Dogs Chase Efficiently, But Cats Skulk Counterintuitively

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2008) — A Duke University study suggests that evolution can behave as differently as dogs and cats. While the dogs depend on an energy-efficient style of four-footed running over long distances to catch their prey, cats seem to have evolved a profoundly inefficient gait, tailor-made to creep up on a mouse or bird in slow motion.

"It is usually assumed that efficiency is what matters in evolution," said Daniel Schmitt, a Duke associate professor of evolutionary anthropology. "We've found that's too simple a way of looking at evolution, because there are some animals that need to operate at high energy cost and low efficiency."

Namely cats.

In a report published online Nov. 26 in the research journal Public Library of Science (PLoS), Schmitt and two former Duke co-researchers followed up on a scientific hunch by measuring and videotaping how six housecats moved along a 6 yard-long runway in pursuit of food treats or feline toys.

Long-distance chase predators like dogs can reduce their muscular work needed to move forward by as much as 70 percent by allowing their body to rise and fall and exchanging potential and kinetic energy with each step. In contrast, the maximum for cats is about 37 percent and much lower than that in a stalking posture, the report found.
"An important implication of these results is the possibility of a tradeoff between stealthy walking and economy of locomotion," the three researchers wrote in PLoS. "These data show a previously unrecognized mechanical relationship in which crouched postures are associated with changes in footfall pattern, which are in turn related to reduced mechanical energy recovery."

more:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081203184533.htm

[jpak]

1. So why do kittehs shake their butts before they pounce?

:shrug:

[Schema Thing]

7. Style.

I think it's their way of grinning and saying "oh yeah, this is gonna be tasty".

[DinahMoeHum]

9. They're positioning their legs for the big spring "out of the blocks"

just like a track sprinter.

:shrug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. I love teh "wiggle bum" LOL

[Lerkfish]

2. what this fails to take into account is selective breeding. BIG cats are very efficient.

ocelots, jaguars, tigers, all exhibit the same economies the study assigns to domesticated dogs.

the difference between the INTENT of domesticated cats and domesticated dogs is night and day: dogs were bred for hunting, and domesticated cats were bred for mousing at best, which requires stealth, or pet or avatar functions (like the egyptians).

they should instead compare wild canines and wild felines.

[Botany]

8. good point

wolves can run a moose or a caribou for days (low speed chase)
but big cats can run very fast for short periods to catch prey

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=5lFuV0tHtas

[juno jones]

3. My tiny black siamese

is deadly.

He conserves energy by stalking.

He's bagged the largest mouse i've ever seen. Balls the size of grapefruit. Gone in 60 seconds.

He's also killed three other mice. Twice, we have had to pry baby snakes from his jaws.


Dogs...well, run around enough, you'll get something eventually.


Come to think of it, humans have learned both.

[Olney Blue]

4. Interesting article! Thanks for posting.

[Orsino]

5. And yet cats catch rodents, bugs and birds very efficiently.

They are plenty efficient, when net calories are considered.

[aquart]

6. That's why they need their sleep.

[pscot]

11. Predators have a range that they cover

over and over again. Cats are much more efficient killers than dogs, so their range is smaller and they can afford to hunt alone. Both cats and dogs will return again and again to a spot where they've gotten lucky in the past. Both will lurk near the scene of the crime. This is sound strategy. If a particular site met the needs of a rabbit, bird or deer, when the critter is killed, another one will fill in.

[anigbrowl]

12. I feel obliged to post this barely-relevant Youtube link for your amusement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhRU68v-ESg

don't worry about the dialog, just give it a minute or two and you'll get it.

[pscot]

13. to paraphrase Nasruddin

If this is the cat, where is the fish, and if this is the fish, where is the cat?