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Sense
of Humor
This is a tricky topic. The "smile"
on a cat's face is due to conformation of its
muzzle. A cat "smiles" with its eyes and
with its tail. Observant owners soon learn to
distinguish a cat's "happy face" from
its "sad face". Cats do not tell jokes
(certainly not that we know off) but they do
engage in clownish behavior. A cat can suspend its
adult behavior and revert to kitten behavior.
Scientists used to believe that a cat playing
with its own reflection in a mirror or with a TV
image is unable to distinguish an image from
reality. Many still think that way. Pet cats learn
very early on that reflections and TV are
"not real". This doesn't stop them
making use of them as play objects. Batting a
moving object is instinctive. Batting a picture on
a TV is a safe outlet for hunting behavior, but
the cat doesn't expect to catch the object (unless
it has never encountered the TV before).
Inexperienced cats and kittens expect to find
the reflection cat behind the mirror. When the
image puffs its tail and hisses (albeit silently)
back at them, they may become startled. After a
few unsuccessful checks behind the mirror (and the
lack of any scent of the "other cat"),
they accept the image as a plaything. Even
experienced cats will occasionally search behind a
mirror or TV in case the pretend prey has emerged
from it.
It doesn't really expect to find anything, but
it is always worthwhile checking just in case!
Suspension of disbelief in this way is sometimes
considered to be the feline sense of humor. It is
an outlet for predatory behavior and it results in
happiness. Whether it is genuinely humor is
debatable.
Some of the play tactics are interpreted as a
sense of humor e.g. jumping out of hiding at the
owner or onto a cat companion. This is play and is
practice of the cat's ambush hunting technique
rather than a practical joke. A cat which engages
in clownish behavior has learnt that its behavior
results in a reward from the owner - food,
attention, physical contact etc. This reward leads
to happiness/satisfaction for the cat, therefore
the behavior is repeated. If it is a sense of
humor, it is one which has been conditioned
(albeit unwittingly) into the cat.
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