What do cats think you are to them? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I swear, I get the vibe from my cats that

they're my daughters
one i get the vibe from that she's my old lady (which literally she is but the wife connotation is highly questionable)

What is the relationship in the felid mind? I've never gotten the sense that I'm a "master" despite the fact they know when I get annoyed with them or what is forbidden and they mostly come to honor that (turns out nobody or anything likes getting hassled)

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[-] novibe@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 month ago

Dogs 100% were selectively bred to be permanently juvenile as well.

Dogs have extreme neonatal characteristics. They are basically forever-wolf-puppies.

Their heads are rounder, eyes bigger, proportions more exaggerated, more playful etc. etc.

And we actually know the main brain difference between wolves and dogs is that dogs don’t mature basically ever neurologically.

Wolves are in basically every way smarter than dogs.

We dumbed down wolves and made them babies forever.

Our biggest rivals for millennia.

We are… fucked up.

Anyways love puppies ❤️

[-] OpenStars@discuss.online 5 points 1 month ago

And look what we did for cows, sheep, etc.

Ironically this holds a bit true for humans as well, not that we are stuck that way as you mentioned for dogs yet our gestation time most definitely is severely elongated. It takes us 9 whole months just to get out of the womb, then basically 20 years to reach adulthood. And with that increased plasticity of our brains we can learn so much more. 🐒

[-] spittingimage@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

There's a theory that we were able to evolve our big problem-solving brains because we got access to higher-quality protein after teaming up with dogs as hunting partners. So did we breed them to be pets or did they breed us to be caretakers?

[-] novibe@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I mean there were actually two “intelligence” explosions for humans, once as Homo Erectus like 2 million years ago. Then again as Homo Heidelbergensis ~ 700,000 years ago. So way before dogs.

As in we have evidence of H. Erectus with brains as big or even bigger than ours. And by the time of H. Heidelbergensis our brains stabilised around the size they are today.

[-] Count042@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 month ago

Well, ackshually...

Dogs are much more skilled at reading human body language and communication.

this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2024

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