Feb 29 2012

Unnatural shenanigans

Categories:

Organisms, Weirdness

by PZ Myers

Don’t tell Jerry Coyne. I am disturbed to see that cats are intruding on the cephalopod domain.

Although…if I were a squid, I think I’d just see this as snack delivery.

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22 comments

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1

F

29 February 2012 at 10:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Do squid like furry lunch?
2

reynoldhall

29 February 2012 at 11:04 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Phph! At least cats, unlike cephalopods, actually have uses!

If your house is on fire while you sleep, a dog will wake you up and save your life out of loyalty…a cat may save your life to preserve his meal ticket. What can a pet cephalopod in an aquarium do? Provide some free calimari for the firemen when they arrive??
3

tbtabby

29 February 2012 at 11:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Would they see this as a snack delivery?
4

Charlie Foxtrot

1 March 2012 at 12:03 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

argh…
[Shatner]
Must…not…make…obvious…damp…feline…double…entendre…
argh..
[/Shatner]
5

vvv73

1 March 2012 at 12:06 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The unnatural shenanigans here are the youtube community: “This content may contain material flagged by YouTube’s user community that may be inappropriate for some users.” And there’s even no squid attack, just a human, so I believe the problem here is that the cat actually swims which might disturb the world view of some people.
6

magistramarla

1 March 2012 at 12:13 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My daughter has a black cat named Gizmo who has loved to swim in the bathtub since he was a small kitten. He will happily chase toys all around the tub.
7

Charlie Foxtrot

1 March 2012 at 12:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I describe my cat as “bath-curious”.
He’ll prowl around on the edge of the bath, maybe dip a paw, but so far has not built up the courage to actually hop in yet.

And I haven’t gathered the courage to push him in yet, either :)
8

craigore

1 March 2012 at 12:34 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

One of these days, PZ, I’m going to send you a vid of a cute fluffy kitty dining on some delicious squid just for that… mark my words…
9

Ragutis

1 March 2012 at 1:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

In Soviet Russia… oh nevermind
10

zyaama

1 March 2012 at 2:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hm, you clearly don’t speak cat. What this one is saying is: “I know that cats can swim, but we sure as fuck don’t have to like it.”

Anyway, she’s probably chasing an alligator… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiyWXQyAJ44
11

catnip67

1 March 2012 at 3:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Charlie Foxtrot

Go on. You know you want to…. Just a little nudge. Could be accidental!

Just catch it on video & share!
12

scottjordan

1 March 2012 at 3:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

vvv73 @5:

I believe such people would go through 5 stages:

1) Shock and Denial:
*gripping hair with both hands, while watching video* “THATS… JUST… NOT… POSSIBLE!!!”

2) Bargaining:
*clasping hands together* “I will stop posting negative comments, if you’ll just pull down this video!!”

3) Rationalisation:
*rubbing temples with fingers* “Computers… Yes, this must have been made using COMPUTERS!!”

4) Anger:
*pressing flag button* “Now, no children will be subjected to this fake assault on our precious worldview!”

5) Acceptance:
*sipping tea* “I’m positive… people really are too smart to be fooled into thinking that cats really can swim!”
13

Gregory Greenwood

1 March 2012 at 3:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Although…if I were a squid, I think I’d just see this as snack delivery.

Would the snack be the cat, or the human?
14

Richard Smith

1 March 2012 at 6:21 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Maybe it’s a Jelly-cle Cat.
15

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

1 March 2012 at 6:43 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Some cats like water *shrug*
16

Ogvorbis: Now With 98% Less Intellectual Curiousity!

1 March 2012 at 7:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Our older (and normal sized cat) Oreo likes to get into the shower with us and lick the water off the shower curtain. And she has no problem at all with the water cascading off her back.

When we had to bathe and shampoo her to get rid of fleas, she stood in the tub and, as we poured warm water over her, and rubbed the shampoo into her fur, she purred louder than I have ever heard her purr before.

Dust, however, was not amused. And keeping a 2 stone housecat in the tub ain’t easy.
17

Ms. Daisy Cutter, Gynofascist in a Spiffy Hugo Boss Uniform

1 March 2012 at 7:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Like Zyaama says, cats are naturally good swimmers; it’s just that, with a few exceptions, they don’t like to swim. When the cat in the video was in the ocean, its tail looked rather puffed out to me, which is a sign of fear. The woman in the video was cuddling it post-swim to reassure it as well as to praise it.

Zyaama, the people who made the video you linked and are heard laughing in the background are fucking morons. The gator could have easily torn that cat’s head right off. Bonus moron points to the person who walked up close to the gator in the middle of the video and to whoever put what looked like raw meat right on the riverbank.
18

tariqata

1 March 2012 at 9:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Charlie Foxtrot: give your cat time, and you may not have to tip him in to see the results. My beast was bath-curious too, until an ill-considered attempt to explore the tub’s far corner resulted in a very wet, very unhappy kitty.
19

Trebuchet

1 March 2012 at 10:34 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I suspect the “flagged as inappropriate” thing has more to do with the woman’s swimsuit bottom than with the cat.

We had a cat who absolutely loved playing in the sprinkler. Or in a stream of water from the hose. He’d get completely soaked and it didn’t bother him a bit.
20

thomascaldwell

1 March 2012 at 11:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I took my cat out for a walk on the beach a few times (he didn’t mind being on leash).
21

Sili

1 March 2012 at 3:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Pity I can’t swim. This might be just the thing for my arthritic cat. He seems quite fond of water as it is, so it might have been doable.
22

ralfmuschall

4 March 2012 at 10:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@reynoldhall (#2)
With a pet ceph you don’t have to wait for the firemen. He will put out the fire himself, see http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/11/uppity_octopus.php.