What do cats look like in our eyes?

It is gentle and cute, it is obedient, it is furry to touch, and it can be snuggled in your arms.

There are approximately more than 10 million cats in the UK, most of them concentrated in the southeast. The British BBC has a documentary called "The Secret Life of Cats".

John Bullard and Sarah Alice are two British cat scientists. After finding villages where cats gather more and are suitable for observation, they recorded 50 cats in the village for a week. life.

These 50 cats are of different ages, sizes and breeds. Scientists use cameras, cat cameras, and GPS locators to monitor the cats’ journeys 24 hours a day.

In this village, there are large lawns in public areas, many small gardens, hedges, farms and woods nearby, and almost every house has a cat hole on the door.

In our eyes, where will cats go when they leave the cat cave?

Prey? play? Or find a lawn to be alone.

In order to record the natural and real life videos of cats, wildlife tracking expert Alan Wilson designed a The collar is smaller and lighter than a wild animal collar, and has a 24-hour battery life.

With the cat tracker, researchers can observe the daily trajectories of cats. Some trajectories are long and repeatedly active, some are concentrated and dense, wandering around the house all the time, and some are gone. In the distant forest, some trajectory destinations are the neighbor's back garden and so on. Observation found that each cat’s whereabouts are different, and they have their own specific activity areas.

They usually go out at night and come home during the day. Will they go to the back garden? forest? Or a public area?

Scientists also gave a word called activity range. Suti, who lives near the village, has a large range of activities, about three hectares, and can walk two miles a day. This has a lot to do with the fact that he was a farm cat before.

The activity range of cats in the center of the village is more obvious. Male cats are about 100 meters away from home, and female cats have only half of their activity range. For cats living with a high density of cats, their travel ranges are about the same size as each other. Very similar. Most cats will patrol and wander not far from the cat cave, and the back garden is their favorite.

For further research, scientists selected 14 cats and equipped them with new cameras designed by Dr. Alice Sala and Arya Sheikh, which can not only take pictures at night, but also Their sounds can be recorded, and new cameras coupled with GPS locators allow you to observe where cats are and what they see from the world through their eyes.

So what do cats do when they're not patrolling the back garden?

Most cats in the village live near cat holes, so gravel paths, hedges, and gardens can easily become arenas for fighting. As the saying goes, "If a cat offends a cat, the cat will offend the cat." Cats also have their own territorial awareness, and their territory is smaller than their activity range.

Ginger's owners thought that their cat might play with birds, wander around, sleep, or Sunbathe in the sun.

Through the photos, Ginger does look carefree and calm.

However, scientists discovered through the trajectory map that Ginger’s itinerary was actually like this - after eating and leaving the cat cave, he first visited his back garden and then went to the public areas of the village. Go shopping, and then go to other people's back gardens to deliberately tease other cats, saying, "Cats can't be pretty!"

When Ginger encounters other cats on patrol, both parties will hiss, growl, and growl to keep a distance, and start running wildly to avoid confrontation. Scientists observed these 50 cats Many cats rarely fight, but they often confront each other and avoid confrontation. Ginger's itinerary is patrolling and maintaining a distance from each other.

Scientists are also asking questions about how they divide crowded territories; how they divide their time to avoid fronts; why they hunt less; and what impact we have on shaping cat behavior.

The activity range of 50 cats in the village will definitely inevitably overlap. So, will there be fights in the overlapping activity areas? In fact, cats like to have their own territorial space. In order to protect their territory, they will try to avoid getting hurt.

A resident was curious about why Kate and Phoebe often quarreled and had a bad relationship. By observing and tracking their tracks, they found that their activity areas often overlapped, but the amazing thing was that Kate often went out at night and occasionally during the day. Come out once; Phoebe's activity time is after lunch during the day, that is, one is at home and the other is outside, just like a shift system. They avoid confrontation tacitly, but if Kate goes out during the day, she may encounter Phoebe, and cats will appear. The confrontation as seen by the master.

Then the characteristic of overlapping activity areas of cats in the village is that they share the same area at different times.

How are shifts implemented?

It has been observed that cats secrete chemical signals and odors by rubbing their faces/paws on objects, that is, leaving marks for cats passing by, telling them when and where they came here. Cats can use the marks to Being aware that several cats have visited here will also reduce the number of confrontations.

Data observed that cats spend an average of 20% of their time leaving the cat hole, which means that most cats choose to be at home, thinking they are more free at home. In the past, human grazing was prone to rodent infestations. Rat poisons and sticky traps did not work. Raising cats can eliminate rodent infestations. On the same farm, cats need to be provided with food. David Hicks raised many of them in his cattle farm. Cat, for three or four years.

So are regional cats still wild?

In a week, researchers collected "hunting trophies" sent by cat owners. Out of 50 cats, on average, one cat had less than half a trophy in about a week.

By observing the daily trajectories of Keke, Potato Chips, and Claude, we found that they would visit Luo Xi’s home. An hour after Luo Xi finished eating at home, Claude appeared at Luo Xi’s house. He started to eat unscrupulously at home, and visited again in the afternoon of the next day to eat.

Surprisingly, other cats also eat each other's food. Stealing each other's food also reduces the cats' hunting wildness. We have changed the environment, and the cats' habits have also changed accordingly. Food is rich in nutrients. They don't need to hunt.

The decrease in wildness of many cats has once again been confirmed. There are six unrelated cats in Edward’s home. Most of them go out together, play together, and walk slowly together, and no one runs particularly fast. quick.

The editor would like to say that this documentary makes us realize that the social nature of cats is changing, becoming more like pets and more like friends. They will patrol and protect their owners' homes. Once a domestic cat is abandoned, it will be difficult for the cat that has lost its feral nature to survive. Maybe one day you will meet a stray cat on the road who will open the lid of the trash can.