Mary Allen
One hunts with pleasure and a lot, the other hardly bat an eyelash at the sight of a mouse. Is the hunting behavior of our velvet paws instinctive or learned?
One might think that after being kept indoors as pets for generations, cats would no longer have any hunting ambitions. After all, the calories they need are usually served regularly and in bite-sized chunks – and all this without any risk or energy expenditure. Nevertheless, even purely indoor cats are often clever and enthusiastic hunters.
“In terms of evolution, nature created our cat as a born hunter,” says Katrin Held, a behavioral and nutritional consultant for cats from Adliswil ZH. From the whiskers to the touch-sensitive paws to the tongue, a cat’s body is a single hunting instrument. The tongue is not only used for grooming but also to scrape the meat from the bones of their prey.
Killing Needs to be Learned
Their original hunting instinct shapes our cats to this day. The velvet paws have also retained the preference of their wild ancestors to go hunting, especially at dusk and dawn. “They align themselves with the time when their prey is active – even if it’s only in their own four walls,” says Held.
It is true that the nature of the cat has given the hunting instinct in the cradle. But while one kills several birds or rodents every day, the other does not even raise her pretty predatory paw when a mouse hisses by. This is where environmental influences come into play: rearing and individual irritability are just as important as a good classroom. “Killing and eating are often taught by the mother in outdoor cats,” says Held. But even without maternal training, sooner or later cats would become good hunters. “The cat has already received individual elements as the actual basic equipment with the genes, but each cat has to learn the combination of individual movement elements individually.” The cat learns its “craft” in the first year of life – preferably in the wild. This is the only way she will later be able to kill her favorite prey.
At home, if you want to be a good hunter, practice playing games. Because the game is about, among other things, the training of this primal instinct. “For cats, playing means hunting prey. This is how the cat perfects its hunting strategy,” explains the cat expert. The cat doesn’t think much of chasing, it’s more about reaching the goal with as little energy as possible. A soft spot for certain prey animals is also evident here. Every cat has different playing preferences. “There are cats that even like playing with small or larger balls; they play football or fetch.”
Hunting is Not the Same as Hunting
This individuality is particularly evident in the wild. According to expert Held, there are a bird, mouse, reptile, and insect hunters among cats. The individual cat is not equally successful with every prey. The prey preferences were usually based on the “skills” of the individual cat. For example, there are many cats that hunt birds but would never catch a bird because of their lack of coordination in their hunting strategy. Others dig up slowworms just to watch them. True to the motto: I could if I wanted to.
The complexity of factors comes into play in the development of such preferences. “Available resources, the residential area and also the mood of the day as well as the personal interests of a cat play a role here,” says Held. The little shrew is often easier to catch than a nimble bird. “Hunting a bird usually requires perfect planning, whereas a mouse often just comes out of the hole when it’s raining.” According to Held, even the laziest cat is successful here.
Sometimes it is just a trigger that encourages the cat to hunt. As a predator, that’s in their nature. Success is secondary here. Some are particularly brave and dare to approach animals that are larger than themselves, such as rabbits or chickens. In addition, a cat can even be proud of large prey. “Last but not least, the taste of the prey is important,” says Held.
Not every cat kills its catch to eat it. “Many domestic cats have inhibitions about the death bite,” says Held. Because cats are predators, but not pure killers. There is often a lack of stimulus: “The longer a cat has not had an opportunity to kill, the greater the stimulus must be later.” Then the cat is more likely to play the prey to death. The catch is rarely greedily devoured on the spot. Most cats carry their prey home – dead or alive, depending on their personal passion. “There is their safe core territory, where they can devote themselves fully to their prey or just want to proudly show off their trophy,” says Held.