End of Week 3 Blog
- Vicky Ouyang
- Apr 18, 2021
- 1 min read
After reading the chapter "Whines and pet Peeves" of Carl Safina's book Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, I can't agree more that people always define animals before they even started the experiment or having the experience. Safina mentioned that people shouldn't anticipate animals to understand artificial experiments because they are not on the same page as humans. We should use the way that animals could understand to study them. This happens exactly when people talk about dogs and compare them with "human's best friends." However, when it comes to cats, some of us feel like cats are sneaky and dangerous. This doesn't make sense because most people who say these things don't even have pets.
This is why I want to study cats and their social intelligence. After I have cats, I could tell that they are the opposite of what people always comment on them. They are as adorable and loyal as dogs.
Through my research this week, there are many discussions about cats' social intelligence, but some voice discrimination against cats. My research is solely based on Google, but I will continue working on it and expanding it. I also found out that discussions about cats' social intelligence arise in recent years, and people tend to compare cats with dogs. This is acceptable because dogs are long pets before cats are. There is one article that I found helpful. It is "In What Way Are Cats Intelligent?" written by Denyse O'Leary. O'Leary used a fair tone to compare cats with dogs, which some authors don't.
https://mindmatters.ai/2020/08/in-what-ways-are-cats-intelligent/
Hi Vicky,
I really got some similar feelings with you after reading Safina's book. I am interested in dogs' intelligence because I have raised a dog for several years. Also, I want to learn about something about cats' intelligence. If you get something different maybe we could discuss about these two species.
Hi Vicky,
It is awesome that you are interested in doing your research about cats! Since you own cats yourself, I think it would be really cool to add your own experiment in your actual study, it will probably make your audience more feel more relatable to your statement!
Hi, I know you said that cats are just as loyal as dogs and I guess it all depends on how they were raised but I remember reading about cats on the TIMES articles and there was a piece that claimed that cats easily run away from their owners because they are not dependent on them. If you haven't already you should look into that to create your rebuttal against it!