1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:04,360 Cats. 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,040 Playful pets, fearsome fighters... 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,960 CAT WAILS 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:11,840 ..deadly hunters. 5 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:20,160 They beguile, intrigue and mercilessly exploit us. 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:26,560 But how much do we truly understand these enigmatic creatures? 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,480 Millions of us have cats in our homes. 8 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:33,200 They're one of our favourite pets 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,240 and yet we still know very little about them. 10 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:41,200 Yay, who's a good boy? 11 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,920 In last year's Horizon, we revealed what the cats of one village 12 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,960 got up to once they left the cat flap. 13 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,120 CAT WAILS 14 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:52,720 Now we're taking it even further. 15 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,560 In a ground-breaking scientific study, 16 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:01,800 we've asked some of the world's top cat experts to run experiments 17 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,120 investigating the secrets of our feline friends. 18 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:13,720 What happens in the milliseconds before our cats pounce... 19 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:15,880 Wow, that's unbelievable. 20 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,440 ..and what makes them the gymnasts of the animal kingdom? 21 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,080 We're able to see this for the first time in the last few years. 22 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,360 That is extraordinary. 23 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,720 To delve even deeper into their hidden world, we're fitting 24 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,360 our cats with state-of-the-art tracking devices and cameras. 25 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,120 We're aiming to create the definitive guide to your cat. 26 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,000 And tonight we'll reveal how your cuddly pet can 27 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,040 transform into a hunting, fighting machine. 28 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,760 One of the reasons I love cats is they've clearly still got 29 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,880 this independent wild side. 30 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:02,680 But just how close are they really to their wild, big-cat cousins? 31 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,360 Do we have a lion in our laps? 32 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:25,800 We're following 100 cats 33 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,640 in three very different environments 34 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,360 to get an insight into their secret lives. 35 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:42,280 In the crowded terraces of Brighton, we're tracking city cats like Ozzy, 36 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:46,240 battling to protect his title as King of the Street. 37 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,880 Ozzy is called Ozzy because of Ozzy Osbourne. 38 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,000 He believes that this is his territory 39 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:57,640 and he's trying to defend it. 40 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,600 In Rottingdean, village cats like Sandwich 41 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,040 have room to roam and hunt. 42 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:13,080 We've had mice and a bird and a rabbit, and so far that's all, 43 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,400 but there's lambs in the field nearby, so we never know. 44 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,640 And we're comparing our urban cats with farm cats, 45 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:26,560 who have to hunt to survive. 46 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,880 All the information comes back to Cat HQ, 47 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,920 where it's pored over by experts... 48 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,120 This is the first 24 hours and you can see all our cats 49 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,440 in different colours and named here. 50 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:48,760 ..so we can build up the most comprehensive 51 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,080 picture of the cat we've ever had. 52 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,240 We're going to start with the wildest cats in our study, 53 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,200 to find out how they hunt. 54 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,120 We're off to David Hicks' farm 55 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,960 where semi-feral working cats are employed to catch rats. 56 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,600 How many cats do you have here now in total? 57 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:20,560 About 18. 18 cats? Yeah. 58 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,000 And why did you get them originally, David? 59 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:28,360 The rat population was just totally out of control. 60 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:30,760 They were getting in the cattle food, digging under 61 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,440 the floor of the shed, it was just absolutely alive with rats. 62 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:37,360 So we got three half-grown cats from a friend of mine who had some 63 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:41,440 feral cats, and they've never looked back, the rats are just wiped out. 64 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,800 Filming a hunt is incredibly hard to do. 65 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,680 Shall I do this one? Yeah, definitely. 66 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:52,400 Just unclip it? Give it a pull. 67 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,880 To help us work out where to put our motion sensitive cameras, 68 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,320 we've put tracking collars and cat-cams on these cats. 69 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:17,320 These GPS traces show Mr Tom hunting in the hedgerows, while Growler sets 70 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:21,360 out in the opposite direction, to the stables nearly a kilometre away. 71 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:27,920 Over the last 24 hours, the cats have spread out across an area 72 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,440 the size of 15 football pitches! 73 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,320 But all the cats still spend a lot of their time 74 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,000 hunting in the farmyard, 75 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:43,040 so cameraman, Robin, has staked it out with specialist cameras. 76 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,480 Now, all we have to do is sit and wait... 77 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:51,080 ..and wait. 78 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:03,960 We see foxes, chickens, and lots of cats. 79 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:12,720 And eventually we capture something that's rarely been filmed. 80 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,400 Cat behaviour expert, Dr John Bradshaw, 81 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:17,120 wants to see for himself. 82 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:20,840 Hi, guys. Hi. What have we got so far, then? 83 00:06:20,840 --> 00:06:23,000 Here we go, we've got a little shot here. 84 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,040 A little bit of cat and mouse. 85 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,720 Oooh, that's good, that's very good. 86 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,720 Yes, indeed, that was a really quick kill, surprisingly quick. 87 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,280 It killed it straightaway - in the mouth, done. 88 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:35,040 Yeah, that was real hunting behaviour, 89 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,400 it's not the kind of thing you might see in a pet cat, 90 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:39,800 this is real predatory behaviour. 91 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:41,880 These cats are hunting for their living. 92 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:44,360 That's how they get most of their calories. 93 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,840 The farm cats prowl the farmyard, watching and waiting, 94 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:59,720 until they detect mice we can't even see. 95 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:07,000 Then, with an explosion of raw power, they accelerate and pounce. 96 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,720 The kill is over in under two seconds. 97 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:17,000 So what is it about a cat's body 98 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,960 that gives it this split-second timing and pinpoint accuracy? 99 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:28,840 So if we can get the cat. 100 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,000 Hey, Rob. 101 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,320 Here at the Royal Veterinary College, 102 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:39,160 we're setting up an experiment to find out how your cat manages 103 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:40,760 to pull off a kill like that. 104 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,600 We're going to analyse exactly how they move. 105 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:50,640 Last one. 106 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,440 We're placing these dots over Rob's main joints. 107 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:57,800 We're going to track them with a high-speed camera. 108 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:05,160 And we're recording the pressure through Rob's paws on a floor pad. 109 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:10,800 Now we can analyse every step he takes. 110 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:27,120 Our experiment reveals that Rob rarely straightens his legs. 111 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:28,960 Rob, come. Good boy. 112 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,120 Unlike dogs, whose legs are much straighter when they move, 113 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:38,760 cats are almost always in this crouched posture, 114 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:40,760 even when they run flat out. 115 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,480 So if we look at the skeleton of a domestic cat here, 116 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:51,520 we can see how the skeleton 117 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,360 is set up to be in this kind of crouched posture, 118 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:56,200 where the knee is really bent, 119 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,000 the elbow's quite bent, shoulder, hip, so forth, 120 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,080 and that gives the domestic cat 121 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,600 a lot of agility, manoeuvrability and even stealth. 122 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,920 'John Hutchinson's been looking not only at the domestic moggy, 123 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:14,160 'but the whole cat family. 124 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:22,240 'To find out just how much a tabby has in common with a tiger...' 125 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:23,640 TIGER GROWLS 126 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:27,600 '..he's tested big cats in same way as we tracked Rob.' 127 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:29,080 Nice, yes. 128 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,000 'From pet cats... 129 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:36,920 '..through the ocelot... 130 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:39,760 '..and the tiger... 131 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:43,440 'he's discovered your cat's posture 132 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,440 'is almost indistinguishable from that of a big cat. 133 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:53,440 'And it's this crouch that gives them the raw power to pounce.' 134 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,320 In a tiger that we measured at the zoo with a high-speed video, 135 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,360 we can see that cat with that crouched posture just 136 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:04,640 exploding out of the gate, accelerating really quickly, 137 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,600 because it's got these spring-like, pre-tensed limbs. 138 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:09,400 What was the time period on that? 139 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:11,760 How long did it take for him to get from here to here? 140 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:14,760 Less than half a second, this is slowed down by ten times, 141 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:18,640 so this animal is just like lightning out of the gate. 142 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,880 'And there's something even more dazzling about your cat - 143 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,200 'its sheer athleticism. 144 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,560 'Cats can jump up to five times their height. 145 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,320 'And in the air, you can see their remarkable flexibility.' 146 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:52,920 It's a real acrobat, it's twisting through a reflex, 147 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:55,560 basically, and you can see it's straightening its legs out 148 00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:59,880 and crouching as it hits the ground to absorb the energy, the shock. 149 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:01,440 And there we have an X-ray. 150 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:04,800 How do you get an X-ray of a falling cat? 151 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:08,480 That's a big paradigm shift, I guess, in our field, is that 152 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,000 we're able to now see this for the first time in the last few years. 153 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:13,680 That is extraordinary. 154 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:18,280 It gives you such an incredible insight into what's 155 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,800 going on skeletally at every millisecond of the movement. 156 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,200 That is just beautiful. 157 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:33,720 'This X-ray reveals their extremely flexible spine in motion and 158 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:38,360 'the fluid way their skeleton moves to give them their perfect poise. 159 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,880 'Our pet cats may be smaller than their big-cat cousins, 160 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,920 'but pound for pound, they're equally powerful. 161 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:56,160 'And, thanks to their flexibility, in some ways they're even better.' 162 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,520 The backbone of a cat is incredibly limber, 163 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:03,120 in a domestic cat in particular, 164 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,720 so it's able to do that kind of twisting, 165 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:10,880 whereas the stiffer spine of a big cat would not be able to do that. 166 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,680 Definitely the athletic ability declines with size 167 00:12:13,680 --> 00:12:15,720 in cats in general. 168 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:19,240 At the size of a domestic cat, they're amazing, 169 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:23,480 whereas once you get to the size of a lion or tiger, they're really 170 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:28,280 pushing the limits of what they can still do without injuring themselves. 171 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:39,120 'So your pet has the posture of a tiger or lion, 172 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,240 'and is more agile than these astounding predators. 173 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,280 'But it has something else that's just as powerful. 174 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:52,680 'Instinct. 175 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:58,920 'Perhaps this could help answer a question that's puzzling 176 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,000 'many of our urban cat owners.' 177 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,440 Our cats no longer have to rely on their hunting capabilities 178 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:07,800 to get their next meal - 179 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:12,280 most of them are well fed at home, so why do they continue to hunt? 180 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:22,680 'To help find out, we've asked our owners to take photos of any 181 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:24,600 'prey their cats bring home.' 182 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:32,560 I could have things in three or four times a week 183 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:34,160 in the summer or the spring. 184 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:39,200 He's brought in a seagull, a rat, a vole, mice, 185 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:44,040 frogs, because there's a pond next door, a crow. 186 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:45,560 What about the hamster? 187 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:49,240 They've tried to hunt the hamster several times and there have been 188 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:51,000 three near-death experiences 189 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,520 with the hamster in cat-related activities. 190 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:58,720 'So far, top of the hunting scoreboard for the urban cats 191 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:00,120 'is one from the village. 192 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,800 'When she leaves her house, her GPS trace shows her doing a quick 193 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:09,600 'patrol of the neighbourhood, before heading to the woods to hunt. 194 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:14,400 'She travels up to 2km a day, 195 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,080 'and is bringing back around three kills a week.' 196 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:27,560 Well, this is Sandwich, and she's somewhere over a year old. 197 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,440 She's a lovely cat, very friendly, 198 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:31,920 good company for my three-year-old girl. 199 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,880 But at night, she's a bit of a hunter. 200 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,920 Brings back lots of her own dinner. 201 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:46,040 We've had mice and a bird and a rabbit, and rats. 202 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:50,960 And so far that's all, but there's lambs in the field nearby, 203 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:52,320 so we never know. 204 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,760 When she brings things that are a third of her size back, 205 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,320 it does surprise me a little bit! 206 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:06,960 HE CHUCKLES, SANDWICH GROWLS 207 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:14,040 Sandwich has a surprising hunting technique. 208 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:19,280 It's about two in the afternoon, and she's in the local woods. 209 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:20,720 Just listen to this. 210 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:24,040 BIRDS CHIRP 211 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:25,720 SANDWICH CHIRRUPS 212 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:30,600 She appears to be mimicking the sounds of birds. 213 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:32,320 BIRDS CHIRP 214 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:33,880 SANDWICH CHIRRUPS 215 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:37,880 CHIRPING AND CHIRRUPING CONTINUE 216 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:45,880 We can't be sure why she does this, 217 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,880 but could it be an attempt to lure her prey down? 218 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,360 Sandwich's hunting was useful once - 219 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,640 her owners had quite a mouse problem until she arrived. 220 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:05,080 But they don't need her to hunt any more. 221 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,600 We went through a spell of her catching something on a daily basis 222 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,400 and she refused to eat any cat food at all, 223 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,560 and seemed to prefer fresh produce. 224 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,120 We tried to stop her doing it quite so much by overfeeding her, 225 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:27,680 and feeding her the best, the most expensive, cat food, 226 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,080 but it hasn't completely stopped it. 227 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,320 Many of our owners have tried to stop their cats hunting 228 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:41,080 by giving them a lot of pet food. 229 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:46,280 But can we ever override their hunting instincts? 230 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:55,400 Back at HQ, cat-behaviour expert Dr Sarah Ellis has 231 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:59,720 footage of Sandwich chasing a mouse in the hallway of her house. 232 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:04,520 So, what we see with Sandwich is slightly different from what 233 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:07,840 we see in free-ranging or feral cats when they're hunting. 234 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,680 They tend to go through a sequence of behaviours 235 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,480 that starts with locating the prey. 236 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:15,520 They'll then go for the capture and the killing bite and then 237 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:20,840 they'll manipulate the prey, plucking off the feathers if it's a bird, 238 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:23,160 or shaking the animal to loosen muscle from bone 239 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:24,280 and skin from muscle. 240 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:25,800 And then they'll consume it. 241 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:31,240 With Sandwich, she spends an awful lot of time manipulating it before 242 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:35,280 she actually kills it and normally that would be the other way round. 243 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:38,880 The reason why that might be is 244 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,560 because Sandwich is fed daily by her owners, 245 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,520 her instinct to hunt is still there, but she doesn't feel the need to 246 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,240 do the killing bite because she's not that hungry at this moment. 247 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,000 A cat's appetite affects how quickly they kill... 248 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,400 ..but being full doesn't seem to override their desire to hunt. 249 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:04,960 And for very good reason. 250 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,840 Their wild ancestors relied on hunting to survive. 251 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:18,840 They couldn't afford to wait until they were starving, 252 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:21,480 because not all hunting attempts end in a kill. 253 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,800 'Back at the farm, John Bradshaw has asked the farmer to give his 254 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:40,600 'cats a rare treat - a rabbit they haven't had to catch themselves. 255 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:49,480 'He wants to show me the wild carnivore hidden inside every cat. 256 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,400 'First at the table is Black And Ginger - 257 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,040 'the mother of two-week-old kittens.' 258 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,120 And all the other cats, are they waiting their turn? 259 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:07,960 Are they that patient? 260 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,280 They probably wouldn't normally be that patient, 261 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:11,840 but, as you can see, like just then, 262 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,040 the mothers are really motivated to eat. 263 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:16,240 They're needing a lot of calories at the moment. 264 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:17,360 GROWLING 265 00:19:17,360 --> 00:19:19,960 The other cats, they know they're going to get some of it 266 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,320 later on and they're just not so motivated to go in, 267 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,560 they don't want to risk getting a cuff from her. 268 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:27,280 HISSING 269 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:32,840 Ohh! She told Mr Fluffy, "Back away from my rabbit." 270 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:41,240 'Mothers like Black And Ginger with kittens to feed will 271 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,160 'fight for the biggest share of a feast - 272 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:47,960 'and for cats, a meat source like this one is all the more important. 273 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:51,120 'They're one of only a handful of mammals that must 274 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:52,400 'eat it to survive.' 275 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:58,160 They need a lot of protein, first of all, because, unlike you or I, 276 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,640 or indeed a dog, they can't switch off breaking down protein. 277 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:04,360 So they literally have to take in protein every day 278 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:05,960 just to get enough calories. 279 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:09,160 But they also need animal protein, because for a start 280 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:12,520 they've got quite short guts that don't digest protein very well, 281 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:16,440 but also they need some amino acids that we don't need, and the key 282 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:20,360 one is one called taurine, which is essential for their health. 283 00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:23,760 Now, we make as much taurine as we need to in our own bodies, 284 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:25,560 and cats can't do that. 285 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,760 So one of the things they need to get from animal protein, from meat, 286 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,200 is that essential amino acid taurine. 287 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:36,560 'Along with taurine, there are 18 other nutrients cats can only obtain 288 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,400 'from meat, while we humans - and even dogs - 289 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,400 'can get them from vegetables.' 290 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:46,560 It doesn't seem like a great evolutionary strategy, in a way? 291 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,400 No, it's something that the ancestor of the whole cat family 292 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:54,480 many millions of years ago lost, the ability to live on plant protein, 293 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,880 and once lost that kind of ability never reappears, so this is true 294 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:03,680 of the whole cat family, they're all basically locked into eating meat. 295 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:09,120 'Cats don't waste any of their prey.' 296 00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:14,200 So, are they going to absolutely polish off that entire animal, 297 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:15,680 bones and all? 298 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:17,200 I'm sure between them they will, 299 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,800 yes, indeed, and the carcass will give them all sorts of nutrients. 300 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:22,720 It'll give them calcium, from the way 301 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:26,240 they're crunching up the bones, and it will also give them water. 302 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:29,560 Cats are notorious for not drinking very much, 303 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:33,840 and in fact, evolutionarily speaking, they'd have got most of their water 304 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,120 from the flesh that they ate, and they wouldn't need to drink at all. 305 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,760 'Our cats' wild ancestors could survive only on fresh meat. 306 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:45,560 'They even evolved more efficient kidneys, 307 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,840 'so they could get all the water they needed from the prey they ate. 308 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:55,320 'This wild hunting heritage is present in every cat, 309 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:59,200 'from the largest tiger to the smallest moggy. 310 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,840 'Our cats' hunting instinct may never completely go away, 311 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,600 'but it's possible that in the future their hunting drive 312 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:10,320 'could diminish.' 313 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:14,280 As recently as 30 years ago, our cats had no choice 314 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:15,880 but to hunt to stay healthy, 315 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,480 because pet foods didn't contain all the nutrients they needed. 316 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,680 But now that we understand just what specialised meat eaters 317 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,640 they are, and we provide everything they need in their food, 318 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,920 does this mean that in, say, another 30 years, they will hunt less? 319 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,080 It's just one way living with us 320 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:38,720 in our 21st-century world could tame our cats' wild side. 321 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,640 We're halfway through our month-long study, 322 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:53,760 so what have our cats been up to? 323 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:59,360 The GPS tracking results show that, in the city, cats like Paddy 324 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,880 and Sparky rarely travel more than 50 metres from home. 325 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,760 The village cats go a bit further, 326 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:12,040 with some like Sandwich exploring over 300 metres from her house. 327 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,160 And the farm cats go the furthest, with Black And Ginger 328 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,480 and Growler ranging over a kilometre from the farm. 329 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,600 The distances they cover may be very different in the three environments, 330 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:30,400 but there's one similarity. 331 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,400 All our cats seem to be treading well-worn paths, 332 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,600 following the same routes again and again. 333 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:47,320 What's the time frame here, is that in a day, or what's going on? 334 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:50,840 So that's several days' data combined together now. 335 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:55,080 And what's most striking to me about this is that the colours 336 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,280 are going out in the same direction every day, so each cat has a routine. 337 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:02,200 It actually has a preferred hunting route, which it does day after day 338 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:03,560 after day after day. 339 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:08,040 'By sticking to the same tracks, our cats are staying off each 340 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:12,240 'other's turf, dividing up all three sites into separate territories. 341 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:16,720 'And in the city, where space is tight, they have developed an even 342 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:18,920 'more sophisticated way of sharing it.' 343 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:21,960 So, if we look at the cats here, 344 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:26,040 you can see they are separated into separate areas geographically, 345 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,600 and they may also be separated in time. 346 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,360 So it's mine in the morning and it's yours in the afternoon, 347 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:33,080 so if we have a sort of time sharing, 348 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,200 especially if they start having a high density in a certain area, 349 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,880 then are those territories overlapping? 350 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,160 No, because they're separated in time. 351 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:46,280 Territory is incredibly important to cats. 352 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,880 Dividing up their space means they can avoid meeting each other. 353 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,360 And, crucially, if they don't meet, they won't have to fight. 354 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,760 Generally, if you're a cat, you don't want to have a fight, 355 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,080 because it's costly for you - you may well get injured, 356 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:01,480 you might get killed. 357 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,360 So, it's more about drawing up the boundaries and subdividing 358 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:08,000 the terrain so that you don't meet the neighbouring animals. 359 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:22,760 We've seen how similar our cats are physically to big cats... 360 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,240 ..and there are also surprising similarities 361 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:30,680 when it comes to patrolling their territories... 362 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,040 ..according to big cat expert Teague Stubbington. 363 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,440 Tigers need to establish a territory in which to live. 364 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,280 What we usually end up with is a situation where one male tiger 365 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,720 will have a territory that overlaps several females', 366 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,920 so they don't compete too much but they're aware of each other. 367 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:55,800 Tigers lead solitary lives, 368 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:59,320 and claim their territory by marking it with scent. 369 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:03,080 This can be picked up by other tigers without meeting face to face. 370 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,920 So they have very similar scent glands to domestic cats, 371 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,640 in their cheeks, their head, their anal glands, feet as well, 372 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,240 so they can lay scent. 373 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:17,360 They deposit that in different ways. Males will sometimes urinate, 374 00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:20,480 deposit some scent on the floor and then scrape it with their back legs 375 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,800 to leave a physical and also olfactory marker to other tigers. 376 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,160 If you're in the jungle, 377 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:28,360 you can smell tiger urine and it is very strong - 378 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:29,760 you know where a tiger's been. 379 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,720 I've had the pleasure of smelling a lot of tiger scent on trees, 380 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:34,640 and I love the smell, because it's strong 381 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:36,400 but it's quite sweet, it's very rich. 382 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:37,520 It's a very musky smell. 383 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,600 It's a very musky smell. I think it's lovely. 384 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,400 Lynx scent, on the other hand, is bitter and awful. 385 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:43,880 Tiger scent is very good! 386 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:51,240 For tigers, scent marks individual territories 387 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,960 and prevents them meeting and having to fight off other tigers. 388 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,600 But not all big cats want to avoid each other. 389 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,040 So, if you think about lions in the African savanna, 390 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:09,520 they have larger prey items that they feed upon, 391 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:10,800 much larger prey items, 392 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,320 so they need to co-operate to be able to kill and bring down their prey. 393 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:16,640 They also have a lot more in the way of competition, 394 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:21,720 so lions, as a pride, can defend their kill against hyenas, leopards, 395 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,400 whereas tigers live in a different environment, 396 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,000 they don't have that same competition. 397 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,280 Tigers live solitary lives in the forest... 398 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,640 ..while lions co-operate in prides on the savanna. 399 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,240 Big cat territorial behaviours 400 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,400 have evolved to suit the environment they live in. 401 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,920 But where do our domestic cats fit into this picture? 402 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:03,640 Back in Cat HQ, the team has been trawling through hours of footage. 403 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,760 In the city, they've spotted cats spraying in gardens. 404 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,560 They're using scent to mark their territory, just like tigers do. 405 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:23,600 But what will they do if there's a dispute, 406 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:25,880 if territory they've marked overlaps? 407 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,520 You can see the terraced houses. Can we zoom in a bit, please, Harvey? 408 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:35,320 Alan's picked out the GPS tracks of two cats with territories 409 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,080 that meet right in the middle of the street. 410 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:43,240 We've got Smudge and...is it Ozzy? 411 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,160 Walking straight along the road. 412 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:46,240 The two cats are clearly 413 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,440 dividing that street up between them in some way. 414 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,680 They're perfectly capable of ranging right the way up and down the street, 415 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:54,320 they're choosing not to do so, so there's clearly some sort 416 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:58,240 of interaction that's preventing them from using the whole street. 417 00:28:58,240 --> 00:28:59,760 Each cat, erm, Smudge and Ozzy, 418 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:01,920 will probably remember having had stand-offs 419 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:04,440 somewhere around the middle of the street in the past, 420 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,720 and simply not bother going there because it's too risky. 421 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,640 To get the whole story, they're going to fit them with cat-cams. 422 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,960 Ozzy's street patrols have certainly got him noticed. 423 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,600 Ozzy from Hanover Street, from the other end. 424 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,400 He's a cat that stays out on the road quite a lot. 425 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,080 I think we've seen Ozzy before. Yeah, in the garden. 426 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,120 Comes in for a little play and a cuddle, 427 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,600 sits on the wall, relaxes, enjoys the sunshine. 428 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,600 I definitely recognise Ozzy - beautiful-looking cat. 429 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:42,400 You know, quite big and proud and "don't mess with me" type thing. 430 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,600 I think I recognise Ozzy. 431 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,920 I think he's the one that Indy likes to attempt to pick on, 432 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:49,680 but Indy never wins. 433 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,280 I think he sits on cars just opposite our flat. 434 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,600 Ozzy's owner wasn't prepared for her cat's wild side. 435 00:29:59,960 --> 00:30:02,880 I had this, like, idyllic vision of having a cat. 436 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,640 I thought it would be lovely, we'd have a little indoor cat 437 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:07,680 that would like to sit on my lap. 438 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,000 Ozzy is called Ozzy because of Ozzy Osbourne. 439 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:13,240 He was never normal. 440 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:15,240 I realised that once I got him home. 441 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:22,160 Ozzy will try and attack you at the top of the stairs in the dark - 442 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,680 he will run after you, growling. 443 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:30,760 I put his name on his cat collar 444 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:33,800 and then I would get phone calls saying, "Hi, Ozzy's here. 445 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,080 "I'm Bert from the fish and bait shop. 446 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:38,320 "I just thought you should know that Ozzy's been here 447 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:40,360 "and his ear seems a little bit sensitive today, 448 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,160 "so maybe you should take him to the vets." 449 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,080 I'm like "Oh, right, OK, that's where he is." 450 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,680 Then I had students phone up from about four or five houses down 451 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,240 saying, "Hey, I just thought you should know, Ozzy's here, 452 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,760 "he's been eating crisps all day with us." 453 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:54,280 I'm like, "OK." 454 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,560 Then another neighbour from across the street came round 455 00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:58,880 and saw Ozzy in our house, 456 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,520 and went, "Oh, do you know Ozzy as well, does he come in here?" 457 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:03,280 I'm like, "Yeah, he's our cat." 458 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:04,480 OZZY MEOWS 459 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,120 Ozzy's not just wandering around - 460 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:11,000 he's trying to claim the street as his own. 461 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:14,320 Ozzy believes that this is his territory 462 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:15,800 and he's trying to defend it, 463 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,960 and when new cats come, or existing kittens grow into young male cats, 464 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,440 then Ozzy feels like he has to defend his territory, 465 00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:24,840 whether that's marking his territory, as I have seen, 466 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,240 and I'm not going to mention where I've seen that happen, 467 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:29,360 because I don't think my neighbours will like me, 468 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,160 or, like, fighting the other cats, as well. 469 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:34,880 Why he is like he is? No. 470 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,520 No, no, no. I have no idea at all. 471 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,600 He was like that from the moment we got him. 472 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,120 So it's definitely nature, not nurture. 473 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:45,720 It's nothing I've done. 474 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:47,760 I'm quite confident on that. It's not me. 475 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:49,000 It's definitely him. 476 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:55,040 It's twenty past ten, 477 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,000 and Ozzy is out on the prowl. 478 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,400 He's a street-smart city cat... 479 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:10,120 ..who's learned to dodge cars in his urban territory. 480 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:15,880 Next day, he's out at dusk, 481 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:19,200 still patrolling his end of the street... 482 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,840 when Smudge suddenly appears on a wall. 483 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,640 It's Smudge who backs down and edges past. 484 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:42,000 Our scientists suspect there's bad blood between these two. 485 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:51,880 So vet Richard Harvey has invited Ozzy's owners into Cat HQ. 486 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:53,480 Is Smudge a tabby cat? 487 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,160 Yes, he is, yeah. I think I know Smudge. 488 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,760 Him and Ozzy don't tend to come in contact. Yeah. 489 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,560 I think they've very much got their halves of the street. 490 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,600 I think they worked that out a few months ago - 491 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:08,560 who was going to be where, and there was... Lots of fights, were there? 492 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:11,840 Not so much fights, as... Lots of noise. ..lots of noise. 493 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,640 OK. So they've got their own halves. Cool. Ozzy's got his own turf. 494 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:16,760 He has, he's got his own half. Good street cat. 495 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,120 They're the only two that go on the street, really. 496 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,680 The others are very much confined to their own back gardens, 497 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:24,400 and if they do go, they'll go four or five gardens down either way 498 00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:25,520 and that's about it. 499 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,560 So he's going pretty far for the cats in the area, 500 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:30,320 and, like you say, he really is going 501 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:32,080 up and down, up and down on these streets. 502 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,840 So he is king of the street, then? He is king of the street, yeah. 503 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:37,200 Because that's much bigger than Smudge's bit, really. 504 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:38,840 It is! He is winning. OK, that's fine. 505 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:40,600 King of the street. I knew it. 506 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:42,200 I knew it. 507 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:47,800 These city cats have successfully split the street between them, 508 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:49,680 much like solitary tigers would. 509 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:52,840 But while we're filming, 510 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,560 this territorial arrangement is disrupted... 511 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:57,840 by the arrival of another cat. 512 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,680 First he starts appearing during the day. 513 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,880 Then one night he's caught on cat-cam by Smudge, 514 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:13,360 who's hiding under a car. 515 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:16,640 YOWLING 516 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,040 After a quick yowling match, 517 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,040 Smudge backs down and races home to safety. 518 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:38,640 This new cat is trespassing not only on Smudge's turf, 519 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:42,080 but also on Ozzy's. 520 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,240 Ozzy's losing his throne and he's very grumpy about it. 521 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:50,200 It's a younger male - a grey cat, who is a fighter - 522 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,000 his ear is notched in a few places, 523 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,840 and he doesn't run away when Ozzy shouts at him. 524 00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:58,920 One night Ozzy's owners have to step in 525 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:03,440 and break up a fight between him and this new pretender to his throne. 526 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,520 MUSIC: Little Green Bag by The George Baker Selection 527 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,400 He advanced on Ozzy and cornered him. 528 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:15,400 Erm, so we tried to pick up Ozzy to take him out of that, and Ozzy... 529 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:16,880 Ozzy attacked. 530 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,920 Ozzy attacked his, er, his cavalry, yes. 531 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:22,320 Erm, to there was a tetanus injection involved, 532 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:27,120 and a course of antibiotics, cos there was a small injury 533 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:30,320 that's healing as we speak. On us, not the cat! 534 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:31,640 Yes. 535 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:35,960 The new cat has stolen Ozzy's crown. 536 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:41,800 To discover why this grey cat is prepared to resort to a brawl, 537 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:45,040 our scientists are going keep an eye on him. 538 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,000 We'll reveal their findings at the end of the study. 539 00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:59,880 Our urban cats are definitely up for a fight 540 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:01,440 to protect their patch. 541 00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:08,800 But are the farm cats just as territorial? 542 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:10,520 MR TOM MEWS 543 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:18,360 It's the dead of night and Mr Tom is on the prowl, 544 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:20,480 when he bumps into Little Kit. 545 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:29,440 Just a friendly nose touch 546 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:31,840 and they're on their way. 547 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:35,280 There's no yowling, no fighting. 548 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,320 John reckons there's a good reason the farm cats are friends - 549 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:41,480 for now. 550 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,280 It's all about the distribution of food. 551 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:47,080 As soon as the food supply is insufficient 552 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,840 for the number of cats there, you're going to get problems. Yes. 553 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,040 They're going to start competing with one another. 554 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:54,120 Certainly with tigers and with limited space 555 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,080 you get a lot of territorial behaviour - 556 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:58,640 there simply isn't enough range for everybody 557 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:00,720 to get enough prey. This is a crucial difference 558 00:37:00,720 --> 00:37:03,680 between domestic cats and most of the rest of the cat family, 559 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:07,760 is that domestic cats can exploit these very dense food supplies, 560 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:11,800 such as the rats in a farmyard, in a way that big cats don't, 561 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:15,160 where their prey is, generally speaking, much more widely spread 562 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:17,160 over the environment. 563 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,160 The farm cats hunt alone. 564 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:22,960 But inside the farmyard, they work together 565 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,360 to protect their territory from intruders. 566 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,080 The cats spend a lot of time in the farmyard, 567 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,040 and that is a commonly defended territory, 568 00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:34,160 and the reason they're defending it is because that's the denning area, 569 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:36,200 that's where the kittens are going to be born, 570 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:39,560 and so it's very important for all those females to defend that area 571 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:42,080 against other cats that might come in and disturb them. 572 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:43,400 And it's quite interesting - 573 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:45,480 they're defending this territory together, 574 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,280 so there's social interactions going on, as well, there. 575 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:50,600 That's right, so it's a communal, shared territory. 576 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:53,480 You wouldn't be able to distinguish between the territories 577 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:55,200 of those individual females... OK. 578 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,480 ..because the two would literally superimpose one on top of the other. 579 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:13,720 In the farmyard these cats live together 580 00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:15,800 like a sociable pride of lions... 581 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,160 ..whereas in the busy Brighton streets, 582 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,400 our city cats defend their own hard-won patch 583 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:32,240 like solitary tigers. 584 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,280 Our cats' behaviours on the farm and in the city 585 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:50,440 show just how well they can adapt to very different environments. 586 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,240 And it's this ability to adapt 587 00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:55,040 that's been hugely important to the cats' success. 588 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:56,880 But what about in the village? 589 00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:59,120 Here, our cats get access to fields, 590 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:01,320 but they also live in nice, cosy houses. 591 00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:03,320 So what sort of life do they choose? 592 00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:08,640 The GPS traces reveal 593 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:10,240 that some village cats 594 00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:12,240 stay as close to home as a city cat... 595 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,520 ..while others roam as far as a farm cat. 596 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:19,080 We've got a cat here 597 00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:21,760 coming down the hedgerow and going into the village - 598 00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:23,360 they're going quite a long way. 599 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,000 The other cat that was moving a long way is Sandwich. 600 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:27,520 And she's not alone. 601 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:35,040 It's midnight, 602 00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:37,400 and village cat Saphie is hunting. 603 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:41,760 She's often out for hours, 604 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,640 even picking up the odd eight-legged hitchhiker. 605 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:57,040 So why do cats like Saphie and Sandwich 606 00:39:57,040 --> 00:39:59,000 seem to have more of a wild side 607 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,280 than others living in the same village? 608 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:06,520 Our scientists think the clue 609 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:08,520 is in the way they catch their prey. 610 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:15,240 Back at HQ, Sarah Ellis has some incredible footage 611 00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:17,280 of Saphie in action. 612 00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:19,640 What we're seeing here is the first stage, 613 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,240 which is the location, locating that prey. 614 00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:24,960 Ears still moving in all different directions, 615 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:26,520 being aware of its environment. 616 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,400 Now... Wow, look at those pupils dilating! 617 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:30,840 Yeah, that was amazing. That's pretty incredible. Yeah! 618 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:32,840 You know, you don't expect that during the day, 619 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,400 it doesn't really need to do that for general vision, 620 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:38,880 but that's... That's unbelievable, yeah. 621 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:41,560 A clear sign of arousal, a heightened sensitivity. 622 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:44,280 Definitely. As you say, it's not related to light levels, 623 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:47,520 cos they haven't changed at all, it's all about the prey. 624 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:50,160 Look at that. Wow. 625 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:55,320 Her arousal levels are going to be increasing all the time 626 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:56,760 in this state of preparedness, 627 00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:59,040 because she's really at the last few seconds 628 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:00,680 before she's about to pounce. 629 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:03,400 Now this bit, the wobble, 630 00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:05,560 the shaking of the hindquarters - 631 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:07,480 you see that a lot when they're playing, 632 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:09,680 when they're actually hunting as well. 633 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:11,840 Yeah, we do - it's much more exaggerated in play, 634 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:13,760 and particularly in young cats, 635 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:16,120 but it is something that we'll always see, 636 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:20,000 often this treading of the back legs just before they make their strike. 637 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:24,680 If they've been crouched for a long time, 638 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,240 there's likely to be fatigue building up in those muscles. 639 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:31,760 It may just be a way of stretching them 640 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:35,240 and getting them ready before they do their strike forwards. 641 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:38,920 The final stage of the hunt 642 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:40,480 is the most revealing. 643 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:42,440 The pounce. 644 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:45,920 All of our cats were happy to pounce on the smaller toys 645 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,200 the size of birds or mice... 646 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,960 ..but when we brought out the rat, it was a different story. 647 00:41:57,800 --> 00:41:59,640 Most cats backed away. 648 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,520 Only a few - like Saphie - took it on. 649 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:14,200 I was really surprised. 650 00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:17,000 She was really reacting to them like it was an actual animal 651 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,080 that she had to kill - 652 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,480 she was growling and hissing a little bit. 653 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:23,040 It was quite a big toy, 654 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:24,760 I thought she would just leave it alone, 655 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:26,200 but no, she really went for it. 656 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:29,240 She'd have it in her mouth and paws 657 00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:31,200 and she'd wrap her whole body around it, 658 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:32,840 so pulling it out was quite hard. 659 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:37,800 Catching a rat is quite a skill. 660 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:43,400 Saphie uses all four paws to pin it down. 661 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:49,720 And she's one of the only cats in our study who can do this. 662 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:00,600 Saphie has intrigued our scientists, 663 00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:03,520 so they've invited her owner Hannah into Cat HQ. 664 00:43:05,240 --> 00:43:08,040 In the last two weeks she's brought home three different kills. 665 00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:12,880 Wow! OK. She's brought a shrew... OK. ..also a bird. 666 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:15,600 And she's definitely eaten some of that. Yeah. 667 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:18,800 And the last - we weren't sure, some kind of small rodent. 668 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:20,960 So she's a real hunter. Yeah. 669 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:24,240 Anything in her background that you can...? 670 00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:29,200 We bought her from a farm, so, her mother, I assume she hunted. 671 00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:33,280 So, that's very typical of a cat that's really an active hunter - 672 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:36,000 to find in their history that they've had some instruction - 673 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,600 because they, you know, cats aren't very good at hunting 674 00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:41,440 unless they're actually taught how to do it by their mothers. 675 00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:54,680 All cats are born with a powerful instinct to chase after prey. 676 00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:57,560 You can see it in the youngest members of our study. 677 00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:03,560 But an instinct to chase isn't enough. 678 00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:05,160 Before they're a year old, 679 00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:08,040 their mothers will teach them the skills they'll need 680 00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:09,160 to kill their prey. 681 00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:17,720 It's the same for any cat, from tabby to tiger. 682 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:21,080 Back at the zoo, 683 00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:24,560 these tiger cubs have been picking up tips from their mother. 684 00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:29,680 So, our female, Melati, is sitting just under the tree there, 685 00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:31,360 and you've got the three young cubs 686 00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:33,240 all bundled together just by her side. 687 00:44:33,240 --> 00:44:35,120 I mean, already, at four months of age, 688 00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:36,640 they're pretty big, aren't they? 689 00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:39,280 They are. They've got that true sort of tiger colour 690 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:40,480 starting to come in. Yeah. 691 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:42,480 A little bit disproportionate, 692 00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:45,760 so they still have the really big paws that are too big for their body, 693 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:48,440 but, yeah, they do look like proper little tigers now. 694 00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:53,920 Like our kittens, the tiger cubs' birth was captured on camera. 695 00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:57,400 And it's not long before we can see them 696 00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:01,520 starting to learn the skills they'll need as adult cats. 697 00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:04,120 So the tiger cubs are learning to play-bite, 698 00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:06,200 learning to swat, learning to pounce, 699 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:08,760 so, some of the behaviours you think in a domestic cat 700 00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:10,200 are quite nice, cute behaviours, 701 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:13,120 they're actually learning to hunt in that behaviour there, 702 00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:15,080 and practising how the body would move, 703 00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:16,680 practising how they would react. 704 00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:21,600 Tiger cubs stay with their mothers for up to two years - 705 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:24,360 much longer than kittens of pet cats do. 706 00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:25,960 They've got a huge amount to learn, 707 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:28,400 so they've got to watch and observe their mother to hunt, 708 00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:30,400 and they've got to learn to hunt themselves. 709 00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:33,480 They need a lot more practice, because the prey are so much bigger. 710 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,280 Yeah, yeah - well, the important thing, 711 00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:38,600 even though the tiger's a predator, the most important thing for it to do 712 00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:40,000 is not to get injured itself, 713 00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:43,240 so it needs to learn to hunt effectively, quickly and efficiently 714 00:45:43,240 --> 00:45:45,360 and to hunt the right animals, as well. 715 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:47,840 ROOSTER CROWS 716 00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:54,680 Training is crucial for any cats that have to hunt to survive. 717 00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:59,240 Back at the farm, we've managed to capture this on film. 718 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,280 These are Black And Ginger's kittens. 719 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:07,960 They're now 11 weeks old, 720 00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:10,720 and she's teaching them to fend for themselves. 721 00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:17,360 She sets out on a hunting trip with a ginger kitten. 722 00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:22,280 But the kitten loses interest, 723 00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:25,760 so Black And Ginger tries to persuade with a meow. 724 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:27,280 SHE MEOWS 725 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:38,280 The other kittens prove too much of a distraction, 726 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:40,600 so Black And Ginger goes it alone. 727 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:48,720 Half an hour later, she's back with her prize. 728 00:46:48,720 --> 00:46:51,600 But she doesn't eat it herself. 729 00:46:54,840 --> 00:46:56,920 She calls for the kittens... 730 00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:03,520 ..and eventually one takes the bait. 731 00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:17,080 Toying with the vole is the first stage in learning to kill. 732 00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:21,920 Eventually, Black And Ginger will bring back live prey. 733 00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,160 This is how a kitten learns the technique 734 00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:34,680 to capture and kill a mouse, rat or bird. 735 00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:38,720 It's this early training 736 00:47:38,720 --> 00:47:42,520 which probably gave Saphie the skills she needs to catch a rat. 737 00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:45,920 By the end of the study, 738 00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:49,960 she and Sandwich are the joint top hunters of our urban cats. 739 00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:56,640 Our cats have the same hunting instincts as their big-cat cousins, 740 00:47:56,640 --> 00:47:59,200 and they also demonstrate a need to patrol 741 00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:01,200 and protect their own territory. 742 00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:04,320 But while big cats are still clearly wild animals, 743 00:48:04,320 --> 00:48:07,160 our cats have found a way to become pets. 744 00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:11,240 So, how did they adapt and develop the ability to live alongside us? 745 00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:20,840 Unlike wild cats, our pet cats don't seem to be afraid of us. 746 00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:23,440 Some of them actively seek out our company. 747 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:25,280 Ted! 748 00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:28,120 Like Ted and Dora. 749 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:29,840 Dora, she is the explorer. 750 00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:33,240 So she's the one that's the most bold, she's the most adventurous. 751 00:48:33,240 --> 00:48:34,960 And she's quite smart, actually. 752 00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:37,360 She does a particular kind of meow - 753 00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:38,800 "Meow! Meow! Meow!" 754 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,680 And she'll just go on and on... Mm. ..until you feed her. 755 00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:47,520 Ted the male cat is a very laid-back individual. 756 00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:49,920 He won't put out effort unless he has to. 757 00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:53,400 So he would major in being the Zen master of relaxation, 758 00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:55,080 stretched out. 759 00:48:55,080 --> 00:48:56,920 You can put Teddy like this 760 00:48:56,920 --> 00:48:59,880 and he'll probably be quite happy to stay like that. 761 00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:02,400 It would be hard to find a cat 762 00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:05,680 more suited to the pampered domestic life than Ted. 763 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:09,960 First thing I tend to do in the morning is some yoga stretches, 764 00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:13,280 and Ted thinks this is a game invented especially for him. 765 00:49:13,280 --> 00:49:16,840 Any moves that I do he's sort of moving around me - 766 00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:18,280 he will then lie on the ground 767 00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:20,760 and stretch out his arms above his head. 768 00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:24,480 Then I go down into what's called Child's Pose, 769 00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:26,280 where you sit back on your feet, 770 00:49:26,280 --> 00:49:29,960 and he will find a gap behind my legs, under my bum. 771 00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:32,400 He doesn't actually understand the yoga moves, 772 00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:34,120 but he's got his own Ted moves. 773 00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:36,080 This is my yoga companion. 774 00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:40,280 Ted and Dora interest our scientists 775 00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:43,120 because, despite being model pet cats, 776 00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:45,440 they were born just half a mile away 777 00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:47,800 in very different circumstances. 778 00:49:47,800 --> 00:49:49,000 They're farm cats. 779 00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:53,920 That year there were 36 kittens born at the farm, 780 00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:56,720 and at that stage we already had two cats, 781 00:49:56,720 --> 00:50:00,240 so I said to David the farmer, "We don't need any more cats." 782 00:50:00,240 --> 00:50:02,480 But Ted kept coming and sitting on my foot 783 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:04,080 and every time I picked him up 784 00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:07,680 he put his paws up to my face and gave me the look of love. 785 00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:10,440 So, really, then I said, "Oh, Rich, look - 786 00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:12,840 "this cat's so sweet. What do you think?" 787 00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:16,880 And Richard, like a...like a twerp, said, "Oh, maybe, yeah." 788 00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:20,920 They like being with us - 789 00:50:20,920 --> 00:50:23,480 if we do sit down in the evening, they're straight with us. 790 00:50:24,640 --> 00:50:26,480 Oh, Teddy! 791 00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:28,960 There you are. Oh, Ted! 792 00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:32,120 Despite starting life as a farm cat, 793 00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:35,680 Ted's now completely shunning his humble roots. 794 00:50:35,680 --> 00:50:38,640 You can even see this in his GPS trace. 795 00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:42,000 OK, so I'll pull up their traces here. 796 00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:46,720 Ted doesn't roam as far as the farm cats - 797 00:50:46,720 --> 00:50:50,440 and despite living just 600 metres from them across the fields, 798 00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:51,600 he never goes back. 799 00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:56,200 In fact, he spends a lot of time in his own garden - 800 00:50:56,200 --> 00:50:57,720 more like a city cat. 801 00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:01,120 It just represents a remarkable transformation. 802 00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:03,800 I mean he's, what, two years old, you say? Yes. 803 00:51:03,800 --> 00:51:07,440 So he is genetically pretty much identical to the farm cats, 804 00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:12,000 and yet the lifestyle, the way he moves around his environment, 805 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:13,680 is just completely different. 806 00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:16,960 They're venturing out quite long distances to go hunting, 807 00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:20,880 whereas Teddy is just behaving like a pet cat. 808 00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:29,200 So, just how did Teddy become so gentrified? 809 00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:41,840 Dr Rachel Casey thinks 810 00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:44,560 you can help a cat temper its wild instincts 811 00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:47,120 with the right sort of training. 812 00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:49,280 She's been helping this rescue centre 813 00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:52,400 prepare their kittens for domestic life. 814 00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:55,280 These gorgeous things are about four weeks old. 815 00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:00,000 One of the most important parts of the process 816 00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:02,360 is introducing the kittens to people. 817 00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:04,680 MEWING 818 00:52:04,680 --> 00:52:07,840 So the key thing is to make sure that they're happy 819 00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:09,440 with your contact first. 820 00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:12,000 So what we would do is just kind of just gently stroke them 821 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:14,040 a little bit and making sure they're happy. 822 00:52:14,040 --> 00:52:15,720 And then support them well, 823 00:52:15,720 --> 00:52:19,560 but just lift them a little bit off the ground and pop them on your lap. 824 00:52:19,560 --> 00:52:20,960 Too adorable. 825 00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:23,760 And the other thing that we're starting to do with them at this age 826 00:52:23,760 --> 00:52:26,360 is things like looking in their ears - 827 00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:28,600 the kind of things they would have to experience 828 00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:30,000 if they're going to the vets. 829 00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:33,400 Rather than just indulge my need to cuddle kittens, 830 00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:35,920 I could actually help this little fella out 831 00:52:35,920 --> 00:52:38,640 and manipulate his ears, lift his tail, 832 00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:41,160 so he won't be freaked out at the vets... 833 00:52:41,160 --> 00:52:43,400 You preferred my knee, did you? 834 00:52:45,480 --> 00:52:48,120 A crucial time in the development of a kitten 835 00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:50,200 is from two to eight weeks old. 836 00:52:51,240 --> 00:52:53,520 It's called the socialisation period. 837 00:52:55,360 --> 00:53:01,120 It's basically a biological period where the brain is developing, OK? 838 00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:03,360 The cat is what we call an altricial species, 839 00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:07,280 which means that the young are born poorly developed, 840 00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:10,720 and the disadvantage of that is that they're dependent on their mum 841 00:53:10,720 --> 00:53:13,200 for the first part of life - they're kind of helpless. 842 00:53:13,200 --> 00:53:16,280 But the advantage is that the period of development 843 00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:18,120 that would happen in the womb 844 00:53:18,120 --> 00:53:21,320 in a more fully developed species like the horse 845 00:53:21,320 --> 00:53:23,360 happens in the outside world, 846 00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:27,960 and that means that the outside world has an influence on that development. 847 00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:31,160 And what happens if you don't socialise kittens 848 00:53:31,160 --> 00:53:32,640 at the crucial time? 849 00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:35,240 They're much more likely to be anxious 850 00:53:35,240 --> 00:53:37,640 about new things they come across later in life. 851 00:53:37,640 --> 00:53:40,880 And it can result in problems like avoidance, aggression 852 00:53:40,880 --> 00:53:42,560 or stress-related behaviours 853 00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:44,720 like over-grooming and that kind of thing. 854 00:53:44,720 --> 00:53:45,960 So it can be, you know, 855 00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:49,840 the difference between a happy, contented household cat 856 00:53:49,840 --> 00:53:51,720 and a cat with serious problems. 857 00:53:54,120 --> 00:53:55,840 To curb their wild side, 858 00:53:55,840 --> 00:53:58,880 these kittens will have all kinds of new experiences 859 00:53:58,880 --> 00:54:01,000 before they leave the rescue centre - 860 00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:03,480 meeting men, women, and children... 861 00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:08,120 ..sniffing cloths that smell like other cats or dogs... 862 00:54:10,720 --> 00:54:13,480 ..and hearing everything from a baby's cry... 863 00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:15,720 BABY CRIES 864 00:54:15,720 --> 00:54:18,240 ..to a vacuum cleaner. 865 00:54:18,240 --> 00:54:20,160 VACUUM CLEANER DRONES 866 00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:22,800 The centre is making the most of the time 867 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:26,320 when kittens can acclimatise to new and strange things, 868 00:54:26,320 --> 00:54:28,920 while their brains are still growing. 869 00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:36,560 It's pretty incredible to think that inside this tiny kitten brain, 870 00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:38,680 new nerve cells are being made, 871 00:54:38,680 --> 00:54:41,400 synapses are being formed in their millions, 872 00:54:41,400 --> 00:54:44,360 and if you get the socialisation right, 873 00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:46,360 at the right time and properly, 874 00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:49,280 you can ensure that these little guys... 875 00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:52,560 are going to get the absolutely best welfare 876 00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:55,760 and best quality of life that they deserve. 877 00:54:55,760 --> 00:54:57,200 Isn't that right? 878 00:54:57,200 --> 00:54:58,920 Oh, that's it. I'm in love. 879 00:54:58,920 --> 00:55:00,200 It's all over. 880 00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:09,840 The difference between the domesticated bliss 881 00:55:09,840 --> 00:55:12,040 of ex-farm cats Ted and Dora 882 00:55:12,040 --> 00:55:15,040 and their relatives just half a mile away on the farm 883 00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:18,520 is also down to those critical first two months. 884 00:55:18,520 --> 00:55:20,280 MEWING 885 00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:22,920 Farmer David Hicks has found out the hard way 886 00:55:22,920 --> 00:55:25,640 that he has to get his kittens used to people 887 00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:28,120 in order to give them away as pets. 888 00:55:28,120 --> 00:55:30,000 OK, so... 889 00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:32,480 Are you sure it's OK to handle them? Yeah, it's fine. 890 00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:34,840 KITTEN MEWS Oh, you little munchkin. 891 00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:36,800 Sh-sh-sh... 892 00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:39,200 Oh, you little... 893 00:55:39,200 --> 00:55:41,600 Two and a half weeks old. ..beauty. 894 00:55:41,600 --> 00:55:44,360 Oh, my God. We try and get them quiet 895 00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:47,000 just so we can re-home them to domestic homes. 896 00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:50,040 If they don't get handled, when you go to pick one up, 897 00:55:50,040 --> 00:55:51,400 it'll spit and hiss at you, 898 00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:54,160 whereas if you give them a bit of food 899 00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:56,280 and get them used to human interaction 900 00:55:56,280 --> 00:55:58,680 then they soon quieten down. 901 00:55:58,680 --> 00:56:01,200 OK, so I'm helping you have a better life 902 00:56:01,200 --> 00:56:04,240 so you're not as stressed when you get your owners. 903 00:56:04,240 --> 00:56:06,040 Just adorable. 904 00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:08,920 Let's put him back in 905 00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:10,640 with his siblings now. 906 00:56:10,640 --> 00:56:12,520 Bye-bye, little one. 907 00:56:12,520 --> 00:56:13,560 Oh! 908 00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:23,200 From humble beginnings on the farm, 909 00:56:23,200 --> 00:56:27,320 our cats can adapt to the lifestyle of a pampered pet. 910 00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:37,640 But the extraordinary thing about the domestic cat 911 00:56:37,640 --> 00:56:41,640 is that it can easily switch back into a wild lifestyle. 912 00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:48,960 The domestic cat, despite its name, 913 00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:51,160 is not actually a fully domesticated species. 914 00:56:51,160 --> 00:56:54,280 It retains a lot of the abilities of the wild ancestor, 915 00:56:54,280 --> 00:56:56,240 so that it can flip between 916 00:56:56,240 --> 00:56:59,400 a fully-hunting, almost wild-type existence 917 00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:01,760 to a very domesticated existence, 918 00:57:01,760 --> 00:57:05,080 curled up by somebody's fire, literally within a generation or two. 919 00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:07,600 The domestic dog doesn't do at all well 920 00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:09,640 if it's put into a feral lifestyle, 921 00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:11,880 and doesn't reproduce particularly well, either. 922 00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:15,400 So the domestic dog has gone down the whole way 923 00:57:15,400 --> 00:57:17,800 to the end of domestication - fully domesticated. 924 00:57:17,800 --> 00:57:20,560 The domestic cat is still perhaps only halfway. 925 00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:25,440 And this is what makes our cats unique. 926 00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:32,160 From defending their territory... 927 00:57:33,600 --> 00:57:35,360 ..to the food they eat... 928 00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:42,960 ..the structure of their bodies 929 00:57:42,960 --> 00:57:45,000 and the way they move... 930 00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:47,880 we see their wild side every day. 931 00:57:47,880 --> 00:57:49,880 CAT YOWLS 932 00:57:49,880 --> 00:57:53,520 But they've also learned to live with us 933 00:57:53,520 --> 00:57:56,000 and that extraordinary advantage 934 00:57:56,000 --> 00:57:59,400 has allowed them to become one of our favourite pets. 935 00:58:06,320 --> 00:58:09,960 Next time, we'll discover how cats communicate... 936 00:58:11,240 --> 00:58:13,320 ..and we'll find out the effect 937 00:58:13,320 --> 00:58:15,200 our 21st-century lifestyle 938 00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:17,280 is having not just on our cats... 939 00:58:17,280 --> 00:58:18,320 THEY YOWL 940 00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:21,280 ..but on us. 941 00:58:22,600 --> 00:58:25,440 Meow! 942 00:58:25,440 --> 00:58:27,040 SHE ROARS 943 00:58:27,040 --> 00:58:28,520 SHE HISSES 944 00:58:28,520 --> 00:58:30,240 That doesn't sound anything like a cat. 945 00:58:30,240 --> 00:58:32,240 LAUGHS: I think it does!