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Cats, instincts, and evolution
Cats are very strange animals. One of their odder behaviors is scratching around their food bowl. They look like they are trying to kick dirt over the food in order to bury it. Presumably that is what they do in the wild. But the "dirt" house cats are kicking over the food is imaginary.
This suggests that wild cats do not know they are burying their food. That is, it is not goal-directed behavior. If it were goal-directed, house cats would either not bother with the scratching, or they would be very frustrated by their lack of success.
This is not to suggest at all that cats are all dumb instinct. On the one hand, much of their behavior seems very human-like. On the other hand, plenty of human behavior is instinct masquerading as goal-directed behavior. Sex, for instance, has a clear purpose but that's not usually why we do it. (Even if you believe sex has purposes other than procreation, such as pair bonding, it is hard to explain prostitution -- which, while not as common as cats "burying" their food, is still common enough to require explanation.
So why do cats scratch around their bowl? I suspect it just feels good. Evolution does not require that we know why we do what we do -- just that we do it.
Submitted by coglanglab on Tue, 2008-07-22 15:05.
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What they're doing
is scent marking around their food--not just "burying" it. The cat's behavior isn't odd at all. Your assumption that it's just about "burying" food is a little off, that's all.
evolutionary artifact
I believe this may be just some instinctive artifact of cat evolution. In the wild, cats of course are carnivorous predators, and in a serangety setting must fool scavangers from stealing their hard earned meals. But house cats do not have any competition to disguise their food from, so this must just be some sort of behaivoral reflex which is left over from early evolutionary necessity.
I have also considered the possibility cats do this to sharpen their claws before digging into a traditionally lean meal.
For all we know this may just be some ritualistic dance or feline "prayer" to celebrate the meal, dont laugh, if humans could be so stupid i wouldnt put it to far behind a feline. Obviously the cat is not going to answer this question for us anytime soon, so i will stick with the first hypothesis, and its just a artifact in feline evolution.
why not?
my cats don't do that, weird
hmmm reply
hey, this stuff tastes like crap, so I'm going to bury it for ya...
Absolutely hilarious! Your comment cracked me up. I thought it was some kind of left over evolutionary cleaning obsession.
I find it hilarious,
I find it hilarious, especially when they end up eating more of it a few minutes later. I tell them, hey, don't you want to save that for later?
My cats will even go so far as to scratch at the wall, as if to try and slough off parts of the wall onto the food. They always scratch a few times, then check the food to see the status of their efforts. Yet they dont seem to care they arent doing anything.
Oh, and they only do it when it's wet food, not dry food. And they love wet food 10 times more than dry food, so it isn't distaste.
What was the selective advantage in wanting to bury your food? Less attention, less predators?
Hmmm
I always thought that it was just my cat's way of saying, "hey, this stuff tastes like crap, so I'm going to bury it for ya..."
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