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Related: About this forumCats rival dogs on many tests of social smarts. But is anyone brave enough to study them?
CORVALLIS, OREGONCarl the cat was born to beat the odds. Abandoned on the side of the road in a Rubbermaid container, the scrawny black kittenwith white paws, white chest, and a white, skunklike stripe down his nosewas rescued by Kristyn Vitale, a postdoc at Oregon State University here who just happens to study the feline mind. Now, Vitale hopes Carl will pull off another coup, by performing a feat of social smarts researchers once thought was impossible.
In a stark white laboratory room, Vitale sits against the back wall, flanked by two overturned cardboard bowls. An undergraduate research assistant kneels a couple of meters away, holding Carl firmly.
"Carl!" Vitale calls, and then points to one of the bowls. The assistant lets go.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/cats-rival-dogs-many-tests-social-smarts-anyone-brave-enough-study-them?et_rid=486754869&et_cid=2809095
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)with the finger pointing exercise and want to find out more.
But, as that article points out, research costs money and there just isn't enough around to look for anything more than weapons or profitable gadgets.
LakeArenal
(28,713 posts)He works me so well now.
Duppers
(28,094 posts)I adopted when he was a tiny stray wandering our townhouse neighborhood. Neighbors had no idea where he came from but didn't want him. Baby Silver was mostly Siamese. My older pure bred Siamese and her neurotic daughter shunned him but Silver and our Lab became fast friends. Where Kellie went, he went, even for car rides!
They reminded me of these 2 traveling companions, Henry and Baloo:
marybourg
(12,540 posts)returning to his own cushion when I pointed to it silently, after spotting him sitting on my chair. He does know his name, as well as the verbal and hand signals for come and stay. These were taught to him by his first owner, not by me. But he showed me what he knew when I said the words to him.