Have you wondered if domestic cats understand the difference between a moving picture on a screen and real life action? It is a bit like the conundrum as to whether cats know when they are looking in a mirror that they are looking at themselves (they don’t get it!). Well this video proves that this cat (and he probably represents all domestic cats) does not understand that he is looking at television images and not ‘real’ current events. It is a good example of this.
No One Has Ever Caught A TV Cat… Yet.😾#FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/6QBYajw9lZ
— ∼Marietta (@MariettaDaviz) January 4, 2019
It makes me wonder why cats don’t understand that TV presents artificial images rather than real life. One factor will be that cats don’t understand the concept of human technology. We know that technology is behind the creation of the television. It turns on intelligence but we shouldn’t say that cats are less intelligence than humans. I don’t think it is sensible to compare intelligence between different species of animal. It is comparing apples to oranges. Just my viewpoint.
My Frog actually asks in cat speak to play games on my tablet. Her actual perception is up in the air but she certainly interacts with the objects.
All of my cats love their bird DVDs. Without fail they will at first jump at the screen, Then pat and then look behind the TV. The new high tech high resolution TVs make it even more interesting for them. Now they simply plop down on the sofa and watch. They adapt. There is no such mitigation for the birds when the windows are open. They hunt them relentlessly through the safety screens. The real birds also adapt often to the point of taunting my indoor fluffies.
My cats respond to cat video more though the sounds cats make. I have a picture of Little Mercy trying to pick up the newborn kittens while we were watching a live birth. Even though she was spayed by the shelter at less than two months and taken from the feral colony at 4 weeks she has a strong mothering instinct.
No real point here just observations of my own cats.
I can’t see this on twitter, but my opinion is that it’s a little more nuanced or situational. While cats certainly don’t understand the technology of television imaging, I’ve seen cats do two things: either believe it’s another cat not themselves, or just some weird trick, both real and fake; self awareness seems to be too difficult but what do we expect them to do, comb their hair? I’ve seen them watch TV and even look behind the tv for what seems to be in there, but they’ll watch cartoons too and they’re obviously not natural. I’ve also seen them ignore what’s on TV even though they probably should believe it’s real, like another cat or animal. So I don’t know. I don’t think they do either, only that if it doesn’t smell or react to them, whatever it is it’s not worth chasing or thinking about. It’s just harmless trickery. It seems to be real, but it’s not real enough and inconsequential, and that’s as much sense as they can make of it.
Can you see it on PoC, Albert?
I don’t see it on PoC, but I can view it on twitter now, thanks.