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Comment by hunson_abadeer | Hacker News Reader

Yes. There's plenty of rodents in urban and suburban areas, but above all, cats have an inborn instinct to murder small critters for fun, and don't need to be taught that.

Rodents are their strong preference, but if bored, they will go after bugs, small birds, lizards... or engage in relentless "murder practice" using pieces of paper or cloth.

This is very different than with dogs, which often have to be trained for specific tasks. Source: lived with 10+ cats (not at the same time).

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The strength of those instincts does vary from cat to cat though.

I have two cats, and one is a cold blooded killer that'll attack anything that moves, including my toes. The other will just sniff spiders and cuddles rabbits and hamsters. It did once chase a small mouse, but once it had it cornered, it didn't do anything.

Cats and rabbits get along well because cats think grooming someone is dominant, but rabbits think being groomed is dominant, so they both think they're on top.

(Domestic rabbits have surprisingly big egos.)

Domestic rabbits are the most attitude-y animals I've kept, with such surprisingly variable personalities.

I had a rabbit that we'd let out in the garden, and if the neighbour's cat came in the garden, the rabbit would chase it out, and even attack it if it wouldn't leave.

> cats have an inborn instinct to murder small critters for fun, and don't need to be taught that

If a cat has never seen mice before and no one has taught it to chase mice (and if it's not even hungry), then I simply can't imagine how this instinct is passed on through genetics. Is there a DNA encoding for "chase and kill small moving objects, preferably mouse-like objects"? Does anyone know how DNA would carry information like that?

yes thats what instincts are. theyre urges that you cant explain

I've always had trouble with reconciling the jump from DNA to behaviours. These behaviours can be affected by a complex combination of genetics and epigenetic modifications leading to changes like modified neuronal patterning in the brain or changes in neural circuitry that can affect how readily certain neural patterns are forged which is further influenced by biological factors (learned behaviours and experiences).

Not a biologist, but it looks like it's an urge toward certain behaviors that just get reinforced. A mouse tail running away from them is very exciting and they want to chase it. But a piece of string can trigger the same thing. They run towards it, they jump on it, they bite it, if they're hungry they might eat it and eventually the whole thing becomes a trained behavior in wild cats. A well fed domestic cat might get stuck on "let's be play friends forever" though.

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