For years cats have had some kind of predatory behavior inside of them. Bird calls can be heard every day by humans and animals, but how an organism reacts to the sound of a bird can vary. Humans are able to identify more varieties of birds than cats, but cats are still able to distinguish between a local bird and a non-local bird. Cats respond more often to local birds than non-local birds, due to cats hearing local birds more frequently than non-local birds.
We first need to look at the predatory behaviors that occur in cats when local birds are apparent in their area. An experiment done by Peter Blancher tested the number of birds killed by house cats. Blancher set up his experiment so that house cats got a chance to hunt at least once a day. After the experiment, he concluded that house cats are responsible for 100-350 million deaths per year in Canada alone (Blancher, Peter Avian Conservation Ecology ,N.p. 2013. Web. 19 Mar, 2014). The experiment showed that house cats have predatory instincts and behaviors despite being inside a house for most of their lives. The behavior occurs when a cat sees or even hears a bird or other prey; cat’s poses these behaviors despite being an indoor or outdoor cat.
Stimulus response is a neurological energy pattern that is apparent when light or sound and is registered by the senses inside the organism. These energy patterns can help determine the organism’s behavioral reaction towards the specific light or sound. Kelly McGinnis tested thirty-two cats responding to different bird calls; one local bird call and two non-local bird calls. She hypothesized that the cats would be able to respond better to local birds compared to non-local birds. She found that the cats responded more to the loca...
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...and sound in their environment as well. A cat’s body language is a result of its mood from a change in its environment like hearing a bird call. Cats will point its ears up and look inventively if they hear a bird call or any other noise that would spark their curiosity. All of these different senses combined with utilizing a variety of body parts, help to determine how a cat recalls and responds to bird calls. A cat can recall and easily identify a local bird call as opposed to a non-local bird call.
Works Cited
http://www.ace-eco.org/vol8/iss2/art3/ http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/MamBio_p017.shtml#background http://library.thinkquest.org/C0126246/curiosity/need_whiskers.htm http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/aggression-cats http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/cat_communication.html
The birds attack in the same way also. They come through the house, peck at the windows, and try to come through the doors. They succeed in coming through upstairs in both the film and the short story.
...C3Rs - Primate sensory capabilities and communication signals: implications for care and use in the laboratory. NC3Rs - National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://www.nc3rs.org.uk/news.asp?id=187
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