Why do cats bear a grudge against dogs?

Cats and dogs are downright enemies. Although they can often get along with human beings independently, the hatred between them seems to be innate. Scenes of cats and dogs fighting and breaking up in discord can be seen everywhere, but why are cats and dogs at odds? According to DPA, recently, harald schliemann, a zoologist at the University of Hamburg, Germany, pointed out that the main reason for the discord between cats and dogs is the poor communication between them, but the fundamental reason is the brutal competition for survival resources in the long-term evolution process.

"Cats and dogs are natural enemies" seems to be a conclusion, and even fairy tales say that cats are wrong, saying that cats' insidious treachery has made dogs treated unfairly, thus sowing the seeds of hatred.

In real life, whenever cats and dogs meet, they really don't behave very well. As soon as the two animals meet, it seems that there must be a kind of tension. In fact, even if they live under the same roof since childhood, it is difficult for them to get along well. Either the cat glared at the dog or the dog barked at the cat.

Both cats and dogs have their own code words, including 170 kinds of barking, but cats have very rich facial expressions.

Zoologists have found that cats and dogs have their own "secret language", and they can express various meanings by changing their bodies and barking. Dog barks can be divided into 170 kinds, and all kinds of barks express different meanings:

The short and continuous "woof, woof" sounds like "come and play with me"; Just saying "Wang" means "open the door, I want to go out", or "let's go for a walk", or "I'm hungry, give me a sausage to eat".

For dogs, body language means more than barking. When a dog wags its tail, or its forelegs are raised and it only lands on its hind legs, it means that it is happy now. The dog rolled in front of people, indicating that "you are my master and I will listen to you".

Compared with 170 kinds of dog barks, cat barks are monotonous.

At present, researchers have only figured out the meanings of several sounds: a "meow" means "hello, I'm coming"; Two meows mean "I want to eat", or "open the door and let me out", or "look at me".

Like dogs, cats have rich body language. When it gently rubs your pants with its head, it is saying "I trust you very much, I like you, come and play with me"; When it gently hits you with its tail, it means "I'm tired of waiting, can you hurry up"; When its feet switch back and forth, it means that it is happy now.

Zoologists in Yugoslavia also found that cats communicate more languages with rich facial expressions, and they can express various meanings with the movements of muscles in different parts such as nose, cheeks, ears and forehead.

In addition, the expansion and contraction of the cat's pupil also have different meanings.

For example, a cat's ears droop to a horizontal line and its pupils shrink, which is a sign of melancholy. A cat's beard can also play the role of communication. When its beard is straight in one direction, it is saying "I feel good" or "I like you so much".

Cats and dogs make enemies mainly because their life habits are very different from "emotional expression", or even the opposite.

Harald schliemann, a zoologist at the University of Hamburg, Germany, believes that the contradiction between cats and dogs is mainly due to the great difference between their living habits and "emotional expression", or even the fundamental opposite, so that one party's good intentions are often misunderstood as malice.

For example, Sherman said that if a cat turns its tail to you, it means it is showing you kindness; And if a dog turns its tail to you, it means it is hostile to you. Similarly, if a cat makes a wheezing sound, it is a pleasant invitation to people, and when a dog is panting, you have to stay away because they are really angry.

Dr. Menzel, director of the Institute of Zoology in Kilnitheim, Israel, also conducted a similar study. In order to carry out the experiment, Dr. Menzel found a Spanish long-haired dog named Abby and a German short-haired male cat named Jim. Both the cat and the dog are about one year old. They have lived in the same kind since birth and have never met each other. At the beginning of the experiment, they were kept in the same spacious laboratory, which eliminated the strangeness. After a period of adaptation, they all had the intention of "playing with each other".

However, a series of misunderstandings followed, with serious consequences. In order to express its intention of "playing together", Abby stretched out a front paw and shook her tail vigorously. This is entirely out of the traditional habits of dogs. Here, the action of sticking out the dog's paw is not a gesture of begging for mercy, but the dog's innate language, which means "give me something to eat" or "play with me", but in the cat's language, it means the opposite. It means: "Go away! Or I'll scratch you with my claws! " So Jim, the male cat, immediately became alert and prepared for the battle. After a long time, it didn't take much effort to find a long-haired dog. Perhaps in order to ease the atmosphere, he took the initiative to express his "goodwill" to the dog-it made a comfortable "purring" sound and wanted to play with Abby. But for dogs, this is a threatening language, which means "let me go or I'll bite you". This time, the cat's language and the dog's meaning are completely different. Although this cat and dog have a good wish to get along well, all their efforts have been wasted because of the language barrier.

The hostile state of cats and dogs for thousands of years is mainly the brutal competition for survival resources in the long-term evolution process.

However, Sheriman's theory holds that things are far from simple. He believes that the long-term hostile relationship between cats and dogs is mainly due to the brutal competition for survival resources in the long-term evolution process. "In fact, behind the dispute between cats and dogs, there is far more than such a misunderstanding."

Sheriman pointed out that this is a profound hostile state with thousands of years of history, so it is necessary to consider returning to the survival background of cats and dogs in the wild. The ancestors of cats and dogs were early carnivores who lived about 65 million years ago, but later they gradually evolved into cats and dogs along two tracks.

Cats and dogs at that time were not like today. They are not much different in size, with long bodies and short limbs, and 44 powerful teeth in the upper and lower jaws. Cats and dogs are sophisticated killers, specializing in hunting small herbivores. Because they prey on the same prey, they often fight for food. Since then, due to the rapid evolution of dogs, as early as10.5 million years ago, dogs have become human partners, while cats have experienced longer and harder efforts than dogs and left the wild world about 9,000 years ago. Because of this, dogs have an advantage over cats. In all kinds of cat and dog wars, dogs always win more and lose less.

Hostile relationships between cats and dogs, such as old enemies, are common in wild animals.

Sheriman pointed out that there are many hostile relationships in wild animals similar to the old enemies of cats and dogs. For example, for wolves or foxes and wild cats, there is also deep hatred between them and lynx; For lions and leopards, when they meet in a narrow way, they often fight.

The reason why they are wronged is that in the process of evolution, they have unfortunately formed some basically the same tastes and hobbies, that is to say, the prey they kill is often the same, so there is simple and direct competition between these wild animals.

"The resulting animal hostility is not uncommon in nature," Sheriman said. For animals raised as pets in human families since childhood, their hostility will be improved, but this hostility is still deeply buried in the subconscious, and living habits as pets only inhibit the aggression of both sides.

Sheriman believes that animals "a leopard cannot change his spots". He also made a similar comment on the news that a mother tiger and a baby pig lived in harmony in a zoo in Bangkok at the beginning of the year: "They are essentially in conflict. If the tigress is hungry, or if the pig plays too much and annoys the tigress, the tigress's hunting nature may reappear. "