WEBVTT - Why do Cats get such a Bad Rap? 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.719 Guess what. Well, what's that, Mango? So I was looking 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:05.240 online and I found this description for a job that's 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:09.840 definitely not for us. Professional cat cutler. Yeah, I'd have 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:11.800 to agree with that. And first of all, why is 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.120 that a job? So? I have no idea. And this 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.040 posting is from late January this year and it was 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.160 put up by a cat's only veterinary clinic in Ireland. 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.320 But here's a list of some of the questions you'd 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:25.040 have to answer to see if this job is right 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.760 for you, and these are all real. Are you a 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:31.440 crazy cat person and love cats already? I'm thinking that's 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:37.239 all right. Does catitude come to you naturally? So I 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.519 wouldn't say we have high cattitude levels? Have you counted 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.480 kittens before you go to sleep? Do you feed stray 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:46.599 cats in your locality? Does pett and cats make you 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.920 warm and fuzzy? I mean, I gotta be honest, Mango, 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.120 I can't say that any of those sound like me. 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.640 So I can't think of a job you're less suited for. 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.279 And the job basically involves calming down skittish cats and 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.160 Mr me doggying them into a zen like space so 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:04.800 the vets can see them. But one of the biggest 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.200 criticisms of our show has been that we're not kind 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.120 enough to cats on the program. You are, of course 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.640 scared of them, and I have let's call it a 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.360 healthy respect for them. So I thought it was time 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:19.520 for a cat intervention, or a cattervention. We're gonna increase 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:21.560 our empathy of cats and try to understand them a 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.760 little better and maybe even call out some of their achievements, 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:26.880 and perhaps by the end of this all you and 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:29.400 I will be begging for that cat cuddling job. Well 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:31.600 I'm not sure I see that happening, but let's dive in. 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.320 Heay their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:58.560 Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.840 friend Man Guesho Ticketer and sitting behind that soundproof glass 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:05.480 surrounded by cat themed music albums, and there are far 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:07.520 more of these than I expected from him. But he's 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:13.160 got cat power. Cat Stevens, I think Latigre Acoustic Kitty 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:15.160 and I didn't see the album cover for this, but 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.360 I swear is that Garfields smooth Jazz I hear playing 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.200 in the background. It is so Tristan was showing me 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.200 this earlier. It's all Garfield inspired music, but my favorite 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.519 is that is where it's at, you know, because Garfield 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:32.440 needs a lot, right Thanks for explaining that that guy 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:34.920 has the best taste and novelty albums, and that of 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.440 course is our friend and producer Tristan McNeil, now Mango. 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.880 As you know, we've gotten some criticism about not being 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:43.600 cat friendly enough on the show, and I have to 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.920 be honest, it's a little bit surprising how much we've 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.519 heard from listeners about this. Yeah, I mean it was 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.720 really shocking to me too, and I actually love all animals, 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.320 or at least most furry animals. And you know this, 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:58.800 but maybe some listeners don't. There was a long period 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:00.560 of my life where I've dreamed had become a vet. 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.680 And also, for the record, we had cats on a 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.320 bunch of covers of Metal Flass. Plus the first story 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:07.960 I wrote on metal fast dot com was about a 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:10.600 cat piano, so I had no idea where he came 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.440 across this anti cat's right, you wrote about what was 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.360 it called the cats and Clavier. It was this musical 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.040 instrument that I think it was. It was inmitted to 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:23.239 cheer up a prince or something. Is that right. Yeah, 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.000 So it was like a piano, but instead of strings, 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.320 you just put kittens in a box behind each key 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.919 and it was supposed to gently prod the kitten to 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:34.040 yaw in tune. And there was this modern version of 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:35.960 it that was made with toy cats all tuned to 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.960 different notes with this dude playing over the rainbow on 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:41.000 them by squeezing them in order. I mean, there's a 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:45.240 video this on YouTube, but all that mewing isn't exactly music, 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.720 but it's also not not music either. I have definitely 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.200 seen that video a few times and it's pretty great. 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.760 And you know, it is interesting how polarizing cats are. 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.840 And for the record, I should say I don't hate cats. 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.680 I just happened to be terrified of cats. When I 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:04.080 was growing up. I was across the street from Triplet Boys. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.480 They had a family cat, and not intentionally but just 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.800 by being Triplet Boys, they tortured this cat, and the 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.160 cat decided to take out all of its anger on 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.120 me for some reason and attacked me every time I 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.360 came over there. So I just wanted to put that 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:21.400 out there. But it has been really weird as we 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.800 just make these little jokes about cats on the show. 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.640 These I guess we think of them as like throwaway comments, 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.560 and then the angry letters that we hear from people 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:31.280 about I don't know if I can listen to this 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.120 show because you guys hate cats. But this we, we 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:38.080 apparently are not alone in this polarizing world of cats. 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:41.000 I actually found this quote by the American writer Carl 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.640 van Vechten, and he wrote a book called Tiger in 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.920 the House, which is really all about house cats. And 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.599 here's how he talks about people's strong feelings about cats. 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.440 And I actually really like this quote. So he says, 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:55.760 one is permitted to assume an attitude of placid and 0:04:55.800 --> 0:05:00.560 difference in some matters elephants, cockatoo's h g well Sweden, 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:04.920 roast beef, puccini, even Mormonism. But in the matter of cats, 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.200 it seems necessary to take a firm stand. The cat 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:13.200 himself insists upon this. He invariably inspires strong feelings. He 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:17.039 is indeed the only animal who does well. It is 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.080 true that cats definitely inspire strong feelings. And when we've 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.400 joked on the show about not being cat lovers, people 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:24.720 have written in and said, uh, you know who also 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:32.159 hated cats? Hitler and also Napoleon and Mussolini, and I 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:34.520 looked this up. It's true they were cat hitters. Like 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.080 I mean, I'm sure all three of them also hated 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.680 like broccoli and homework, So it doesn't really mean that 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.120 much like a lot of people, just like a lot 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:45.520 of things. But I was intrigued by the comments, so 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.760 I looked up other famous cat hitters in history. And 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:51.440 it's not a good look for us to be perceived 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.920 this way. And so in addition to Napoleon and Mussolini, 0:05:55.240 --> 0:06:00.640 you've got Genghis Khan Stalin also hated cats. Caesar Alexander 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:03.520 the Great, Eisenhower, for some reason, is on the list, 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:07.200 but frankly, I'm a little surprised at Polpon and Daman 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.120 aren't on there as well. To round out the limbs, 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.360 a lot of terrible people, I mean, aside aside from Eisenhower, 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:18.400 who we love for building highways and infrastructure, of infrastructure. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.320 I love infrastructure. But you know, I think what's worse 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.920 than the list of horrible people is when cat fans 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.479 tell you about all the great people who were obsessed 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.760 with cats. You've got Abe Lincoln, who was notorious for 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.040 his love of cats, and his wife Mary Todd once 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.120 said that cats were his only hobby. Also, they've got 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:39.799 the prophet Mohammed, Nicola Tesla, St. Francis of ASSISI, Mark Twain, 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:43.599 Florence Nightingale, Catherine the Great, Charles Mingus, and all of 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:48.160 the Brontes, all the Brontes, even Brandwell Bronte I checked 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:53.839 up on this mango. They got Brandwell Well. Obviously, of 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.279 those two sample sets, i'd I'd rather be associated with 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.279 the cat lovers and the cat hitters. But I was 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:02.359 trying to figure out why it is that dictators and 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:06.160 world conquerors don't like cats. And here's one theory about 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:08.320 it that I found that's popular on cat sites, and 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.480 it goes like this quote. It might just be that 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.600 cat people who have dreams of dominating the world can't 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.400 get used to the idea that cats won't submit to them. 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.000 So is the idea that like, cats are just too 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:25.400 independent minded for dictators or what exactly? And truthfully, that's 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.440 also a big part of what cat people like about cats. 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.040 They're total independence, right, Like people are always saying cats 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:35.120 have more personality than dogs and that they're less needy 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.240 and they're like a little more badass and rock and 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.200 roll or something. And in fact, this is a little 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.240 off topic, but one of the cat origin stories I read, 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:47.160 and this is an Islamic tale I believe, is that 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:49.880 Noah was on his arc and during the storm, he 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.400 became really afraid that the mice on board would eat 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.120 all the food, or even worse, that they'd nibble through 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:57.440 the floors and create these holes in the arc, kind 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.920 of just like putting all the other animals and jeopardies. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.160 So he prayed for a solution, and God answered his 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.679 wishes by having a lion sneeze, and out of both 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:10.800 nostrils from that sneeze emerged two cats, which is I 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.080 guess how cats came to be. And I mean, it's 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.720 kind of a sweet origin story in terms of myths, 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.000 But I feel like you can interpret the story in 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.920 two ways, right, Like cats are either God's gift to humanity, 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:26.080 like what adorable little God bless you they are, or 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.520 no one needed a ruthless killing machine on the ship 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:32.360 and God provided cats. I think I'm might lane towards 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:33.880 the latter of it. I'm gonna be careful. I don't 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.200 need any more hate mail about this, but I have 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.240 a different question here. Mago like, how useless is every 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:41.640 other animal on the arc, Like why couldn't any of 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.840 the owls on board pitch in for this effort? I know, well, 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.880 I mean, the truth is cats are incredible hunting machines. 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:50.880 And I read this crazy story in the New York 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.040 Times from five years ago, and that's when the Smithsonian's 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.320 Conservation Biology Institute teamed up with the US Fish and 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.080 Wildlife Service to do some research on cats, and they 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.560 wanted to identify how much wildlife these cats were killing 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.440 every year, so they used cameras and create this new 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:09.080 math model, and basically they were stunned by the results. 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.200 So listen to this between feral and domestic cats. The 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.120 domestic ones, you know, are the ones that get to 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.920 roam outdoors while sleeping indoors. Together, they kill about two 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:22.320 point four billion birds every year. And also they killed 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.520 twelve point three billion mammals a year, and most of 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.840 those those things like shrews and chipmunks and bowls, along 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.319 with mice. I kind of want to know how they 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.800 came up with that estimate of twelve point three billion mammals, 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.360 but either way, it's insane and terrifying. So I don't 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.880 understand like, why would this make me like cats? More 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.520 so we've talked about this on the program before, but 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.040 those mousers are also keeping places like Disney parks and 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.880 houses and also city streets more free of vermin. And also, 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:53.360 I I've read this thing about how they're all these 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:57.160 cat islands in Japan that are super popular as tourist destinations, 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.360 just places where they're all these feral cats, And initially 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.440 I was thinking, like, who wants to go to these islands? 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.040 But one of the arguments I was reading online that 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.640 I had actually never thought about was most people can 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.520 go to a cat island and not be terrified because 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.199 these small feral cats aren't going to bother you. They 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:16.680 just don't care about you. But you know, if you 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:18.760 went to a wild dog island and they were just 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.440 wild packs of you know, feral dogs there, you'd be terrified, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.800 like you want to call animal control because roaming packs 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:28.720 of wild dogs aren't fun. But you know, the cats 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.480 don't have that herd mentality. I mean, that's an interesting point. 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:33.480 But to be fair, if you put the word feral 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:36.160 in front of any animal, like, I don't want to 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:39.160 be near those and I have no desire to hang 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.319 out with I don't know, like Australia's feral camel population 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:44.760 or any of these other animals, but you know, you 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.720 started talking about cat origins and and killer cats, and 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:49.520 you were talking about how cat lovers tend to love 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.240 the animals independence And actually I had a story that 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.040 I wanted to share just real quick. So while freethinking 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.840 critters might be great for pet owners, they're not great 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.280 for filmmakers. I was reading this interer you with the 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.080 Cohen brothers about filming inside Lewin Davis, and they were 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.280 talking about how hard it was to shoot the cat 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:07.680 in the movie. So here's a quote from an NPR 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.400 interview that Ethan Cohen did, and he says, the whole 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.400 exercise of shooting a cat is pretty nightmarish because they 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.000 don't care about anything. They don't want to do what 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:18.480 you want them to do. As the animal trainer said 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.080 to us, a dog wants to please you. A cat 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:25.040 only wants to please itself. It was just this long, painstaking, 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.120 frustrating day shooting the cat, which to me is a 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.280 little refreshing. You know that cats don't want to be 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:33.840 seen as film stars, but you know, I've seen Lewin Davison. 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.360 I loved it, But how do they get all those 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.559 shots eventually? Like, I'm guessing they didn't use c g I. Well, 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:41.760 first of all, they used a lot of cats, and 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.920 a cat trainer told them specifically to use a marmalade 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.560 orange tabby because it's easier to get a lot of 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:49.960 them on hand. So they had three or four cats 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:53.000 ready for each scene, and essentially they had to find 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:55.720 cats that had a predisposition for doing whatever it was 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.160 that they were looking for. So, like, if you needed 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:00.320 a fidgety cat to jump out of someone's hand ends, 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:02.240 you have to find a cat that tends to do 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:04.480 that all the time and hates to be held. So 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:06.360 you get that type of cat for one angle. But 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:08.120 then you know, if you want them to rub against 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.800 the table or run down a fire escape, you need 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.280 to find the cat that wants to do that naturally. 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.080 And even then when they had those cats on hand, 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.800 the cats rarely did what they wanted. The Cohen Brothers 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.840 actually compared the experience to having to film a vulture 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.000 in True Grit. They said the vulture was awful, and 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:30.000 they said that was even by vulture standards, And even 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.800 though the experience was really frustrating. They'd take filming a 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:37.360 vulture scene over a cat scene any day, so that 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.600 that is ridiculous. And I do love that story. But 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:42.800 here's the thing, and maybe it's something that will increase 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.760 our own empathy for cats, But I don't actually think 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.560 it's a cat's fault that they're so independent. And why 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.440 is that? Because there's a theory that cats aren't actually 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:55.319 domesticated animals. They've never had to be domesticated. But even 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:59.040 more than that, the theory goes, these clever, adorable beasts 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.880 have over a thousands of years, actually domesticated us. But 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:05.079 before we talk about that, let's take a little break. 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.400 Welcome back to Part Time Genius, and we're talking cats. 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:23.240 So a mango. I know you're going to tell us 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.480 about cats and domestication, but before we talk about a 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:30.000 cat in the household, let's talk about cats breaking up households. 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:32.960 And you know that totally unfair reputation they got for 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:37.679 causing divorces in America. So I obviously know people are 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.199 attached to their animals, but I've never heard about this trend. 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:43.720 So what's the scoop? Well, this comes from Natalie Zarelli 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.600 at Atlas Obscura, and she reports that once the Married 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.600 Women's Property Act took hold in America, there was actually 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:52.720 an uptick in the number of divorces, and essentially unhappy 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:56.240 couples weren't doomed to stay together, but you still had 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.840 to have someone at fault and it had to be irreconcilable. 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.600 So a big strategy from the nineteen tens going forward 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:06.959 where couples that they just started blaming their cats. That's 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.320 pretty crazy. I've never heard of that, you know. I 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:11.440 actually remember one of our friends from college had a 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.320 grandmother who got divorced, and he told me that the 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:17.400 couple staged her walking in on him with another woman, 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.200 and it was purely so that they had a traumatic 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:22.760 story to tell. The New York Chorus. But you know, 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:25.880 just blaming a cat would have been so much easier. Yeah, 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.080 I would say that would have been a lot easier. 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:30.680 There's actually a story from this piece in nineteen o 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.280 three where a man told the judge this horror story. 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.080 He says, a cat met him at every turn with 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:40.000 an angry and a chorus of blood curdling mews. Apparently 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.240 he find cats in his bed sheets and when he 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.520 tried to escape them. He was too scared to leave 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.000 the bed, you know, lest he should expose his bare 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:49.840 feet to the claws of numerous pussies and provoke a 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:52.280 melody that would ring in his ears for the rest 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:56.240 of the day. So that feels so dramatic. Well, he 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:58.320 really had to sell it to the judge. And you know, 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:00.680 if the judge asked why the husband didn't just get 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.560 rid of the cats, often there'd be some story about 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.280 his wife being involved in like the A s p c. A, 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:09.880 which I guess felt virtuous or something. So, I mean, 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:11.880 there were lots of these stories. Oh, there's tons of 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.480 these stories that There's actually also a Civil War veteran 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.720 who claims he could never sit in his easy chair 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.720 because the cat was always there hissing at him. There 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:21.880 was another there was a wife that said she didn't 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.320 mind her husband's profanity, but it was too much when 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:28.200 he heaved the family cat at her. And looking at 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.000 that case, apparently she wanted twelve hundred dollars for the 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:35.320 humiliation of being beamed by the family cat. Just unbelievable. 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.280 There was also another dude who was upset that his 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:40.120 wife kept fifty cats around the house and gave them 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.640 more attention than him. Well, I mean, fifty cats would 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.720 need a lot of attention. Well, in court, she testified 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.880 that she only had fifteen cats. But you know, since 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.680 her husband didn't come home most nights, they were both 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.200 interested in splitting up. And you know, most of these 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.920 stories were either made up or just greatly exaggerated. So 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.480 how long did this cat blaming go on for? According 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.000 to the article, cats were scapegoats for really about a century, 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.160 and it wasn't until nineteen sixty nine, when no fault 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.800 divorce laws started becoming adopted by states that suddenly all 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:16.360 the cat blaming disappeared from the newspaper stories, which is 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.080 pretty insane. And uh, you know you feel sorry for 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.080 the cats. I know it's it's true. It's weird to 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.040 say that, but I actually do feel a little sorry 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:25.880 for them. But you were going to talk a little 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.200 bit about this idea that cats aren't really domesticated. Yeah, so, 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.000 you know, aside from that lion sneezing theory about cats, 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.120 researchers have actually found cat bones near human bones for 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.640 a while. There's a New Yorker piece on this, but 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:40.720 in China, by analyzing the bones and teeth of cats 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:43.760 skeletons from about five thousand years ago. Scientists can actually 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.720 show that cats were eating rodents and grains as well 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:51.760 as leftovers from human meals. And basically cats were opportunistic, right, Like, 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:55.440 they realized that rodents were plentiful around these farmers stores 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.440 of grain, so they ingratiated themselves. And people were opportunistic. 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:01.640 They were us that cats would kill off the disease 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.960 carrying vermin for them, and it was relatively little investment, 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.280 Like they didn't actually have to train the cats. All 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:09.360 they had to do was give them some shelter and 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.080 like a little extra food to eat, and then just 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.720 lean on their natural instincts. It was totally symbiotic. But 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:18.560 you know, cats were never bred for traits the way 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.199 dogs or cattle were. Like, you know, you look at 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.240 a docs and then you see how that dog was 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:25.720 bred to go after badgers, right, it was supposed to 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.040 chase badgers down badger holes and it's fearless, but it's 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:31.520 also shape for that, with that sort of long noodle 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:34.240 like shape. And uh, you know, cat reading is a 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.679 relatively recent phenomenon by the comparison, So I mean, are 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.120 there ways to prove out this theory that cats are 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.920 only semi in domesticated. Yeah, there definitely are. So there's 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:47.800 this geneticist at Washington University in St. Louis named Wesley Warren, 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.760 and apparently he and his colleagues looked at DNA from 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.880 wildcats and breeds of domestic cats. And this is from 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.359 the New Yorker again. The research showed that genetically cats 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:00.320 have actually diverged far less from their wildcats ants sisters 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.719 than dogs have from wolves. You know, you can kind 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:04.600 of see this in the wild, right, Like house cats 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:07.240 are better hunters than dogs. They can they can also 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.119 fend for themselves in the wild. And according to the piece, 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.920 feral cats have even routinely bred with their wildcat cousins. 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:18.160 And according to Warren quote it's not the true differentiation 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.320 you see between wolf and dog by comparison. His belief 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.639 is that the modern cat isn't fully domesticated. That is 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.600 pretty interesting, and to be honest, it kind of explains 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:31.040 why I don't fully trust them and I do still 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:33.920 almost feel sorry for them, though, well you shouldn't feel 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.160 too sorry for them, because some people like to joke 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.560 that these wildcats have actually domesticated us, and you know, 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.480 they've obviously stayed aloof while we keeping them shelter and 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.760 putting scratching posts in our houses and allow them to 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:49.639 go to the bathroom indoors. But the biggest argument for 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.200 them having trained does is that they have conditioned humans 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.919 to feed them on demand with something called solicitation purring. 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:00.000 So this comes from the journal Current Biology. But scientists 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.600 Karen McComb from the University of Sussex analyze the acoustic 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.639 structure of cat purs and she actually realized that cats 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:11.440 dramatically exaggerate their purs all to elicit this emotional response 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.960 from humans. Apparently it's the same frequency that babies cry at. 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.760 And it isn't all cats that do this, it's just 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.480 cats that have one on one relationships with humans. That 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.440 is pretty manipulative. I mean it's impressive, but it's pretty manipulative. Yeah, 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:27.439 I mean, they've got us on a tight leash. And 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:29.879 also they have a behavior where they rub up against 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.040 our legs. As you know, we pull a can out 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:35.080 to get their food, and that's supposedly rewarding us for 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:37.800 being good to them. But there's one more thing that 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.280 people site as felines clever control over humans, and that's 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:44.040 that we actually taste test their food for them. You know, 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.120 I know we talked about humans taste testing dog food before, 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:49.520 but I can't remember, like, why do they do that again? 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.479 So this comes from a Brock University study from Canada. 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.679 But basically, the pet food industry has noticed over the 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:59.800 years that cats are fussy eaters and they're quote unreliable 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.240 expensive test subjects in the pursuit of more appealing cat 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:06.639 food flavors, and the study basically showed that human taste 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.720 panels are you know, a much more cost effective way 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.560 to test can cat food. Apparently, the paper lists of 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:17.240 methodology for human testers to quote profile the flavor and 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:21.159 texture of a range of cat food products, including evaluating 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:26.160 meat chunk and gravy to gel constituents gross you know. So, 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:29.240 you know, if we're gonna keep keeping our feline masters happy, 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:31.280 more people are going to have to get into the 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.520 cat food tasting business. Well. I definitely have come away 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.160 with some understanding of why cats act the way they do, 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:40.040 and and maybe even a little admiration for how they 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.359 manipulate it. But why don't we talk about how cats 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.520 became so popular in the first place. Let's take a 0:20:45.560 --> 0:21:01.160