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Cats know Physics.

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Cats have always been amazing creatures especially for the fact that many of us prefer to have one as a pet. These animals are not only beautiful, but they make a great companion especially if you feel lonely.

Recent research has shown that cats are also highly intelligent creatures. In other words, these felines can understand some laws of physics such as the principle of cause and effect.

A team of researchers from Japan made a study in which they involved 30 domestic cats to establish what will be their reaction when some boxes were shaken in front of them. The boxes were empty, or they had an invisible object which the felines had to anticipate.

Furthermore, scientists tried to see if cats could distinguish whether a box is empty or full based on the sound made by the container. Therefore, the team observed the animals repeatedly to make sure that there was no coincidence in their responses.

According to Saho Takagi, lead researcher from Kyoto University in Japan, the boxes were shaken in front of the 30 felines with and without producing a sound.

Plus, the researchers also flipped the boxes during the experiment so the cats could see which of the containers was carrying an object. Based on the results, the boxes that made a rattling sound and had an object plus the silent containers that were empty were related to physics.

In addition to this, the boxes from which an object was dropped and the empty boxes of which no object fell complied with the laws of physics.

It is also worth mentioning that cats stared for a longer period at boxes that made a rattling sound meaning that they were aware that there was something inside the container based on the noise.

Plus, they also stared more when a box was turned over with a falling object meaning that cats also anticipated the content correctly. Furthermore, it is even simpler for these domestic felines because they do not rely on theoretical information. They simply figure out the place where an object is hidden based on a causal-logical understanding of sounds.

These skills help cats and other felines to hunt, especially at night time when their vision is limited. Despite the fact that cats have a much better night vision than humans, they still have to rely mostly on sounds when they hunt at the cover of darkness.

Image Source:Petful

Predator cats and foxes are on the verge of creating a new calamity: mammal species in Australia are being wiped off the surface of this planet. Experts actually call this strange phenomenon:“extinction calamity.” Foxes and cats brought mostly from Europe by the initial settlers are causing an unprecedented fast extinction rate. These phenomena are usually caused by human hunt or loss of habitat. But with the Australian mammals things stand differently.

“A further 56 Australian land mammals are now threatened, indicating that this extremely high rate of biodiversity loss is likely to continue unless substantial changes are made,”

said the leader of the research, conservation biologist John Woinarski.

This study was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday. It basically proves that over 10% of the land mammal species endemic to Australia have been wiped out since the European settlement took place, back in 1788. 21% of the mammals are currently endangered, but not yet extinct.

In order to discover the cause of the massive and rapid extinction, scientists tracked the fate of all the country’s land and marine mammals ever since the first European settlers initially arrived in Australia. And much to their surprise they found the decline coincided with two animals arrival onto the Australian land: the feral cat, which was brought by sailors to Australia on ships as they kept the on-board rat populations at a low range, along with red foxes, which were brought to the continent for hunting.

The scientists explained that seven species that used to be widespread on the Australian land now only live on islands that haven’t been colonised by cats or foxes. Moreover they also found that unlike the rest of the world, where the risk of extinction is affecting much larger animals, the Australian mammals that are being killed to extinction are rather small, just a perfect meal size for a cat or a fox.

Another culprit identified by scientists regarding the mammals’ extinction rate is the different way in which the nation’s wildfires are handled and managed. Meaning that during the past years, indigenous Australians used to set small fires on a regular basis, fires that burned away dry brush, which is a perfect tinder for wildfires. But this practice is no longer common today, and therefore wildfires have a tendency to ignite more frequent and to spread more widely, making the mammals lose their food sources and compelling them to hide in places that protect them from the hungry cats and foxes.

Cats Are Good At Physics

Cats and Foxes Behind Australia’s Mammal Extinctions

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