A study that seriously investigated whether cats' play is a fight or a game
When cats are punching or fighting each other, it may be difficult for the human eye to tell whether they are seriously fighting or just having fun. A study that seriously examined videos of cats revealed that there are different types of cat play, and that it may be possible for owners to tell the difference between them.
An ethical analysis of close-contact inter-cat interactions determining if cats are playing, fighting, or something in between | Scientific Reports
Gaidš Kmekova, a professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Slovakia, and his colleagues hypothesized that cat play potentially contains both 'playful' and 'hostile' elements. To test this hypothesis, Kumekova and her colleagues obtained cat videos from cat owners and YouTube, extracted six elements from cat behavior, including fighting, vocalization, and chasing, and determined how they behaved. We grouped the cats based on:
Excluding the cats for which experts disagreed, a total of 105 groups and 210 cats remained as the final sample, of which 118 were 'playful,' 60 were 'belligerent,' and 32 were 'intermediate.' It was classified as
When Kumekova and her colleagues compared these three groups, they found that fighting between cats was most closely associated with the 'playful' group, while vocalizations and chasing were associated with the 'belligerent' group. He said. From this, it can be said that when cats are meowing at each other, they may be in a hostile situation. On the other hand, since chasing is sometimes done as part of play, it is not possible to infer the situation between the two just by chasing.
According to Kumekova et al., fighting between cats is the most similar behavior to 'play', and the frequent and prolonged fighting is one of the reasons why cats are thought to be playing. Previous research has shown that when cats are in a seriously hostile situation, they avoid close physical contact and take defensive or aggressive behaviors that rarely involve direct contact. It is difficult to imagine that this would be linked to personal behavior. However, Kumekova et al. point out that the act of fighting alone should not be used as an indicator of playfulness, as fighting is a potentially aggressive behavior.
Based on the above, Kumekova et al. ``When cats are fighting each other without making a sound, there is a high possibility that they are playing, but on the other hand, when cats are making noise or chasing each other, it is likely that they are in a hostile situation.'' It is possible that there is,” he concluded.
However, Kumekova and her colleagues also emphasize that it is not possible to infer the relationship between cats based on a single event. Kumekova et al. ``Even if they fight, if they hug each other when sleeping or groom each other, there may be no need to worry about their relationship in the long term.'' However, if cats sleep close to each other but do not have their bodies in close contact with each other, or do not engage in 'allo-rubbing' where they rub their heads and bodies, both cats may be in a state of tension that poses risks to their physical and mental health. There is a gender,” he said.
With this discovery, it is possible that in the future owners will be able to understand the relationships between cats and better manage the relationships between cats. Kumekova and colleagues said, ``Future research will need to record the way cats look at each other, which we did not observe in this study, as well as ear and tail movements, head shaking, and lip licking.'' I did.
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