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Comment by pedalpete | Hacker News Reader

I've always said that I think dogs think that one day they too will become like us, which is why they insist on sitting in the drivers seat when you leave the car. However, I don't believe cats and dogs are so unaware as to think we are actually no different to them. I may agree if animals weren't able to recognize other species of animal, but clearly they can. Dogs and cats inherently know they don't like each other, cats like to chase birds and mice, so they can recognize other animals. Why would anybody make a statement assuming that a cat can't recognize that we are different from them.

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'Dogs and cats inherently know they don't like each other'

Flat out wrong. Dogs inherently have a hunting and chasing instinct, so in the wild a dog will try and spook a cat to make it run, and then chase it and try and kill it if it does. If the cat doesn't run, or better yet, fights back (I've seen multiple cats do this), the dog will back off. And cats know enough to be concerned when a giant animal approaches, which is likely to trigger a fight or flight response, if the cat doesn't feel sufficiently protected where it is.

And many people have both dogs and cats living together, even in some instances sleeping together. I suspect the dog views the cat as a pack animal (and important to the owner, the alpha), and the cat views the dog as a source of warmth, but that is still very different from "inherently know(ing) they don't like each other".

I used to work in Veterinary IT and the office was above one of the clinics. The clinic cat ('Tom') was a three-legged , diabetic male who'd become completely at ease with all the visiting pet traffic.

One day, Tom ambled round a corner into the waiting area to get to his patch of sun in the middle, just as someone entered with a pretty big rottweiler; the dog saw Tom and started to bark and growl, but Tom just looked up and stayed in his warm spot in the middle of the room.

The dog just stared at Tom as if trying to work out why the cat hadn't moved. After a few more grunts, the dog just sat in a corner and wouldn't take his eyes off Tom. When the owner was called into the consulting room, the dog crept low around the perimeter of the room, working hard to keep as far away as possible and not letting Tom out of his sight - he was really spooked by the laid-back cat. Funniest 'stand off' I've ever seen.

Well, I can tell you that some cats will chase anything (usually anything smaller than themselves) and some cats will play with dogs as if they were a big brother. So while they may know that other animals are different from themselves, I'm not sure they recognize that they are a different species.

Don't know a lot about cat behavior. Would they hunt and kill a sparrow-sized kitten that wasn't theirs?

A male lion, when taking over a pride, will kill all the young lions that are not his offspring.

I have heard that lions' pack behaviour is more reminiscent of dogs than it is of domesticated cats, which have a more solitary nature similar to tigers or other big cats.

Do you know if this sort of behaviour has also been witnessed in wolf packs?

It's mentioned in Call of the Wild, but that's not a very reliable scientific source.

No; The social structure of Wolf packs is completely different from lion prides. Leadership is shared between a male and female (the alpha couple) who achieve their status independently from each other. Also, the pack includes subordinate males as well as females.

My understanding is that male cats are not necessarily good to have around kittens, even if they are the father, as they may see the kittens as future rivals.

That understanding isn't necessarily based on observed behavior or referenced studies though.

Infanticide is not unheard of in the animal kingdom...

> some cats will play with dogs as if they were a big brother.

I'd like to point out that this is an instance of you thinking of cats as small, stupid humans. Cats do not treat their siblings any different than other cats at the same age.

Indeed; that's the point I was attempting to make (though not very well). As far as I have seen, cats aren't afraid of a specific species, nor do they "identify" exclusively with only one specific species. If they find a dog (or a cat) who they can befriend, they do. If they find a large enough animal that scares them (I have a very tall friend), they'll run like hell and hiss whenever the animal is near. I'm not sure if they see classify species as much as they do friend or foe.

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