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From: rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: net.pets
Subject: Re: The six senses of a cat
Message-ID: <93@opus.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 1-Oct-85 04:04:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: opus.93
Posted: Tue Oct  1 04:04:09 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 6-Oct-85 04:46:07 EDT
References: <160@cadsys.UUCP>
Organization: NBI,Inc, Boulder CO
Lines: 39

> I am very interested in how other mammals' perception of the world
> differ from ours. In particular, that of the cat, since I have one whose
> behavior never ceases to amaze me. I read in net.bizarre that cats are
> deaf and partly blind - in the sense that they cannot hear and that they
> cannot see stationary things.  Net.bizarre posters are not the most
> reliable source of scientific authority,...

Which, as you know, is a delicate understatement.  Cats have extremely
sensitive hearing compared to humans.  They are COLOR-blind (as far as we
can tell).  They are comparatively nearsighted, although they can detect
motion very well at longer distances.  They have a good sense of smell.

> P.S. This may sound utterly stupid - but, does any one knows if cats
> communicate, besides body-language, among themselves? 

Well, spraying is a form of communication.  You could even call it a form
of written communication with SUBSTANTIAL duration.

There is a small vocabulary of sounds that cats use to communicate.  They
include at least:
	- kitten's "distress" call to mama
	- various growls and shrieks in territorial battles; there are
	  several which indicate progress and status (challenge, anger,
	  fear, grudging submission,...)
	- chattering sound indicating prey being stalked
	- meow of distress
There are various others.  The chatter seems to be mostly something between
the cat and the prey--I suspect it's an attempt at mimicry but I don't
really know--but it does call other cats.  The distress meow can be very
similar to a cat's normal meow but other cats recognize it because they
come to see what's going on and sniff at the animal in distress.  Some cats
also have an assortment of play sounds which other cats may recognize.

I would have mentioned purring, but I don't know that cats use it to
communicate with one another--it works quite well for communicating to
humans, however.
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind.


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