"Ever since I started working from home, my cat has turned my makeshift office corner into his personal physics laboratory. Just yesterday, while I was in the middle of a video call, he deliberately pushed my favorite coffee mug off the desk-maintaining eye contact the entire time. The crash was spectacular, the cleanup less so, and my coworkers got a good laugh. But it got me thinking: why do cats seem to take such delight in sending our belongings tumbling to the floor?"
"At the core of this table-clearing behavior lies something primal: the hunting instinct. Even though your indoor cat has never had to catch a mouse for dinner, those predatory drives are still hardwired into their DNA. When your cat bats at that pen on your desk, they're essentially practicing their hunting skills. In the wild, cats use their paws to test if prey is alive, to stun small animals, or to manipulate objects to better understand them."
Indoor cats frequently bat and push pens, mugs, phones, and glasses toward edges until they fall, often maintaining eye contact during the act. This behavior originates from hardwired predatory drives that persist despite a domesticated lifestyle. Pawing mimics hunting techniques used to test if prey is alive, to stun, or to manipulate objects for assessment. Rapid movement, clattering, rolling, and bouncing mimic escaping prey and trigger a cat's prey drive. Targeting items that move interestingly provides sensory feedback and practice of hunting skills rather than deliberate malice.
Read at Silicon Canals
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