Last week we talked about dogs, so this week it's only fitting that we talk about cats. I'm Mimi Fotz and this is Hello From the Van. It's a divisive thing, cats and dogs. Some people love cats and don't like dogs at all, while others are strictly team dog and don't like cats. I normally don't like to get political, but just this once, I'll let you know if I had to vote. I am strictly team. I just hope everyone is happy. I have both a cat and a dog. They look alike. They could be twins almost if they weren't different species. My dog acts like a cat and my cat acts like a dog. So rather unnaturally, they're best friends. This has given me a warped sense of pet politics, if you will. But why is there such a divide between those who prefer cats and those who prefer dogs? It may be due to their naturally differing temperaments or even personalities. Here's what we know. Cats have been a part of human lives for over 10,000 years. It used to be thought that cats were originally domesticated or brought indoors by Egyptians around 3100 BCE. However, we now know that the earliest record we have of cats coming indoors dates back to a grave excavated in Cyprus that dates back to 7500 BCE. There are no native species of cat on Cyprus, so scientists naturally assume that settlers brought the cats with them. It was a symbiotic relationship at the time, as the cats got a home and food, and the farmers got help with keeping the mice population under control. The relationship of cats and humans being mutually beneficial is one that has definitely stood the test of time. My cat is a reformed barn cat, who until we adopted him had never been in a house. He is a prolific mouser, and the rodent population in our yard has been naturally controlled since we got him. If you've ever had a cat bring you a mouse, you know that cats have been helping humans for thousands of years. Cats have what are called protractable and retractable claws. When they're relaxed, their claws are inside a sheath of skin, kind of like a sword. And when they choose to, they can pull out those claws. This keeps the claws sharp by preventing them from scraping on the ground and getting dull. The claws on your cat's front feet are normally sharper than the claws on their back feet. The cat standard is five claws on their front paws and four on their rear paws, for eighteen. But eighteen isn't where it stops. There are some cat breeds that have extra digits and they are called polydactyl cats, along with claws and adorable tow beans. Cats are generally fond of high places. This is because they're hunters. They can conceal their hunting site in a tree branch or up high, and this helps to keep them safe while they eat. Another incredible thing that cats do is they have something called a cat writing reflex. Not writing like I'm going to write you a letter, but writing like correction. When a cat falls, it will reflexively twist onto its feet. A cat can write itself when it falls between three meters or 9.8 feet to about 3 feet or 90 centimeters. This window of correction is called the falling cat problem. All of these cat adaptations are things that help it be an incredible hunter. Cats are obligatory carnivores. This means that they have to be carnivores. If you ever meet someone and they say, oh, my cat's vegan, no, no, that's not a thing. Cats have fewer enzymes capable of metabolizing carbohydrates compared to omnivores like dogs or humans. Cats lack the ability to convert carotenoids to vitamin A. They can't synthesize vitamin D. Basically, they must eat meat. They are obligated to eat meat to survive. They are obligatory carnivores. And due to being obligatory carnivores, cats have developed a certain set of skills, shall we say. At night, they have excellent vision. They can see in one sixth the light level required for the human eye. Cats can see very good at night. However, they're not super great at color vision because they only have two types of cone cells, and those cone cells are only sensitive to blue and yellowish green. Basically, their ability to tell the difference between red and green is very limited. And with this vision, if you ever see your cat have very wide open, bright eyes, and you think, oh my gosh, they're adorable, they're so relaxed. No, no, no, no. When your cat has big dilated pupils, that means they're hunting. It looks adorable. Those are tiny little murder mittens about to go do a job. Along with incredible vision, cats also have incredible hearing. They can hear a wider range of sounds than humans. Humans can only hear between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz, and cats can hear between 500 Hz and 32 kilohertz. There's a huge range of frequencies that cats can hear that humans cannot. Cats can also hear more octaves than humans. Well, cats have one up on humans. When it comes to hearing and seeing, when it comes to taste, well, humans win. Cats have only about 470 taste buds, whereas humans have about 9,000. Cats' taste buds can't actually taste sweetness. They do, however, have an incredible ability to taste umami due to the acids that they can actually process and can get into their brains. Researchers have actually found that the reason cats love tuna so much is because umami flavor is as important for cats as sweet is for humans. Cats actually prefer their food. Temperature around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. They prefer warm food. Some cats will even reject cold food because that would signal to them that their prey has been long dead and might possibly be toxic or decomposing. Domesticated cats have also been known to get what's called the zoomies. This can happen at night or during the day or anytime. This is when a cat gets hyperactive and just starts running around. If you've ever wondered why this happens, it is because cats are what's called a low-light predator. They generally will go around and are more active near dawn and dusk. However, house cat behavior is influenced by human activity and they adapt their schedule to their owner's sleeping patterns. This is why you might be in a dead sleep when your cat decides to get up and run around. The amount of sleep needed for cats varies greatly based on the cat, the time of day, where you live, the amount of light, and the age of the cat. Some scientists say that cats need between 12 and 16 hours a day, while others say that it's an even shorter window of only 13 to 14 hours. Some cats, near the end of their life cycle, can need as much as 20 hours of sleep per day. The term cat nap is um, well, it's around for a reason. And to end the podcast today, we are going to talk about cat communication. When a cat is out and is what's called feral, meaning it's not domesticated and not used to being around humans, feral cats are generally silent. Domesticated cats or cats that live with humans are the ones that are big on vocalization and communication. Things like purring, trilling, hissing, growling, gnarling, grunting, and other types of noises. My cat makes like a little clicky sound when he wants my attention. Yeah, these are all things that come with cats being domesticated. Other ways that your cat communicates is through its tail and its ears. These are very important signs to look out for, especially if you are approaching a cat you don't know. A raised tail indicates the cat is happy and is greeting you in a friendly manner. However, if you look at the cat's ears and its ears are flattened, this indicates that it is not happy with you. Give that cat some space. If you've ever had a cat come up to you and bump you nose to nose or try and rub its head on your head, this is a common greeting and comes from social grooming. It's basically the way of the cat saying, Hey, I like you. You're part of my group. And finally, facial expressions. Domestic cats observed in rescue facilities have about 270 to 280 distinct facial expressions. You can get to know your cat and get to know their own facial expressions and the way that they communicate with you. And if you've ever wondered why we don't train cats the same way that we train dogs like we learned last week, well, it's because the cats just don't care to. Dogs have a high social ability and a high reward system that they want to please humans. Cats don't really care to do that. So they're not very well suited for the job of being a guide cat or other such activities. But hey, maybe with some time, as dogs have been domesticated for over 30,000 years, and cats have only been domesticated for about 10,000 years. So you know, maybe in another 20,000 years we will have guide cats. Anything could happen. I'm Mimi Fotz, and this has been Hello from the Band.