Why Do Vicious Killers Make Good Pets?

this episode has been brought to you by our super generous supporters on patreon cats they're so cute and cuddly and playful and they would absolutely murder you if given the opportunity beneath that wide-eyed cuddly veneer lies the blackened heart of a cold calculated killer every year in the United States cats kill literally billions of birds and small mammals sure there are only acting according to instinct but they have been listed as one of the 100 worst invasive species on the planet and free-ranging cats on Islands have been blamed for the global extinction of 33 different species though not as prolific as cats dogs can certainly be killers - close relatives of dogs like the grey wolf are among the most successful predators on the planet yet despite their insatiable bloodlust cats and dogs are by far the most popular pets in the world a recent survey by the American Pet Products Association estimates that there are a staggering 94 million pet cats and an 89 million pet dogs in the US alone that's like over half of the human population that is an insane amount of killers living among us but they're so cuddly and lovable the hold on a second could there perhaps be a connection here is there something about vicious killers that makes them good pets I never considered myself much of a cat person until I wound up with this guy his name is Rico full name Ricardo flopper Montalban named after the late great Mexican actor Corinthian leather of course why not the best and his hard flopping tendency yes I'm now officially a cat person while I was quickly entranced by his cuddliness and charm I couldn't help but get the feeling that the only reason he hasn't tried to kill me yet is because I give him food and because I massively outweigh him so is it possible that cat's proclivity for violence is in some way connected to their like ability as pets to answer this question let's take a look at why exactly we love cats so much aside from just their cuteness after hours of diligent research watching cat videos on the Internet I have broken down the human love for cats into several different categories of likeability first let's take a look at playfulness one of the first things I noticed after adopting Rico was that I couldn't just throw a ball and expect him to fetch it if I wanted to get him to play I had to simulate the experience of hunting as if the toy itself was a living creature that he could patiently stalk waiting for just the right moment to attack and there's a good reason for this behavior cats are obligate carnivores they need nutrients found in animal flesh to survive hunting is necessary for cats in the wild and the instinct to hunt hasn't gone away despite centuries of domestication it's been theorized that play is a way for adult cats to satisfy their urge to hunt and for kittens to develop their paw eye coordination strengthen their muscles and practice their pouncing skills which also happens to be very entertaining for their human counterparts so the fact that playtime for cats is essentially murder practice seems to support the hypothesis that vicious animals make good pets of course this isn't the only reason that humans love cats cuddliness turns out this is actually an important survival tool until a kitten is three weeks old they're unable to regulate their body temperature so they curl up with their mom and siblings for warmth and safety if a kitten is properly socialized and exposed to humans at a young age they will see us as potential snuggling partners as well of course lots of animals snuggle - not just carnivores like monkeys penguins and even this turtle hippo couple so cuddliness doesn't seem to be directly linked with murderous nacelle though it could also be a component of socialization and bonding other observable snuggly behavior like rubbing up against her leg and that head-butting thing is basically your cat's way of marking you with its scent this is called a low rubbing by combining its scent with yours your cat is basically acknowledging that you are part of its social group and reinforcing the group on an identity an old misconception about cats is that they are aloof loners that have been forced into cohabitation but that's not true cats are actually very social feral cats will naturally form tight colonies and female cats in the colony will often work together helping to raise and nurse each other's young but getting back to the original hypothesis what is the importance of social groups for predatory animals will it might actually have something to do with hunting we know that close relatives of dogs like wolves and coyotes are pack hunters cooperative hunting in the animal kingdom is actually quite rare and only occurs when the benefits of hunting in a group outweigh the benefits of hunting alone wolves lions wild dogs humans and even dolphins are cooperative hunters their success at hunting would not be possible without their advanced social skills and the close bond they share with other members of their group so is this our answer does cooperative hunting require socialization which makes certain animals good pets well there's a problem with this idea while lions are cooperative hunters most felines are not cats can hunt and capture mice perfectly fine by themselves also alligators and crocodiles sometimes hunting groups and they're not exactly great pet material so certain traits that make dogs and cats desirable pets do seem to originate from their predatory nature but as I'm sure many of you would point out that's not enough for a causal link so maybe instead of asking what makes cats and dogs good pets we should be asking why are cats and dogs pets in the first place it's hard to pin down exactly when humans begin domesticating dogs but DNA evidence suggests that it may have started as early as 40,000 years ago long before the invention of writing and the end of the last ice age one theory is that some packs of wolves began following around human hunting parties the wolves that were more comfortable around humans found a convenient food supply in the remains of kisses left behind by the hunters over time some of these wolves could have begun participating in hunts alongside humans helping them to take down prey and eventually becoming permanent hunting partners in fact the disappearance of Neanderthals began around the same time as a domestication of dogs it's possible that our early dog hunting companions gave us an evolutionary advantage allowing us to out-compete the Neanderthals and ultimately leading to their extinction okay so dogs helped human hunters but what about cats there's definitely a lot of evidence that cats were revered by humans from early civilizations like the ancient Egyptians but the first humans to tame wild cats were possibly the Natufian who lived in the eastern Mediterranean around 10,000 years ago the Natufian lived in a mostly sedentary society unlike their nomadic peers and are widely regarded as the inventors of Agriculture as the first agrarian society it would also have been the first to contend with the enemies of Agriculture and grain in particular mice the wild ancestors of house cats probably moved into early farm settlements to prey on the large mouse and rat populations ancient humans likely saw in cats an effective pest control system that also provided snuggles on occasion so dogs and cats are more than just pets they are a huge part of the evolutionary history of our species they helped us grow from nomadic hunter-gatherers to permanent settlers of agrarian society and none of this would have been possible without their mastery of murder their cuteness and cuddly has probably helped you who's a cuddly murderer you're a cuddly murderer yes you are big thanks to all of our patreon supporters for making this show possible if you want to help support the good stuff just check us out on patreon also if any of you guys are fans of low-budget sci-fi Zoar ridiculous comedies you should check out this other show that we're working on the show is called in space I can't say the name without bleeping it because it's not safe for work but it's pretty funny also starring good stuff producers craig benzine sam grant as the robot and matt also does the voice of the spaceship and now we're trying to raise a little money to help finance the show so if you guys could chip in a few bucks or share the campaign link with your friends that would be awesome thanks guys

Channel: The Good Stuff

Views: 1,935,975

Rating: 4.7733016 out of 5

Keywords: the good stuff, scishow, crash course, vsauce, idea channel, education, wheezy waiter, wheezywaiter, joe hanson, craig benzine, vlogbrothers, cats, pets, dogs

Id: 7JjjZUP8nnA

Length: 8min 0sec (480 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 08 2017