes cats successful hunters. 108 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,880 Something which I think many people don't appreciate about the cat 109 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,320 which is that it has a very good sense of smell. 110 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,960 Everybody thinks dogs are the species with the amazing sense of smell 111 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:42,880 and of course that is true. 112 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:46,960 But cats are still about a thousand times more sensitive than we are. 113 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,200 The area inside the nose dedicated to trapping smells 114 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:57,200 is five times larger in domestic cats than in humans. 115 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,720 While we have perhaps five million scent receptors, 116 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,040 the cat has 60 million or more. 117 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:08,720 What many cat owners don't appreciate 118 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:10,560 is that that cats actually have two olfactory systems. 119 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,800 So you have the regular one, which is the same one that we have, 120 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:17,800 where the air is drawn in through the nose and over the olfactory membranes. 121 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,840 But, also, in common with many other mammals, 122 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,280 cats have a thing called a vomeronasal organ, 123 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:27,440 which is another olfactory organ. 124 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:31,160 the organ itself lies between the roof of the mouth and the nostrils. 125 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,200 And they're used, this olfactory apparatus, the vomeronasal organ 126 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,600 is used when sniffing other cats. 127 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:49,600 Smell and hearing are important to locate prey, 128 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,560 but vision provides more detailed information. 129 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:56,800 In about seven to fourteen days, their eyes will open 130 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,320 and they'll start to be able to see. 131 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:03,120 They won't be able to see very well until they're about four months of age, 132 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:07,000 at which point their vision will be approximately as they would for an adult. 133 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:19,760 They can hunt in the day or night, 134 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:23,320 but their eyes reveal that they prefer low light. 135 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:28,520 Cat's pupils have evolved to protect their sensitive retinas. 136 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:33,600 They also have these vertically constricting pupils, 137 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:35,680 as opposed to our round ones. 138 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:39,440 This allows their pupillary size to change very quickly 139 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:44,560 from contracted to dilated depending on what they're doing. 140 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:48,640 These well-protected eyes look out on a world 141 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,600 that's very different than the one we see. 142 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:55,840 Cat's vision is pretty different from our own. 143 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:59,680 They don't see as much in the way of color as we do. 144 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:02,200 They see mostly blues and greys. 145 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:07,520 They don't differentiate well between orange and brown and red and green, 146 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:11,640 but they have a few advantages that we don't. 147 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:15,480 They can see colors that we can't, like ultraviolet. 148 00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:19,240 Perfect for tracking their prey’s urine trails. 149 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:22,040 And these aren't the only ways in which the cats' eyes 150 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:24,040 are adapted to hunting in the dark. 151 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:30,720 Everybody has generally seen those reflective eyes at night 152 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:36,600 or in photos and that is because of a special area on their retina, 153 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:42,040 the back of the eye, called the tapetum lucidum and it acts almost like a mirror. 154 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:46,240 It's iridescent and basically bounces light off of it 155 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:49,520 so that then it has a second chance to go through the lens, 156 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:54,080 basically enabling kitties to bring more light into their vision 157 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:58,280 than is actually in the room and see in the dark. 158 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,720 The cat's night vision allows it to hunt in the dark. 159 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,000 But their eyes don't work well at close range. 160 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:12,680 What that means is that things, as they approach the cat, will go out of focus. 161 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:16,040 Probably around six to eight inches away from the cat's nose, 162 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:17,200 it starts to go out of focus. 163 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:19,520 And also they lose binocular vision at that point. 164 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:22,480 They start seeing double of things that are close to them. 165 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:29,080 When the prey is close enough, their whiskers can feel it's exact location. 166 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:33,560 Whiskers are thicker than other hairs 167 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,640 and are full of blood vessels and sensitive nerve endings. 168 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,880 Each of these specialized hairs transmits information 169 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,760 about how fast and how far it's being bent, 170 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:51,000 allowing them to chase prey through the twists and turns of narrow tunnels, 171 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:53,320 even in total darkness. 172 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:58,760 This is Oswald. He is a neutered male purebred Ragdoll, 173 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,320 and he's been coming to us since he was a kitten. 174 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:03,840 The whiskers that most people are familiar with in cats 175 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:06,640 are the ones that are at the sides of their cheeks. 176 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:10,400 They also have whiskers, or vibrissae is the other name for these, 177 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:11,720 above their eye. 178 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:16,160 Cats also have whiskers on the inside of their paws. 179 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:18,880 These whiskers also help with the spatial orientation. 180 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:24,120 It helps them to know where they can move to in what types of spaces. 181 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,600 Even the cat’s tongue has its secrets. 182 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:41,200 Elegant creatures, they don't lap up their drink like a dog. 183 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:51,320 Looking closely, her tongue appears to corkscrew as the liquid is drawn up. 184 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:57,720 If you’ve ever been licked by a cat, 185 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,920 you’ve felt an irritating sandpaper like rasp. 186 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,600 It's not the taste buds you feel, 187 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:08,080 but tiny barbs down the center of the tongue. 188 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:16,640 Cats spend about 25% of their waking hours grooming themselves. 189 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:21,000 He's actually washing himself or trying to wash himself on his paws. 190 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,920 Cats have papillae on their tongue that are quite rough 191 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:29,560 which will help them with their grooming to keep their coats healthy and mat free. 192 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,760 These act like combs when the cat is grooming, 193 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:38,440 or like knives when stripping the last scraps of meat from a bone. 194 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:43,000 The cat's sense of taste is kind of similar to ours in some ways 195 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,960 because it is basically the same mammalian pattern of taste. 196 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:48,640 They taste with taste receptors on their tongues. 197 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:51,320 But in many ways it ends there. 198 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:54,360 The kinds of things that the cat's tongue is sensitive to 199 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,640 are really quite different to ours. 200 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:00,120 And those differences are because this little lion 201 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:05,120 is a hunter who has evolved to need only meat in her diet. 202 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:09,680 They absolutely don't have the capacity to taste sweets. 203 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:11,440 Because they're obligate carnivores, 204 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:15,440 they really aren't meant to ingest anything that has a sweet taste to it, 205 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:17,600 so it just doesn't serve a purpose for them. 206 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,160 It turns out that even the cat’s reputation for being a finicky eater 207 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:26,560 is about being a hunter. 208 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:32,440 At first it may seem like a bad idea for a wild creature to be picky about food, 209 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,600 especially an animal whose diet is so restricted. 210 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,520 We now know that our domestic pet cats do have nutritional wisdom. 211 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,040 They are capable of picking out which of a number of diets 212 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:47,360 has the best protein content, 213 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:49,640 because cats need a great deal of protein in their diets. 214 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:52,040 Far more than almost any other animal. 215 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:56,440 And they also have a strategy for addressing potential 216 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,160 future nutritional imbalances, 217 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,600 which is to go out and look for something to eat 218 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,040 that is not the same as the last meal you had. 219 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:09,480 That's partly behind the cat's kind of notorious fussiness. 220 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:12,080 Rescued from a life of hunting and scavenging, 221 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:17,240 this cat remains very picky about the treats that she selects. 222 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:20,560 It's much more exaggerated, much more easy to detect 223 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:24,680 in cats which have had to live on the streets, if you like. 224 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:29,080 That have had to select a balanced diet in order to survive and breed, 225 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:30,840 rather than simply being offered 226 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,520 nutritionally complete food by their owners. 227 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:37,160 They are much fussier about what they eat than pet cats would, 228 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:38,600 if you can believe that. 229 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:56,720 Born deaf, blind, and helpless, 230 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:01,600 in the wild all that keeps them from becoming prey to larger predators 231 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,280 is their mother’s care. 232 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,480 Getting that can sometimes prove difficult. 233 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:23,360 Accidently pushed out of the nest, this kitten instinctively cries for help. 234 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,520 Fortunately, her mother notices. 235 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,520 Whether lions or leopards, 236 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:44,720 it’s only the very young in most cat species who meow, 237 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,200 and then only to their mothers. 238 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:55,800 But domestic cats use this sound in other situations, 239 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:58,400 when they want attention 240 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,440 mostly when communicating with humans. 241 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:07,200 Come on, Jesse, Jack! 242 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,440 Jesse, I have a treat for you. Look, you want that? 243 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:16,840 All meows are not equal. Every cat has their own. 244 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:19,240 [cat meows] 245 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:24,360 Come here. Finnegan, you want some din-dins? 246 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,720 These are sounds that can have many meanings. 247 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:32,840 Each cat and their humans must somehow agree on definitions. 248 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,760 Some develop a large vocabulary. 249 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:41,040 So they'll have one meow for, "I'm hungry, feed me." 250 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:45,920 And another one for, "Please let me out the door," and so on. 251 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,920 And these seem to be private languages that develop 252 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:50,520 between the cat and the owner. 253 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,200 We know this because if you record these different meows 254 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,800 and then play them back to different owners, 255 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,360 the owner of the cat, of that particular cat, will instantly recognize them. 256 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:02,560 "That's the meow he makes when he wants to be let out. 257 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:04,640 That's the one he makes when he's hungry." 258 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,680 But play them to other cats' owners, 259 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,880 even the owners of cats which have a repertoire of meows, 260 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,840 and they can't identify which is which. 261 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:17,440 Beyond meowing, cats have a number of vocal signals, 262 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:19,960 not that we always understand them. 263 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:24,360 This cat has no need to hunt for a meal. 264 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:30,680 Still the old urges are there and they occasionally surface in surprising ways. 265 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:35,840 Some cats make a special chattering sound 266 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:39,920 when they are hunting or thinking how much they’d like to be. 267 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,720 [chattering] 268 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,800 It's not known exactly why some cats chatter. 269 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,920 Whether it’s frustration, anticipation of the kill, 270 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,240 or an attempt to lure prey by imitation. 271 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:04,600 Other sounds they make are less mysterious. 272 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,960 When they're quite unhappy we can see growling and hissing. 273 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:11,080 [hissing] 274 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:16,000 Also certain vocalizing that--that sounds almost basically like a caterwaul, 275 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:17,480 a yowl, essentially. 276 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,360 That's a very unhappy and very stimulated cat. 277 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,720 -[hissing and yowling] -[dog barking] 278 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:28,880 But fortunately for us, Sybil right now is very content and purring away happily. 279 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,640 Purring is another sound we associate with cats. 280 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:35,800 Strangely we know little about it. 281 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:41,640 Most people think that purring is an expression of emotion 282 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:43,920 as far as the cat's concerned, that the cat is happy. 283 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,680 And 9 times out of 10 that's true but it's not the reason for the purring. 284 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:57,640 It's doing it to try to get you or another cat indeed to do something for it. 285 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:02,160 Kittens purr in order to get their mothers to settle down and nurse them. 286 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:06,200 And so that piece of communication goes on, is carried on into adulthood. 287 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,520 [purring] 288 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,400 [cat purring] 289 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:12,560 [lion roars] 290 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:16,800 Large members of the cat family, like lions and tigers, can’t purr. 291 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:22,440 The roaring cats don't purr, but some of the smaller cats purr. 292 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:29,360 I mean, in fact, the ability to roar, sort of produces a change in the, 293 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:32,320 in the vocal apparatus, which means that you can't purr. 294 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,880 Karen McComb studies animal communication 295 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:40,040 in large animals, like elephants and lions. 296 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:44,840 Then her own cat piqued her interest in this apparently simple sound. 297 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:50,960 This came about simply because my own cat 298 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:55,880 was very adept at soliciting food from me. 299 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,480 And, in particular, he had this sort of wake up purring routine 300 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:04,400 where he would start giving this very insistent purring in the morning. 301 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:08,280 [purring] 302 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:12,240 I thought why is it that this particular purring is so, 303 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,480 sort of, unpleasant to the ear? 304 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:21,320 Why is it that it's, it does sound urgent and it's--it's so difficult to ignore? 305 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:26,880 Professor McComb compared the purrs of a number of cats including her own. 306 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:29,760 So this is the non-solicitation purr from my cat, 307 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,240 and you'll see that it's actually, 308 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:38,160 it's a very regular purring, classical purring type sound. 309 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:43,040 In fact, this purr was rated as one of the most pleasant of all the cats. 310 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:45,680 [cat purring] 311 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:54,200 So what I'm going to do is play you the solicitation purr from my own cat. 312 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,120 And you should be able to hear that within the purr, 313 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,040 there's a sort of a slightly whiny element. 314 00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:05,560 [higher-pitched purring] 315 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:10,680 Incredibly, Professor McComb discovered that this solicitation purr 316 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,440 was at a similar frequency to the cry of a human baby. 317 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:18,920 So it's got this sort of slightly manic element to it. 318 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,240 And if you look at the screen here, 319 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:25,920 you'll see there's a dark band at, 320 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,640 in his case it's a bit over 400 hertz, 321 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:35,200 but that is the sort of cry-like frequency. 322 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:39,760 And it's there very strongly 323 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,640 in each of the main beats of the purr. 324 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,600 So that there is a frequency that's sort of 325 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:51,640 jumping out of the rest of the sound spectrum at the point of this cry. 326 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:58,160 And the cats have somehow tapped in to this sensory bias that we've got 327 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:01,920 and are using it to improve the level of care they get. 328 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:10,080 Solitary hunters who can get another species to do their bidding. 329 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,720 Their dual nature fascinates us. 330 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,240 We watch them contentedly rolling at our feet one moment, 331 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,160 slinking off who knows where the next. 332 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:25,480 Unlike dogs, cats have another life usually hidden from us. 333 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,400 Now, thanks to modern technology, 334 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,160 we are getting a glimpse into the secret lives of cats. 335 00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:39,440 Studies reveal that most have a pretty defined turf, 336 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,880 an area they patrol on a daily basis. 337 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,160 Often not much more than a few blocks. 338 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:53,040 There you go, buddy. 339 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:54,560 Off to the races. 340 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,160 This is Obie Jones. 341 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:15,040 Of course there are exceptions, brave explorers who travel great distances. 342 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:18,920 This is our kitty, Kinter. 343 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:24,080 He lives with a dog, Ruby. 344 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,720 We've been tracking Kinter's adventures. 345 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,600 Sometimes they need to go no further than a neighbor to get an extra treat. 346 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,920 You know what, he comes here and he visits us almost every day. 347 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:43,920 -Does he really? -Yes, we love him. 348 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,000 -He sits with my mom and dad. -Does he really? 349 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,960 Yeah, he sits with us and takes his little nap, 350 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:51,480 and we give him a piece of cheese 351 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,440 or a little piece of bacon almost every day. 352 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,760 A cat's daily patrols are anything but random. 353 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:03,000 It's a way for them to mark and guard their turf. 354 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:11,360 Even if you’ve never seen what happens when there's a conflict over territory, 355 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,000 you’ve almost certainly heard the results. 356 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:15,720 [cat hissing] 357 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:17,400 [cats screeching] 358 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:24,440 Studies find that cats often share the same or overlapping territories. 359 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:32,000 They simply avoid patrolling at the same time, like feline timesharing. 360 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:40,720 Running into rivals isn’t the only danger facing cats living on the streets. 361 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:47,120 The survival of great numbers of stray cats and feral cats 362 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,800 that have never known human companionship 363 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,640 proves their wild nature has been preserved. 364 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,960 These undomesticated domestic cats 365 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:01,680 give us the best vantage point for understanding how 366 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:05,200 these once wild animals adapted to life with humans. 367 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,880 Cats certainly are not domesticated completely. 368 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:14,920 They are--they are like little wild creatures, 369 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,520 and they still have the capacity to exist without us. 370 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,000 You would be hard-pressed to find a Maltese 371 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:26,040 or a teacup Chihuahua who could make it on his own 372 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:30,280 on the street and forage for food and seek shelter 373 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:34,520 and reproduce and all the rest. But cats are a whole other story. 374 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:40,840 Many cities are struggling with large populations of cats that live all 375 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:42,880 or some of the time on the street. 376 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:49,120 Dealing with the feral cat explosion is often left up to concerned neighbors. 377 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,640 The thing that means the most is the feeling 378 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,440 that when you bring a cat off the street 379 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,960 that you see has either been lost, abandoned, 380 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,840 shoved aside, pregnant because they didn't want her, 381 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:07,360 bringing that cat in, seeing it in a home, flourish, 382 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,600 respond to love and affection, that's the best thing in the world. 383 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,760 We do a lot of work with the City of Toronto and other organizations, 384 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,080 Toronto Humane Society, 385 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,760 and we have to figure out how to deal with the feral cat overpopulation in the city. 386 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,400 Come, mew mews. 387 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:34,280 They visit the feral cat colony, get to know who’s who and how they relate. 388 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:36,880 Come on guys, breakfast. 389 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,080 We were called to this colony by a gentleman who was feeding cats 390 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,640 in a field and we were called out to help. 391 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:47,760 So when we came here, when we came to the site, 392 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:52,200 we found way more cats than we ever imagined. 393 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:56,640 Now there's probably 15 cats left give or take. 394 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:01,480 When we got here there was probably closer to 40, 45 with kittens, 395 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:04,080 and we started a trap, neuter, return. 396 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:09,440 They feed them regularly, trap them, have their injuries treated, 397 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,960 and most importantly have them neutered. 398 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:17,000 They may be the same species as the animals who live in our homes, 399 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,840 but if they aren’t exposed to a human touch early enough, 400 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:23,160 they will remain untamable. 401 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:31,560 Cats who have not had socialization with humans prior to 14 weeks of age, 402 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:36,040 they are much more prone to be very fearful. 403 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:38,560 Not want to approach humans. 404 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,680 Take a very long time to establish trust. 405 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:46,240 And are also more prone to being fearfully aggressive. 406 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:50,800 It's not that they can't learn to trust humans. That capacity is still there, 407 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,360 and they still do retain some behavioral plasticity. 408 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,240 But it can be a very long road. 409 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:03,520 We do have patients who were feral cats, then when they were rescued and taken in 410 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:08,120 by their people took a matter of months to years actually 411 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,760 before they established trust with their owners. 412 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:22,040 Those who can learn to tolerate humans can be put up for adoption, 413 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,960 like these looking as domestic as can be, 414 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,960 successfully adopted from a feral colony. 415 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,960 Cats that live without humans for too long 416 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,560 don’t easily adapt to life with us. 417 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:43,880 One solution is to give them shelters 418 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,360 where they can receive medical attention 419 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:49,080 and live in relative comfort. 420 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,920 My name's Janet Reed, and I'm the manager here at the Number 6 Road shelter 421 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,520 for the Richmond Animal Protection Society. 422 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:58,680 And what we have here is about 500 cats 423 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,880 that we take care of because they're homeless. 424 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:08,320 They were cats that were born in the wild, have never had a home, 425 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:11,240 or maybe were dumped and were living in the wild. 426 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:16,080 We trap them, we spay and neuter them, and we make sure they have their shots 427 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,800 and vet care and then we bring them in here so they have a place to be. 428 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:24,720 We put them in colonies. 429 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,680 If they come 10, 15 at a time, which has happened to us. 430 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:31,480 It's a lot of cats to deal with, but we keep them together. 431 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:32,720 They know each other. 432 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,080 We don't have to try and adapt them to the rest of the cats at the shelter. 433 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,600 And despite what everybody seems to think, this is a cat Club Med, 434 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:44,080 cats don't necessarily always get along with each other. 435 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:49,000 [hisses] 436 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,080 When the environment enables them to, 437 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,320 they will live together and establish a hierarchy. 438 00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:00,560 And generally that does mean that there's some hissing and posturing 439 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,840 and fighting for a while until that has been established. 440 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:05,280 [yowling and hissing] 441 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:09,720 Then if new cats try to enter, 442 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:12,120 it's possible for them to integrate themselves, 443 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,200 but there will be a few tests along the way. 444 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,960 But then other times a new cat is completely shunned 445 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,160 and doesn't manage to work their way into a colony. 446 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:29,520 Observing feral colonies tells us about the nature of these 447 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,040 very territorial animals, and their social lives. 448 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:40,840 Maintaining limits and alliances requires constant communication... 449 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:43,760 [hissing] 450 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:47,320 messages of all kinds being sent and received, 451 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,160 displays of warning and acknowledgment. 452 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,840 One key social signal is the straight-up tail. 453 00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:59,880 We think that the tail-up signal evolved 454 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:04,440 from a signal that kittens use to signal to their mothers. 455 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:06,760 They use this around the--the time of weaning, 456 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:08,560 and it's seen in a number of wildcat species, 457 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,040 not just the wildcat that's the ancestor of the domestic cat. 458 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,920 And they're probably using this as a way of greeting their mother 459 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,000 when she returns to the nest with food for them. 460 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,520 And it may be one of the ways they have of persuading her to feed them. 461 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,680 But in all those other species, they then stop doing it once they reach adulthood. 462 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,520 Domestic cats have taken this kitten-to-mother signal 463 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,240 to a whole new level. 464 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:39,960 When two cats approach each other, one may raise their tail straight up. 465 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:45,240 If the other is willing to coexist, it will respond in the same way. 466 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,120 So it's meaning two things. It’s meaning friendly intentions. 467 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,560 "I'm approaching you in a friendly way. I'm not about to attack you." 468 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:59,720 And it's also acknowledging a difference in status, if you like. 469 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:02,840 I'm not saying that cats have a mental conception, 470 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:04,680 an abstract conception of status. 471 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:09,720 But they clearly do need to indicate the type of interaction they want to happen. 472 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,400 So what they're saying is, "I'm friendly towards you and I acknowledge 473 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:17,640 that you are in some way bigger or smarter than I am." 474 00:34:17,720 --> 00:34:21,360 Studying feral cats has given us more than new insights 475 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:22,920 into their social relations. 476 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:32,800 Comparing DNA from various species of cats, wild, feral, and domestic, 477 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,720 large and small, from all over the world 478 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,960 helped solve the mystery of how cats evolved 479 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,480 and eventually became domesticated. 480 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:48,000 So a wildcat, the ancestor of the domestic cat, 481 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,320 is a species called Felis Silvestris. 482 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:54,400 Felis Silvestris is a very broad ranging species 483 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:58,480 that branches all the way from the tip of Scotland down to 484 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:00,440 the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. 485 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:04,520 All the way from Portugal out to the center of China. 486 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,920 And there are five different wild sub-species 487 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,840 of Felis Silvestris, the wildcat. 488 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:14,320 One of those sub-species, Felis Silvestris Lybica, 489 00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:16,520 lived in the Near East. 490 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:20,320 And it's that sub-species that gave rise to the domestic cat. 491 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:26,080 Professor Driscoll pinpointed this part of the Mideast 492 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,880 as the center where Felis Silvestris Lybica 493 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:35,160 gradually transformed into the familiar kitty, Felis Catus. 494 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:41,240 Domestic cats of every breed, friendly or feral, 495 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:46,360 wherever in the world you find them, have their genesis here. 496 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:52,560 Their wildcat ancestors can still be spotted outside the cities. 497 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:00,360 But since they prefer to hunt in the dark, 498 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:04,600 it’s a lot easier if you have local biologists to guide you. 499 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:18,680 Fox... 500 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:40,560 This fish farm is a popular hunting spot. 501 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,560 But tonight there are no wildcats to be found. 502 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,520 These are jungle cats, 503 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:51,920 the largest member of the family that includes both the domestic cat 504 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,280 and their ancestor, the wildcat. 505 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:59,400 They are drawn here by the promise of an easy meal. 506 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,200 Last night on some fishponds here, bordering the Jordan 507 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:13,120 we saw Felis Chaus, the jungle cat. 508 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:15,960 And we saw how they're becoming habituated. 509 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:20,240 They're accustomed to human presence and they’re following a path similar 510 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:21,960 to what the wildcats did, 511 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:24,680 where they're moving in out of the wild, 512 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:28,520 and they're utilizing human habitats and human resources 513 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:32,600 in a way that's probably very similar to what the wildcats would have done 514 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:36,000 thousands of years ago in their early stages of domestication. 515 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,560 The first step in cat domestication happened here 516 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:47,600 thanks to a unique combination of a small wild cat that could tolerate people 517 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,000 and an abundance of wild grains. 518 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:59,280 This is the habitat where plants and animals were domesticated, 519 00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:02,040 prior to what we see now. 520 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:07,720 Something around 15-16 thousand years ago till 10 thousand years ago 521 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:09,200 people were hunter-gatherers. 522 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:13,040 They had enough to collect and use it for their own use. 523 00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:18,600 Once people became settled that's when cats began to move into that environment 524 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:22,080 and began to adapt themselves to that human environment, 525 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:24,560 and then from there, they eventually evolved 526 00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,080 into the domestic animals they we have today. 527 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:32,120 So in that sense, you can say that cat domesticated human. 528 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:37,160 He came over to where the humans were and took advantage of what they-- 529 00:38:37,240 --> 00:38:39,320 The environment that we made. Yeah. 530 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:45,200 Some people think we domesticated cats 531 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:48,840 so they could control the rodents that ate our grain. 532 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:50,960 Professor Driscoll doesn’t agree. 533 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,400 He doesn't believe it was mice and rats that drew them into our homes, 534 00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,160 it was our garbage. 535 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:02,600 The scene we see here is one that’s played out here in Jerusalem 536 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,440 and other cities of the ancient Near East many thousands of times 537 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,160 over the last tens of millennia. 538 00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:13,520 You have cats that are making use of human waste and scraps, 539 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:16,160 essentially being fed by people. 540 00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:20,440 It's by this process that the wildcat was brought into human civilizations 541 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:24,160 and developed over time into the domestic cat that we have today. 542 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:29,040 Cats found our settlements a profitable place to hang out. 543 00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:32,920 So do cats catch mice and rats? 544 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,520 Yeah, certainly they do, and some of them are not bad at it, 545 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:38,520 but that's not why they were domesticated. 546 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:40,440 They were domesticated accidentally. 547 00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:42,960 When people at a later age decided 548 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:45,200 they really wanted to get rid of mice and rats, 549 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:49,760 they used dogs as specific hunters of vermin. 550 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:54,440 But what did we gain from this arrangement if it wasn’t vermin control? 551 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:58,800 Cats didn't have a purpose then, they don't have a purpose now. 552 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:00,600 I'm not sure they'll ever have a purpose, 553 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:04,600 but they're good pets, and that seems to have been enough 554 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:06,320 to bring them all the way around the world. 555 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:09,960 Perhaps we'll never know, 556 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:14,840 but those initial inter-species contacts grew into admiration and more. 557 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:21,600 The ancient Egyptians adored and even worshiped their cats. 558 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:28,200 Egypt was the first place that cats were bred in captivity. 559 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,280 It's a place where domestic cats lived in high enough density 560 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:35,200 that they're well represented in artwork and archaeological remains 561 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:37,360 throughout common people's houses. 562 00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:43,920 When cats were first domesticated, probably for half of their domestication, 563 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:47,400 maybe the first five thousand years, they would have all looked like wildcats. 564 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:51,720 That is the striped tabby. That's the wild type coat color. 565 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,640 The first changes in the cat's coat color 566 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:56,520 were probably the appearance of black cats, 567 00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,520 which is just, in fact, the absence of color. 568 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:03,200 The coat goes black because the genes creating the tabby pattern 569 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:04,800 don't work properly anymore. 570 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:07,920 And that probably occurred in Egypt early on. 571 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:15,640 So you find very few cats or records of cats outside of early Egypt at that time. 572 00:41:15,720 --> 00:41:20,400 However, the City of Alexandria was a very large port city in the ancient world, 573 00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:26,040 and cats were able to spread from ancient Egypt throughout all of Europe 574 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,240 and North Africa in a very brief period of time. 575 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,400 [cats meowing] 576 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:35,040 And so domestic cats boarded ships that would carry them 577 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:38,600 from their Mid-Eastern birthplace to every continent on the planet. 578 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:45,200 As they spread around the globe, new coat colors appeared, 579 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:49,640 one of them closely linked to, of all things, the Vikings. 580 00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:50,760 [meows] 581 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:54,800 Somewhere along the line, 582 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:59,000 some population of Vikings decided they liked orange cats. 583 00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:03,600 Why orange cats were favored is not clear. 584 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:05,280 They're not any better mousers. 585 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:07,880 They're not any more adept at living on boats. 586 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:12,000 But what you find is that the frequency of orange cats 587 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,560 is higher where the Vikings were trading. 588 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:21,920 Ginger or orange cats are still most common 589 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:26,480 exactly in those areas where the Vikings most frequently made landfall. 590 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:36,320 Over time new coat colors appeared and spread, most often by ship. 591 00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:40,440 I think one of the best coat-color variations that we know about, 592 00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:44,760 where there is an association between trade routes and a coat color, 593 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:47,920 is with the blotched tabby. 594 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:53,320 And we know that, that mutation arose in Great Britain in the early 1800s. 595 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:58,480 That was the beginning both of modern cat breeding and the cat show. 596 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:08,160 Cat breeding has been going on for over a century now of actually breeding true. 597 00:43:08,240 --> 00:43:11,800 So crossing like with like, forming breeds which, 598 00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:14,600 essentially where the offspring look just like the parents. 599 00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:24,160 And these have been essentially formed from 600 00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:28,560 a number of different street cats from different parts of the world. 601 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:32,680 Unlike dogs that were bred for a wide range of jobs 602 00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:36,080 and so come in all different sizes and shapes, 603 00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:39,400 cats didn’t have any special tasks to accomplish. 604 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:44,200 And the variation has really just been in appearance. 605 00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:46,040 Some of it's to do with the head shape, 606 00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:48,440 obviously you have some of the breeds like the Persians 607 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:50,320 with the very flattened face. 608 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:57,120 You have a great number of variations of coat color and length. 609 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:05,280 So many of these breeds are really superficially different from 610 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:10,360 your average pet cat rather than being very different functionally. 611 00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:13,680 Some of us prefer a particular coat color, 612 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:16,040 thinking it's linked to certain behaviors. 613 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:22,360 Many believe that orange cats are easy-going and friendly, 614 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:25,400 while white cats are lazy or shy 615 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,880 and calicos are thought to be feisty or difficult. 616 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:35,840 Calicos are somewhat renowned for their temperaments. 617 00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:38,440 They make wonderful, wonderful pets. 618 00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:42,320 But they don't tend to adjust very well to new environments and new people. 619 00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:45,360 But the connection between genes, 620 00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,160 coat color, and behavior is far from clear. 621 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:50,880 There is some genetic link. 622 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:54,360 The genes haven't been isolated, so nobody knows for sure. 623 00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:58,840 But the how's and why's of temperament are increasingly important. 624 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,200 Cats are instinctively solitary predators 625 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:06,320 who patrol the hunting ground around their homes. 626 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:12,080 Now we want them to stay indoors, not hunt, and to live with other animals. 627 00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:16,680 Perhaps the most serious misconception that people have of their cats, 628 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:19,880 at least as far as its impact on the cat is concerned, 629 00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,280 is this idea that cats get along. 630 00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:28,520 That having one cat is good, having two cats could not be anything but better. 631 00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:30,520 Now it may be better for the owner, 632 00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:33,960 but the likelihood is that it's not going to be better for the cats. 633 00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:38,160 That if they're not introduced to one another very carefully, 634 00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:42,480 then those two cats will end up being more stressed 635 00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:47,000 for the rest of their lives than they would have been if they lived apart. 636 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,800 For every household where cats happily co-exist, 637 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:54,280 there are many others where our pets suffer 638 00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:56,280 because of the proximity of rivals. 639 00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:04,360 Living with other cats is not the most difficult demand we are suddenly placing 640 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:06,760 on the instincts of our favorite pets. 641 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:11,360 There's no doubt we love them. 642 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:15,400 But there are some behaviors that most of us could do without. 643 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,960 Where we once took pride in their talents as hunters, 644 00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:24,760 now we are ashamed of their seemingly ferocious nature. 645 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:32,680 [wings fluttering] 646 00:46:37,240 --> 00:46:40,960 It's certainly true that cats have been getting a lot of bad press recently 647 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:44,560 in terms of their role as hunters, as surplus killers, 648 00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:48,920 animals which go out and kill for the fun of it as people would have it. 649 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:52,040 The first thing to dispel is that they're not doing it for the fun of it. 650 00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:55,920 They're doing it because it’s a piece of very instinctive behavior 651 00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:58,080 that they've inherited from their wild ancestors. 652 00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:00,640 And more than that, during domestication, 653 00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:03,040 we've actually encouraged them to continue to do that. 654 00:47:04,240 --> 00:47:07,160 And there is concern about the long term effects 655 00:47:07,240 --> 00:47:10,520 of our cats on wildlife populations. 656 00:47:10,600 --> 00:47:15,400 However, Bradshaw thinks that our pets are only a small part of the problem. 657 00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:19,040 He believes a larger part may be due to feral cats. 658 00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:23,880 But nevertheless, a dead bird is a dead bird. 659 00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:27,760 I think you have to admit that cats are doing something which is unnecessary 660 00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:30,600 It may not be permanently damaging to the populations, 661 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:33,840 but if you are concerned for the welfare of wildlife, 662 00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:37,440 and many people are, then cats are not really doing the right thing. 663 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:41,000 A lot of slaughter or a little? 664 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:44,480 Can’t we just eliminate it by keeping our cats inside 665 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:48,760 where they will also be safe from predators, fights, and traffic? 666 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:52,880 There's a really big debate on whether 667 00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:55,560 people should keep their cats indoors or outdoors. 668 00:47:55,640 --> 00:48:00,840 And certainly outdoors will provide the cat with more environmental enrichment, 669 00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:05,680 in terms of being able to explore the outdoor environment. 670 00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:08,560 The problem with being an outdoor cat, I would say, is that there are 671 00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:10,640 significantly more health risks out there, 672 00:48:10,720 --> 00:48:13,440 so they are more likely to get attacked by other animals, 673 00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:18,400 they are more likely to get into fights with other cats, they can get hit by cars. 674 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:24,320 Asking our cats to stay indoors is not as straightforward as it seems. 675 00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:29,080 We expect them to be happy and the reality is because they are hunters, 676 00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:32,600 they need to have stimulation, they need to be doing things, 677 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:36,200 and what's happening now is we're starting to recognize that 678 00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:39,480 they're anxious or bored in their indoor environment. 679 00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:44,840 For thousands of years, we had a mutual understanding, a contract. 680 00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:48,440 Suddenly we want to rewrite the terms. 681 00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:54,120 We are asking these territorial creatures to tolerate other animals, 682 00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:57,600 live happily inside, and abandon hunting. 683 00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:02,320 We're expecting the cat to make a big change from being essentially 684 00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:04,480 a predator that we kept in our homes 685 00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:06,320 and got some companionship from 686 00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:11,560 as a secondary function to being an animal which is first and foremost a companion 687 00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:14,920 and really nothing else, and we don't want it to go hunting. 688 00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:20,480 I think the cat, if it's going to persist as a popular companion animal, 689 00:49:20,560 --> 00:49:22,480 is going to have to change in some way. 690 00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:30,480 The key to the survival of the domestic cat may already be in their genes. 691 00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:35,520 If their wild nature is hard wired, so is their adaptability. 692 00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:42,960 It’s made our 10,000 year long journey together possible. 693 00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:49,840 They've thrived under our thatched roofs, in our palaces, barns, and apartments. 694 00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:52,840 And it will guarantee these little lions 695 00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:56,880 a comfortable place in our lives for a long time to come.