Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Book 4: Catlore

by Desmond Morris

If you’re a cat owner/lover, you’ve probably observed plenty of fascinating feline behaviour and wondered how much of it's due to nature or nurture.

As you know, Morris is known (in book and TV form) for his work on 'The Naked Ape'. 'Catlore' is like its feline equivalent where it attempts to tackle some serious questions that cat lovers have been asking since the Dawn of Kitty Domestication.

The book is structured into many short and digestible chapters, where each chapter deals with such common feline questions as:

>> How Do Cats Purr?

>> Why Do Cats Sulk?

>> Why Do Cats Sometimes Reject Their Food?

As you can see, the chapter names can be quite entertaining in themselves, for example:

>> Why Do Cats Interfere When Their Owners Are on the Telephone?

>> Why Do Cats Suddenly Make Mad Dashes Around the House?

>> Why Are Cats Attracted To People Who Dislike Them?

>> Why Do Some Cats Hate Men?

The book also deals with some more serious issues, such as feline history and health:

>> How Has Domestication Changed the Cat?

>> What is the History of the Tabby Cat?

>> Is it Cruel to Have a Cat Declawed?

>> How Does Being Neutered Affect a Cat’s Behaviour?

What's more, 'Catlore' is the sequel to the original 'Catwatching', which is just as engaging and informative, if not more.

So, if you’re still curious about quirky or conventional, but seemingly inexplicable, feline behaviour such as:

>> Why Do Cats Eat Grass?

>> Why Do Cat’s Eyes Glow in the Dark?

>> Why Does a Cat Tear at the Fabric of Your Favourite Chair?

>> Why Do Cats Keep Crying to Be Let Out, Then Cry to Be Let In Again?

Then this book is also for you!

1 comment:

OlmanFeelyus said...

Both these books are so awesome. Like all animals, cat behaviour is fascinating. Because we have lived so closely with them and take so much for granted, it's really cool to see how rich their behaviours actually are. The one thing I found kind of dissapointing in this book is that he really argues that most of cats affection towards human is just an outgrowth of their natural instinct for their mothers. Because we take them as kittens, they place this affection on their owners. It kind of science-ified the fantasy we build up of our relationship with cats and was a bit of a bummer for me. But still, this book is really an interesting read. Just things like how far cats travel when given the freedom and how many mice they can catch are quite amazing.