Friday Cat Blogging

by Bryan

10 comments

1 hipparchia { 04.27.12 at 7:29 am }

thus confirming my long-held suspicion that social animals [cats, wolves, lions, horses, elephants, …] pick their leaders, and will avoid, whenever they have the chance, the ill-tempered, the self-centered, and the psychopathic, and nominate the strong, brave, intelligent and steady ones.

then again, maybe they’re all just superstitious about that little lightning-strike-shaped mark on her forehead.

2 jams o donnell { 04.27.12 at 8:21 am }

That didn’t take long to sort.I bet she is a bruiser! Meanwhile the Boris protest continues!

3 ellroon { 04.27.12 at 10:23 am }

I hope the deposing of the queen and crowning of the new one came about without too much yowling and loss of fur…

4 Steve Bates { 04.27.12 at 10:58 am }

Froggie looks bulky enough to enforce her decisions. Does she still go a-courtin’?

@hipparchia: 😈 … if only humans showed similar wisdom…

5 hipparchia { 04.27.12 at 12:55 pm }

… if only humans showed similar wisdom…

😈 indeed

6 Bryan { 04.27.12 at 5:19 pm }

When Tonto passed there were five females outside, but Tip and Ringo don’t get involved in ‘family’ matters, and Ms Underhouse is too young, so it was really between Froggie and Lucrezia. As noted before, Lucrezia doesn’t get along with anyone, so Froggie was left with the job. The only question was if Lucrezia would start trouble, but she made the wise decision of not trying to contest the will of the other females, who had made their own decision that Lucrezia was not acceptable.

While the alpha female is expected to maintain discipline, she can’t function without support. No single female can’t win against a group, and female cats, unlike toms, will hunt and fight as a group.

The alpha tom by contrast is decided by individual ‘combat’, although the actual fighting involved is normally a very brief battle after an extended exchange of ‘arias’ explaining how tough the tom ‘singing’ is. It is misleading to characterize two women fighting as a ‘cat fight’, as cat fights are almost always between toms or kittens.

7 Steve Bates { 04.27.12 at 10:23 pm }

“… an extended exchange of ‘arias’…”

ROTFL! I’ve heard toms that truly sounded as if they were vying for the role of understudy for the late great Pavarotti…

8 Bryan { 04.27.12 at 11:16 pm }

Pavarotti is an apt choice, as toms tend to be tenors, or even countertenors in some cases. Dot had a much lower range than Sox. I assume it has a purpose in these contests, as in giving some advantage to toms with a higher range. It might be perceived as louder and/or more threatening. They certainly give it their all during a ‘performance’.

9 oldwhitelady { 04.29.12 at 9:19 am }

Froggy is certainly a pretty cat! That’s a great picture of her. I guess all cat groups need a leader. I’m sure she didn’t tell them she would lower taxes. She just wanted to get the food first. That’s quite interesting about female cats hunting & fighting in a group. I did not know that!

10 Bryan { 04.29.12 at 12:18 pm }

The group thing is how it works among most of the wild cats, large and small, that form groups. The females are territorial and form groups to protect their hunting area. There would be no point in forming a group if it didn’t work together to provide food and protection for the group.

The alpha female also provides the scent marker for the group to identify each other, so she has to put up with a lot of ‘cheek rubbing’.