But he was wierd. He liked going on walks on a leash, and demanded a chair at the table when we played boardgames and he would happily sit and watch us play (or sit in the middle of the board until we got him a seat).
The first time I met him, he very clearly, intentionally guided me to his brother who was sick (meow, runs towards me, meow then back towards his brother, repeat).
We lost him kinda without warning, he got an ear infection that popped his eardrum then he never recovered from the shock. Cats don't communicate pain or discomfort well, so we didn't even realize something was wrong until it was too late.
But yeah, consistent recessive outliers are an evolutionary advantage trait. I've seen a lot of arguments that neurodiversity is an evolutionary trait, as having multiple behavior patterns in the population helps with survival. Cats are social animals, which means a similar neurodiversity pressure probably acts on them.
I've lived with several different cats whose favourite position was directly between the people and the television. I'm not a cat person (nor a dog person); I know nothing. But I suppose they like human attention, so they sit where the humans are looking.
I'm pretty sure it is, as society needs us nerds to invent new things.
The cat being thrown probably feels the same as a human driving a fast car or riding a roller-coaster, or a dog putting its head out a car window, or a mouse stopping suddenly on an exercise wheel to let it spin it around.
I had never considered they may be doing that on purpose.
The simple answer is that being thrown make the cat practice how to land.
But the actual answer is probably that creatures like cats are big enough to contain a lot of evolutionary noises and legacies that it can do random shit.
So you swung the proverbial cat ? :)
He was a large black and white short-hair cat. I always described his behavior as very dog-like and some people were very surprised by it.
Edit: I should have at least tried to respond to your question. I agree with the sibling comments theory about how animals enjoying movement can encourage their physical development.
Also what's the evolutionary explanation for you trying to save the cat?
Personally I think it's genetic drift. In safe environments natural selection by definition is much less strict and thus all kinds of random mutations pass the bar of survival.
Demonstrating trust strengthens bonds. In the wild, that kid might be more likely to defend that cat’s interests when e.g. food ran short.