←back to thread

Cats are (almost) liquid

(www.cell.com)
341 points lnyan | 1 comments | 17 Oct 24 11:43 UTC | HN request time: 0.204s | source
Show context
move-on-by ◴[17 Oct 24 15:47 UTC] No.41870772[source]▶
> While dogs slowed down and hesitated before they attempted to use an uncomfortably small opening, in the case of cats, we did not detect this change in their behavior before their attempt to go through even the narrowest openings. However, remarkably, cats showed hesitation both before they attempted to penetrate the shortest openings, and while they moved through it.

I just skimmed, but I didn’t see any mention whiskers. It’s seems to me that cats can make highly precise measurements of width just by sticking their heads in a space, but height judgments requires additional consideration.

replies(5): >>41870932 #>>41871106 #>>41871122 #>>41871149 #>>41877939 #
1. abanana ◴[18 Oct 24 10:19 UTC] No.41877939[source]▶
> Highly precise... requires additional consideration

You've just reminded me of watching the family cat when I was a child, wanting to squeeze himself into the gap between the end of a sofa and the wall. He tested the gap with his whiskers a couple of times - nope, too narrow. Then the lightbulb moment - he turned just his head sideways, and tested again. Plenty of room! So he rammed himself into the gap. And got stuck.