1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:05,760 Cats - playful pets... 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:08,760 ..fearsome fighters... 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:11,280 ..deadly hunters. 4 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,880 They beguile, intrigue, 5 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,960 and mercilessly exploit us. 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:22,040 Meow! 7 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:23,360 Meow! 8 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,080 But how much do we truly understand these enigmatic creatures? 9 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,680 Millions of us have cats in our homes. 10 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:34,280 They're one of our favourite pets 11 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,360 and yet, we still know very little about them. 12 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,920 So, in a ground-breaking scientific study, we've been unlocking 13 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:45,360 the secrets of our feline friends. 14 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:50,520 In this final part of our study, we want to find out just 15 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:55,320 how our cats are coping with being pets in the 21st century. 16 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,080 How are they getting along with us and with each other? 17 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,960 We're going to reveal the remarkable language of your cat. 18 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:04,680 There's a trill that Jasper does. 19 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:05,800 TRILLING MEOW 20 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:06,840 That's it. 21 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:09,360 They make that funny little noise... TRILLING MEOW 22 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:10,600 Meow! 23 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:12,840 OK, let's let him go. 24 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:18,600 And Britain's top cat experts will carry out experiments to discover 25 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:22,240 how cats let each other know if they're friend... 26 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:24,800 ..or foe. 27 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:30,200 The surprising conversations they have while we're asleep. 28 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,760 And why we find them irresistible. 29 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:38,480 She's got a lovely narrow little face 30 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:40,400 and these lovely little ears. 31 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:42,560 CATS MEOW 32 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,560 Tonight, we'll explore how your cats communicate with each other 33 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:48,920 and what they're trying to say to you. 34 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,920 We're nearing the end of our unique month-long study, 35 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,480 following 100 cats and we're getting a real insight into their lives. 36 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,680 We've seen what they get up to on the farm... 37 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:16,680 ..in the village... 38 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,440 and this time, we're focusing on the city cats. 39 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:27,480 This is Hanover, a maze of terraced streets in Brighton's city centre. 40 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,760 Areas like this one in the South of England have the highest 41 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:32,960 density of cats in the country. 42 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:35,760 There are over 50 cats on this street alone 43 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,040 and in some homes there are more cats than there are people. 44 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,760 With so many cats living together, 45 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:46,760 this is the perfect place to find out 46 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,200 how they communicate with each other... 47 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:52,400 ..and with us. 48 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,520 He's licking my hand. 49 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:56,040 Meow! 50 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,880 At Cat HQ, our experts are looking for examples of the most obvious way 51 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,120 our cats communicate, to us at least. 52 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,960 They're trawling through the footage from our cat cameras, 53 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,600 to uncover the sounds our cats make when they're on the prowl. 54 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:22,320 This is from Smudge. It's the dead of night 55 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,520 and he's out patrolling his territory... 56 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:27,440 LOW YOWLING 57 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,760 ..when he spots another cat. 58 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:32,640 LOW YOWLING 59 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:36,720 Yowls like this are common when there's conflict between cats. 60 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,360 It's early morning and Tigger spots a strange black cat 61 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:48,600 on a nearby roof. 62 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:51,680 And listen to this. 63 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:53,560 SOFT CHITTERING 64 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:57,280 Chittering may simply be a sound of frustration 65 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,960 but scientists are still not exactly sure. 66 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:01,840 This is Rocky. 67 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:05,440 GROWLING 68 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:08,720 HIGH PLAINTIVE MEOW 69 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:13,640 He makes this noise when he finds another cat blocking the way. 70 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:18,400 But the story of cat communication 71 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,400 is a lot more surprising than this. 72 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,040 There's one noise our scientists have hardly found in the footage. 73 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:27,320 Meow! 74 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,480 Meow! 75 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:33,200 It very rarely happens when the cats are out with each other. 76 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:34,680 Meow! 77 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,000 To understand what's going on here... 78 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:38,680 Hello! Do you want some dinner? 79 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,360 ..we have to go back to the beginning 80 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:43,920 and the youngest members of our study. 81 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:45,760 TINY MEWLING 82 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,120 Biologist Dr John Bradshaw knows why these one-week-old kittens meow. 83 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:53,640 MEWLING 84 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,680 Kittens meow towards their mums to get them 85 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:58,640 to pay attention to them. As we can see 86 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,960 it's extremely effective - the mother is very attentive to those meows. 87 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:04,080 But then as the kitten grows up 88 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,160 and the mother begins to wean it, so these meows become less effective 89 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:09,040 and the kitten just stops using them. 90 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:10,800 MEWLING 91 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,280 Once the kitten has become adult, it will no longer meow 92 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:16,920 if it's only communicating with other cats. 93 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,680 That's because adult cats are always so aware of each other, 94 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,440 they don't need to meow to attract attention. 95 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:26,400 And that's a kind of problem 96 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:29,320 when cats get into a human household because we don't watch them 97 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,920 in the way that cats watch each other. We look, 98 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:34,960 we read books, we watch the TV, we look at a computer screen. 99 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:38,320 And so each cat learns that by meowing it can get our attention. 100 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,760 A little meow, we'll look up and then the cat can indicate 101 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:45,040 what it wants by doing something, by moving towards the food bowl 102 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,720 or the cat flap or whatever it is that it actually wants to happen. 103 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:50,640 Meow! That's pretty interesting. 104 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,120 That's quite a clever thing to do, cognitively speaking. 105 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:55,160 That's a remarkably clever thing to do, 106 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:56,360 What's wrong? 107 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,480 What's unique about the domestic cat is that it's communicating 108 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,920 with a different species rather than its own kind. 109 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,440 Come and say hello to Mummy! Meow! 110 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,760 So, cats have two different languages, 111 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:09,560 one for each other... 112 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,160 HISSING Oh! 113 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,240 ..and one for us. Meow! 114 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:20,160 Scientists have found that cats can produce a huge range of meows... 115 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:21,720 CHITTERING 116 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:26,800 ..and wanted to know if there was a universal cat-human language. 117 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:28,120 Meow! 118 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,800 There's a trill that Jasper does. TRILLING MEOW 119 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:32,080 Yeah, that's it. 120 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,760 They make that funny little noise... TRILLING MEOW 121 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:36,280 Meow! 122 00:06:36,280 --> 00:06:37,800 Meow! Meow! Meow! 123 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,120 Meeeeeeoooow! 124 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,080 Grrrrr! Hissss! 125 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:45,520 That doesn't sound anything like it. 126 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,600 SHE LAUGHS I think it does. 127 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:54,400 Scientists have discovered that every cat's meows are unique. 128 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,560 Meow! Meow! 129 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,000 Meow! 130 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,840 Each cat learns which noises work best for certain situations, 131 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:09,520 developing a special language that only their owner will understand. 132 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:16,600 When they want food it's a much more prolonged meow. 133 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,400 Are you hungry? Meeeeow! 134 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,320 Miss Piggy's learnt how to say "milk", so she does a proper milk meow. 135 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,280 It's like "Meeoow..ilk", like that. 136 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,280 Is it nice? 137 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,160 And when our cats meow there's one thing almost every owner 138 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:33,960 in our study told us that they did in response... 139 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:36,160 Did you go hunting today? 140 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:38,240 PURRING AND SOFT MEOWING 141 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:39,640 ..talk back. 142 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:41,720 Pretty girl. Are you a pretty girl? 143 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,440 Are you Mummy's pretty girl? 144 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:45,120 Pixie, you lovely girl. 145 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,560 Talking comes naturally to us, and every kitten that spends time with 146 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:52,840 people learns that to communicate with us they have to make a noise. 147 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:55,960 Meow! 148 00:07:55,960 --> 00:08:01,040 But the meow is just a small part of the cat's fascinating language. 149 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,320 Cats also communicate in a more mysterious way 150 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:09,280 that's much harder to understand. 151 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:14,320 We're going to examine what's been going on between the cats 152 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:18,160 in Hanover Street to see if the experts can translate 153 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,080 this language and decipher what they're really up to. 154 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:29,680 We've been following Ozzy for the last three weeks. 155 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,200 He was undisputed king of his half of the street 156 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,720 until Prince appeared on the scene. 157 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,800 Ozzy's losing his throne. 158 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:41,080 And he's very grumpy about it. 159 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:45,400 It's a younger male, a grey cat, who is a fighter - 160 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:47,400 his ear's notched in a few places 161 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,360 and he doesn't run away when Ozzy shouts at him. 162 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,520 The scientists wanted to know why Prince was prepared to fight 163 00:08:55,520 --> 00:09:00,120 for his right to roam this particular street, 164 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,840 so they decided to put him under surveillance. 165 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,440 We asked the other owners what they knew about him. 166 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,080 He definitely lives on our street, doesn't he? 167 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:14,960 He's on Hanover. 168 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:16,880 Or he acts like he lives on our street. 169 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:18,480 If I leave the door open 170 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:22,120 he'll try to break into my house and eat Pussy-Cat's food off him. 171 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:26,440 We found Prince spent more time on the street 172 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:28,480 than almost any other cat. 173 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:31,600 I definitely recognise Prince. 174 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,640 He's been meowing at our door to come in a few times. 175 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:38,600 Prince isn't just meowing. 176 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,160 Cat behaviour expert Dr Sarah Ellis 177 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:46,280 has spotted some of the other ways he's trying to communicate. 178 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:48,800 He spends a lot of time 179 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,640 out on the street and he's very, very confident. 180 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,920 You can see how he rushed over to the person here filming. 181 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,320 And what he's doing here is what we call a social roll, 182 00:09:57,320 --> 00:09:59,800 so it is a positive behaviour, 183 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,040 and we know that because what we 184 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:06,160 tend to find is the cat is exposing its stomach, its belly area, 185 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:10,240 and they wouldn't do that if they felt very, very vulnerable, 186 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:12,320 if they were worried about that person 187 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,160 because that's their most sensitive area. 188 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:17,600 OK, there was also a little bit of, 189 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:21,000 while it was on its back, little tail...the tip was going like this. 190 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:22,360 Yeah, that's interesting. 191 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,560 The little bit where he moves the end of his tail, 192 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:28,960 generally if the cat was in a really negative state 193 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,520 the whole tail would be moving and thrashing. 194 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:37,160 The end of the tail is often, for example when a cat is friendly, 195 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:39,160 the end of the tail will be curled round. 196 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,280 So, you'll often see the soft tip of the tail. 197 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,520 We've heard that Prince's owner has left him with flatmates 198 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:50,640 while abroad. 199 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:55,200 So, is Prince trying to find someone else to take care of him? 200 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,360 He's been regularly coming round for about three weeks now. 201 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:04,880 He's sweet and he's normally very vocal and he's very bold. 202 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,720 He definitely wants to come in. 203 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,600 I feel like he's trying to sort of get a second home. 204 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:16,280 He meows at the door and I think he knows he's with a cat lover 205 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,000 when he comes down here. 206 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,480 Cats like Prince are doing something remarkable. 207 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,480 They've learnt how to communicate with people and that meows 208 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:31,520 and body language are most likely to work. 209 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:35,000 And when they succeed, we can't help but love them. 210 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,320 Tilly is my aristocat. She's long and elegant. 211 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:42,280 She's got a touch of Siamese about her 212 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:45,760 and a lovely narrow little face and these lovely little ears. 213 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:50,480 They're tapping into something deeply rooted within us. 214 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:54,960 We love our cats because they love us. 215 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:56,840 They're everything to me. 216 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,160 She's like the last jigsaw of our family. Awww! 217 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:04,280 And she really makes our family be together. 218 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,480 Back at Cat HQ, Dr John Bradshaw is setting up an experiment, 219 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,760 to try and get to the bottom of why we can't resist cats. 220 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:20,240 Take a look at these pictures. 221 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:22,120 How do you feel watching them? 222 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,760 Some scientists think that looking at pictures of kittens 223 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:34,960 can trigger the same reactions as looking at pictures of babies. 224 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,240 That's the theory, so we decided to put it to the test. 225 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:43,400 We're going to show you a series of images on this screen here. 226 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:49,000 What we're doing in this experiment is to try and find out 227 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,280 whether viewing kittens makes people more careful. 228 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:57,280 So, what we're doing is to get them to do a very simple puzzle. 229 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,760 Sometimes it will be after they've watched random pictures 230 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:02,640 which happen to be vegetables 231 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:06,200 and other times it's after they've watched picture of kittens. 232 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,400 I need my glasses for this. 233 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:10,200 Have we started already? 234 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:11,400 Ah! 235 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,360 ELECTRICAL ZAPPING Oh, my God! What have I done? 236 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,360 So, what did our owners think of the pictures? 237 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:32,400 I think looking at the first sequence 238 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:34,840 it didn't do very much for me, vegetables and stuff. 239 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:37,240 But the kittens, I was definitely enjoying them. 240 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:39,400 Whether it calmed me down or not I'm not sure. 241 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:41,120 The vegetables are just boring, 242 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,920 whereas the kittens are really cute, and beautiful, aren't they? 243 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,240 So, maybe I felt more relaxed, I don't know. 244 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:53,120 You might think it unlikely but we found over three-quarters of 245 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,520 the cat owners did better in the test 246 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:57,680 after watching picture of kittens. 247 00:13:57,680 --> 00:13:59,520 So, what's going on? 248 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:04,200 It's known that watching pictures of babies 249 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:06,360 makes women in particular more careful. 250 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:09,040 This seems to extend to watching pictures 251 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,080 or indeed looking at real baby animals. 252 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,560 So, kittens are imitating the facial features of babies. 253 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:18,720 So, a kitten has a nice round face, 254 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:21,560 it has large eyes like a baby has 255 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,280 and so what our brains are essentially doing 256 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:28,120 is being fooled by a kitten into thinking that it might be a baby. 257 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,600 Clearly we know consciously that it's not, 258 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:34,120 but there's something really quite primitive in our... 259 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:38,400 going on in our subconscious that is persuading us to pay more attention 260 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,680 to that cat, to look after that cat, and that has obviously stood cats in 261 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,640 very good stead over the whole time they've become domesticated. 262 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:53,920 Cats' faces seem to tap into our parental instincts 263 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:58,720 and make us want to look after them, especially when they're kittens. 264 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:00,320 Along with their meows, 265 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:03,040 which are high-frequency, like a baby's cry... 266 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:04,800 TINY MEWLING 267 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,960 ..it makes cats irresistible to so many of us. 268 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,040 All our owners love picking up their cats and stroking them 269 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,520 and most say their cats are friendly and tactile in return. 270 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:26,240 Sandwich loves being tickled between the ears and Timmy 271 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,480 loves being rubbed on the head. 272 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:31,720 But there's one thing our owners may not realise, 273 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:35,320 when they do this, our cats are trying to communicate with us 274 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:36,800 in a way we'd never guess. 275 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,400 They're using the same language they would with another cat, 276 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:45,120 according to behaviour expert, Dr Sarah Ellis. 277 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,160 When cats greet each other that are familiar 278 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:50,720 with each other and have a positive relationship, 279 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,680 they'll start off my touching noses, then they'll rub 280 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:57,960 the side of their faces together, which is called facial rubbing. 281 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:00,760 Sometimes they'll press the tops of their head together, you'll 282 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:02,480 see them curving their heads in. 283 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,080 That's called head bunting and then they will body rub. 284 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,800 They'll go in an opposite direction and rub their flanks 285 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:09,280 against each other. 286 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,040 It's about depositing their scent and picking up 287 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:15,200 the scent of the other individual and the mixing of these scents. 288 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,680 If you're in the same social group, your scent would be 289 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:22,640 a communal scent, so it would be made of up of all those individuals. 290 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,760 Just like us, cats use physical contact to show affection, 291 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,320 but when they rub up against each other, they're also 292 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:32,680 exchanging scent messages that we can't pick up. 293 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:36,440 When they rub against us, 294 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:40,760 they rub against our hands, most commonly, because that's the closest 295 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:43,680 thing to them and our hand's about the same size as a cat head. 296 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,280 You can see here, they'll often roll over 297 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,160 and push their head into that and that's just mimicking where cats 298 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:51,760 would make create physical contact with one another. 299 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,720 Does it have the same meaning when they rub against us? 300 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:56,920 We believe so. 301 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,080 We don't know for certain, but we certainly believe so. 302 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,720 Cats tend to only do it with people that they feel comfortable 303 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:04,360 and familiar and friendly with. 304 00:17:04,360 --> 00:17:07,280 The difference is we're not depositing our pheromones 305 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:08,960 on them, like other cats are. 306 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,640 You can't help but want to do this all day, 307 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:21,080 but with cats, it's better to do it little and often. 308 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:23,280 High frequency, low intensity, 309 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:27,640 whereas we as humans are high frequency and high intensity. 310 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,520 It's a wonder we get on with each other at all. 311 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:39,280 But we do get on very well indeed. 312 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,400 Cats have done something remarkable. 313 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,520 They have learned to communicate with people as well 314 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:46,200 as they have with other cats 315 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:48,680 and that's made them much-loved pets. 316 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,000 By using clever strategies, they've managed to carve out 317 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,240 a niche for themselves, getting us to attend to them, but also 318 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,960 retaining their independence, coming and going as they please. 319 00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:13,880 As well as urban cats, we've been following these semi-feral 320 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:19,280 farm cats, like Growler and Black and Ginger. 321 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,280 They survive by catching mice and rats in the farmyard 322 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:25,440 and in the fields. 323 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,840 Our GPS traces show these farm cats hunt alone. 324 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:41,040 Growler heads for the woods while Black and Ginger travels 325 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,120 in the opposite direction along the hedgerows. 326 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,480 Their lives are as close as we can get to the way their wild 327 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:50,480 ancestors used to live. 328 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,160 The farmyard is remarkably quiet. 329 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:00,160 These cats rarely communicate with each other using sounds. 330 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:05,600 A cat's natural way of communicating, is by leaving scent. 331 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,520 Their extraordinary sense of smell is how cats have been able 332 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,080 to detect the scent messages they leave for each other 333 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:15,840 for thousands of years, without ever having to come face to face. 334 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,520 But these scent messages are impossible for us to understand. 335 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:23,880 So, is there any other way we can interpret 336 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:27,000 what our cats are saying to each other? 337 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,120 The best place to find out, is here in the city, 338 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:39,480 where our cats are bumping into other cats all the time. 339 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,520 Take Treacle, Sparky and The Dude. 340 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,920 Their GPS traces are almost on top of each other. 341 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:52,440 And they're not just sharing their gardens. 342 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,680 Over half the cats in our study don't even have 343 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:57,520 the house to themselves. 344 00:19:57,520 --> 00:19:59,960 It seems once we get one cat, we can't stop. 345 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:04,160 This one is called Ben and he's got a brother Joey, 346 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:06,720 they're two and a half, we've had those from kittens, 347 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:08,680 although they have calmed down rather. 348 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,800 I have a ginger short-haired cat called Theo 349 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:15,960 and I have Pixie, who's at my side here. 350 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,600 I'm the mad cat man of Hanover Street. 351 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,880 I have six cats at this moment in time and I hopefully, 352 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:23,640 will not be having any more. 353 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:32,840 Buster, Jasper, Pookie and Miss Piggy 354 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:34,600 are another typical city household, 355 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:39,440 an ever-expanding family of rescue cats. 356 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,480 I came home from work one night and then I went upstairs 357 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,160 into the spare room to get something 358 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:46,200 and this white cat just appeared out of nowhere 359 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:47,440 and ran down the stairs. 360 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,080 I thought it had come in through the window at first, 361 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,280 but then I realised that Hannah had re-homed another cat. 362 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,240 I volunteer at a cat shelter and one of the sort of perils 363 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,680 of that kind of work is that you might happen to just accidentally 364 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:02,840 bring one home in your pocket every now and again. 365 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:06,720 Miss Piggy! Buster, Buster. 366 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:08,840 They all get on brilliantly. 367 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:13,160 We've introduced each of them, kind of gradually over a period of time. 368 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,520 Jasper, who we had first, has had to kind of get used to 369 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:19,440 lots of new animals coming in and he's been really good with that. 370 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,240 All our owners think their cats must like company, 371 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:28,560 in the same way we do. 372 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,520 So, we decided to investigate if this was really the case. 373 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,320 As these four cats live together in one house, it's also the perfect 374 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:44,480 place to discover how cats communicate, 375 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,560 so we're going to examine every detail of their lives. 376 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,480 We need to find out how much time the cats spend together, to find out 377 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,280 how they get along. 378 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,280 Are they really the big happy family we like to think they are? 379 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:05,120 The first thing we need to know, is how 380 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:07,320 they share the house, who lives where? 381 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:09,920 Hiya, Ben. 382 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,920 The team has been developing new technology to help them 383 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:16,040 track cats indoors in a way that's never been done before. 384 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,440 Ben, I'm really interested in this technology. 385 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,680 We need to understand the movement of the cats indoors, 386 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,880 we can't use the GPS collars because obviously they can't 387 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:31,160 talk to the satellites, so you're coming up with brand-new technology, 388 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:32,640 is that right? 389 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,720 Yes, so what we have here, is this very small little 390 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,520 electronic device that we plant in various positions 391 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,480 around the house, so under beds, under sofas, in corners of rooms, 392 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,520 things like that, so we can create a load of hot spots around a room. 393 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:46,320 And then this is the cat collar? 394 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,440 Yeah, there's a small radio transmitter. Right. 395 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,160 As soon as the cat comes within the vicinity of that, 396 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,200 we can then log them as being in that area. 397 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,600 We can tune these to work from very, very close, 398 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:01,000 like round food bowls, all the way up to covering a whole area like a bed. 399 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,840 So, this is going to give us a really accurate representation of 400 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,440 what goes on indoors, how cats might interact with each other 401 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,080 when we're not around to interfere with, you know, 402 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:10,920 their behavioural instincts. 403 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:12,880 Yeah, it's been a fun challenge. 404 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:23,720 As well as these radio transmitters, we've fitted the house with 405 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,000 CCTV and even infrared cameras. 406 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,680 We'll be able to see what goes on in the dead of night 407 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,640 when the owners are asleep. 408 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,880 Over the next three days, we sift through all the data we're 409 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:44,320 getting from the cat's home. 410 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,760 The new technology reveals something we couldn't have found 411 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,960 out any other way, exactly where these four cats are 24 hours a day. 412 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,120 Interestingly, Miss Piggy just seems to hang out 413 00:23:57,120 --> 00:23:59,800 mostly on the kitchen table, that seems to be her little zone. 414 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,720 So, Pookie and Jasper seem to hang out together quite a lot, they 415 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:07,280 seem to just want to spend all their days on the owners' bed. 416 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,160 Buster, yeah, he's fairly solitary, 417 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,360 his little area that he likes is the kids' room. 418 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:19,480 These cats are choosing to live by themselves most of the time. 419 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:24,160 Each has a space it prefers in a separate area of the house. 420 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,960 Although two cats, Jasper and Pookie, 421 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:31,040 do spend time together on the bed, it's mainly to sleep. 422 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,880 The others only come together at feeding time. 423 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:38,280 And even then, their owner say they prefer to have separate bowls. 424 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:42,000 Perhaps this isn't one big happy family after all. 425 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,480 Could their body language reveal the true story? 426 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,200 To find out how they are communicating, 427 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,760 Sarah Ellis has been examining the footage. 428 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,280 Cats have no facial expressions to help us, 429 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:00,440 so the signs of a difficult relationship may be hard to spot. 430 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:06,800 But she has picked up some tension between Pookie and Miss Piggy. 431 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,520 The body language is much. much more subtle, 432 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,040 and this is often things that owners will miss. 433 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,400 This is where we see cats blocking access for other 434 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:16,920 cats to certain resources. 435 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:18,800 It may be to get through to the other room, 436 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:20,720 it may be to go up the stairs. 437 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,720 And they'll do that just by sitting there and staring. 438 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:29,760 So, in this situation, something as subtle as a fixed stare, 439 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,680 so if we're not looking at the eyes we might miss it, 440 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,720 is enough for one cat to move another cat. 441 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:37,000 Let's have a look at that. 442 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,280 Doesn't have to do anything else but just stare at it. 443 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:50,080 Pookie can move Miss Piggy with just a look, 444 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:55,400 so subtle, it's almost impossible for us to notice. 445 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:59,600 Sarah has been trawling through footage from all our homes with more 446 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:04,960 than one cat, so she can show me other signs of tense relationships. 447 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,080 Kali and Khan may look like they're having fun, 448 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,600 but once you understand their body language, 449 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,240 we see an entirely different story. 450 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:17,040 We just pause that for a second, we can see some really 451 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:20,760 agonistic body language going on there. 452 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:26,280 Firstly, we can see the cat on the left is likely to be the instigator. 453 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,200 We would say his body language is much more offensive 454 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:31,920 and the cat on the right is much more defensive. 455 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,440 And if we just play that and have a look at their tails... 456 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,360 Oh, look at that, that's very fast, isn't it? 457 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:43,560 Very, very fast. Generally we find the faster the tail moves, 458 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:48,200 the more aroused that cat is and that can be positive or negative. 459 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,200 In this situation, obviously negative, 460 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,720 that they're much more prepared for fight or flight. 461 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,800 The last thing I thought that was really interesting in that video, 462 00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,840 did you see the tongue come out? Yes. Both cats? Both of them licked. 463 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,000 What does that mean? That's a really interesting thing, actually. 464 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,240 We're not quite sure what that means, but we do see it a lot in situations 465 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:11,040 of conflict, when this tongue comes out and flicks over the nose. 466 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,720 We don't know if it has some kind of communication function, 467 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:19,120 or if it's a way of that cat, trying to calm itself down. 468 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:20,400 We don't know at this stage. 469 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,160 But we do see it a lot in conflict situations, so it can be 470 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:28,120 quite a nice indicator that these cats are not particularly happy. 471 00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:31,360 One cat did it, then the other cat did it, so it suggested that 472 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:35,280 both of them are not comfortable with this situation. 473 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:37,440 All these little things that are constantly 474 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,520 going on between cats, most of which we miss, 475 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:46,120 all are so telling about how we've put cats together, 476 00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:49,880 how they should be together, how certain situations are stressful? 477 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:53,000 Absolutely, and I think what we are starting to see, 478 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,640 is we think cats don't do that much at all, they sleep all day, 479 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,040 but when we start to look at them REALLY closely, 480 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:00,560 we can see that there is actually quite a lot of body 481 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:04,920 language going on, we just need to spend the time investigating it. 482 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:11,000 All this new research into the body language of cats is giving us 483 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,800 clues about how the four cats living together in Hanover Street 484 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:16,240 are getting on. 485 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:19,120 It's already helped us 486 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:24,000 see that Pookie knows how to get rid of Miss Piggy with a stare. 487 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,720 But Buster's relationship with his housemates is still a mystery, 488 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,280 because he is never in the same room with any of them. 489 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:37,320 Have we got some footage of these guys' four cats? 490 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:39,720 Right. Wow, look at Buster. 491 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:41,840 John invites their owners in to try 492 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,120 and find out why Buster's never around. 493 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:48,280 He's quite busy in the early hours, isn't he? 4 o'clock in the morning? 494 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,080 Out, out and about a lot. Yes. 495 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,320 Wow, patrolling, gosh and he goes right up there. 496 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:55,960 So, that was all in the course of about an hour. 497 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:58,960 So, that, is that pretty much what you expected, that he's the biggest 498 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:00,560 roamer of your three outdoor cats? 499 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:02,440 I definitely knew he was the biggest, 500 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,240 he's out a lot of the time and he goes out, in and out, 501 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,560 in and out all the time, day and night. 502 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,200 We know that Buster spends about 50% of his time 503 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:12,960 with our neighbour on the other side. 504 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,520 This is our house and this is Peter's house. Yeah. 505 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:17,840 So, he's in and out of there. 506 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:27,640 The team put a cat camera on Buster to find out why he's going to 507 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,280 neighbour Peter's house and whether it's got anything to do 508 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:32,000 with the other cats? 509 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:38,400 As soon as the camera is switched on, Buster makes 510 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,880 a dash across the gardens and straight into Peter's kitchen. 511 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:46,680 He, he really uses this as a sort of a second home, 512 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:48,520 don't you, Buster? 513 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:57,200 He comes in, in the evenings mainly and he has a cuddle 514 00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,840 and then about half past ten, he decides to go to bed. 515 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:06,360 Well, he likes to sleep here and sometimes he sleeps on that side. 516 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:09,960 At four o'clock he buzzes off downstairs 517 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,400 and he comes back about six o'clock. 518 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:17,520 We both get up at 12 o'clock and then he goes home 519 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:20,960 and I suppose he eats cos he's very, very fat. 520 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,880 It looks as though Buster prefers to spend his time with a person 521 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:30,960 than with the cats he shares a home with. 522 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,040 But is this because he doesn't get on with his housemates? 523 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:42,320 To find out, our scientists lock the cat flap for a night 524 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,800 so that Buster can't escape next door 525 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,360 and has to spend time with the other cats. 526 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,600 Their surveillance cameras will show them what happens. 527 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,560 As night falls, there's something going on with our cats 528 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:02,560 in the master bedroom. 529 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,560 Back at Cat HQ, scientist John is watching the footage. 530 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,400 They're wide awake, while the humans are completely oblivious to... 531 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:13,760 Yes. ..everything that's going on. 532 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:18,840 It's 11pm. 533 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:22,880 As Buster isn't able to sleep on neighbour Peter's bed tonight, 534 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,560 he seizes an opportunity to get a spot on his owners' bed 535 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,080 next to Pookie. 536 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:33,840 This is normally Jasper's spot and he's watching from the floor. 537 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,720 Pookie, spooked by Buster's presence, 538 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:40,400 decides to jump off the bed. 539 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:50,840 Then Buster notices Jasper on the floor and stares at him. 540 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,840 It's a very fixed look, he's getting very tense. 541 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:57,040 Finally, Jasper makes his move. 542 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,400 So, he's going round the back where Pookie got off. 543 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:05,480 And Jasper's approaching him. 544 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,520 He's clearly trying to displace him 545 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:11,680 and we've got a real kind of standoff, 546 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:13,560 Buster's looking really tense. 547 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,240 But Buster's not moving, so what's going to happen? 548 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:19,600 Is he going to move? 549 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:23,320 CATS YOWL AND HISS 550 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:29,760 Right, so Jasper actually cuffed Buster and sent him 551 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,480 flying off the bed and he's gone out the door. 552 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:38,360 It's incredibly rare to catch something like this on camera. 553 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:43,680 Although it was quick, this is a classic standoff 554 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:47,720 with Jasper on the offensive and Buster on the defensive. 555 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:53,800 Jasper tries to move Buster using a fixed stare, 556 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,520 but when that doesn't work he resorts to a cuff. 557 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:00,000 This is pretty much the first time I've seen 558 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,040 this kind of interaction going on because most of the studies that 559 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:06,600 have been done so far on cats interacting in households 560 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:08,920 have been recorded by the owners themselves, 561 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:12,640 so automatically, those recordings stop when the owners go to bed. 562 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,200 And we know that cats behave slightly differently 563 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:16,880 when their owners are asleep or away 564 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:18,880 than they do when their owners are around. 565 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:21,800 So, we're now getting a much more complete picture of the way 566 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:23,720 that multi-cat households operate 567 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,160 and what we're seeing here is the fact 568 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,520 that the cats are still somewhat territorial. 569 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,400 Jasper is very defensive of his space on the bed. 570 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,120 So, what this means for Buster is that because he's been shut in 571 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,760 for this particular night, he's been displaced by Jasper. 572 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:38,880 This would probably have happened in the past 573 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,840 and it's almost certainly the reason that he has gone next door 574 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:43,520 and now sleeps most nights next door 575 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:45,640 where he can get a good night's sleep. 576 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,040 These four cats are not quite the big, happy family 577 00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,720 we'd like to imagine. 578 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:57,120 The reason they just about get on is that they've found ways 579 00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:01,000 to avoid each other, most of the time. 580 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,360 It's interesting that John said they've just worked out a way 581 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,000 of being with each other where they have their own spots, 582 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:08,720 they have their own habits, 583 00:34:08,720 --> 00:34:11,320 they have their own places that they like to sit 584 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,840 and they learn to accommodate each other within that. 585 00:34:16,240 --> 00:34:19,680 Buster, particularly, is quite happy to sort of 586 00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:21,800 live his own life in a way. 587 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:26,040 I like the fact that he's quite independent 588 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:28,920 and that's what makes them interesting, I think. 589 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,360 When we have more than one cat in our homes, 590 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:39,560 we might think we're creating a happy feline family. 591 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:43,480 But, as our study shows, these cats are loners at heart. 592 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:45,240 They'll seek out their own space 593 00:34:45,240 --> 00:34:48,440 and only communicate with each other when they have to. 594 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:54,800 So, is this the way our urban cats will always be, inherently 595 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,880 solitary animals that find it very hard to live with other cats? 596 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:01,880 These cats have found a way to avoid each other, 597 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,320 but will they ever find a way to get along? 598 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:11,480 Here on the farm, we've seen how Black and Ginger, Growler 599 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:16,720 and Mr Tom each go out on their own, hunting to survive. 600 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:19,640 But we've found they also spend a lot of time together 601 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,520 quite happily in the farmyard, 602 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:25,000 without the standoffs and disputes of our urban cats. 603 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:28,080 We wanted to discover why. 604 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:33,160 As we filmed them, we saw them raising their tails to each other. 605 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:38,120 John was the first cat scientist to work out what this meant. 606 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:43,160 In a farm, in a colony where the individual cats go off hunting 607 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:45,880 and come back again, what we noticed was that when they returned 608 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,560 to the colony they often raised their tails 609 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:52,120 as they approached the other cats, and then usually the other cats 610 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:55,600 would react in exactly the same way, they'd also raise their tails 611 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,520 and you'd get a whole bout of rubbing and greeting basically. 612 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,600 So, we came to the idea that this tail-up signal 613 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:03,800 is the thing that glues cat society together, 614 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:07,040 it enables them to talk to one another in a way that says, 615 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:09,280 "I am going to be friendly to you." 616 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:14,400 The farm cats can tell us something else. 617 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:17,600 We've been watching these kittens grow up. 618 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,320 And we filmed something just after they were born 619 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:23,080 that could change the way we look after our cats. 620 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,600 These female farm cats aren't just being friendly. 621 00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:32,440 Scatty Ginger, mum to these three-week-old kittens, 622 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,320 has happily taken her sister's kittens into her litter. 623 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:42,000 This kind of behaviour has also been seen in other farm cats. 624 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,400 What we have here is the original mother of the family, 625 00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:49,360 that's Pickle, who's the one with the ginger ears. Yeah. 626 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,240 And then in the same nest with her is her daughter 627 00:36:52,240 --> 00:36:53,640 from the previous year, Domino. 628 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:56,000 And in a moment we'll see the daughter... Oh, my gosh. 629 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:57,680 ..start to give birth. 630 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:00,520 Both of them are cleaning up the newborn kittens. 631 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:03,560 And Granny's cleaning. And Granny's cleaning them up, yes, yeah. 632 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:05,840 The grand kitten. 633 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:07,720 That's extraordinary. 634 00:37:07,720 --> 00:37:09,720 One of the things that tells them 635 00:37:09,720 --> 00:37:12,080 that it's their grandchildren and therefore 636 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,800 she ought to pay an interest is in the smell. Mm-hm. 637 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:18,160 That is such beautiful footage, how rare is this? 638 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,080 This is extraordinarily rare. 639 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,200 It wasn't really known whether some cats were cooperative, 640 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,600 there was a suspicion they might be, but this really proved it. 641 00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:29,320 To actually capture this particular, very intimate moment 642 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,840 really was a first. 643 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,120 And that's the interesting point, isn't it? 644 00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:37,440 We think of cats as solitary animals, but actually they've got 645 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,080 the potential to behave in a much more cooperative way 646 00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,680 given the right environment, given enough food 647 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:44,360 and especially if they are related. 648 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,520 Yes, that relatedness thing seems to be absolutely crucial, 649 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:49,160 it's very rare for two unrelated cats 650 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,560 to cooperate in any way, particularly with breeding. 651 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:54,200 So, I guess the reason we don't see that with our own pet cats 652 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,040 is the fact that we just don't keep mother daughters together, 653 00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:59,320 we tend to have one cat in our household 654 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:01,360 or maybe two unrelated cats? 655 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,960 That's right, I mean I don't think people appreciate quite 656 00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:06,200 how much cats value the company of their relatives, 657 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,280 and so people who want to get a couple of cats will probably just 658 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:12,320 get two unrelated cats, maybe at the same time, maybe different times. 659 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:15,040 And they never see this kind of behaviour. 660 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:19,040 Having related cats in a household is a really good idea, 661 00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:21,760 they'll respond to each other in a completely different way 662 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:25,200 and are more willing to help each other out. 663 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:28,800 And as part of their body language, they'll point their tails upwards 664 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:30,360 to greet each other. 665 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,520 John wanted to find out whether ALL cats respond to this. 666 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:39,920 Could it be an important part of every cat's language? 667 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:43,760 OK, let's let him go. 668 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,480 He designed an experiment to find out. 669 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:56,360 What we're trying to do here is to demonstrate the effect 670 00:38:56,360 --> 00:39:01,640 of the tail-up signal and show that the posture and particularly the way 671 00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:05,520 that the tail is held is crucial to determining what the cat does. 672 00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:09,240 First up is Lilli. 673 00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:12,160 The friendly cat, the cat with its tail up, 674 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:16,800 other cats will tend to go straight up to it and sniff it. 675 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:19,280 And that's exactly what she does. 676 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:24,600 They tend, at that point, to realise that it's not actually a cat, 677 00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,200 it literally is just something cut out of black paper, 678 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:30,840 but that's enough to tell us that the tail up is the crucial thing 679 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,920 which has told the cat that it's safe to approach. 680 00:39:35,240 --> 00:39:36,760 The cat that's all fluffed up 681 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:39,200 with its tail made to look as big as possible, 682 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:41,840 now this is a cat that's essentially trying to defend itself, 683 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:43,600 it's trying to make itself look big, 684 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:47,000 it's trying to scare off the other cat. 685 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,840 Cats like Nyles seem to know this fluffed up silhouette 686 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,800 is the sign of a cat that's up for a fight. 687 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:57,680 Fighting's just bad news as far as cats are concerned 688 00:39:57,680 --> 00:40:00,880 because usually both the cats in a fight get injured 689 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:03,920 so they'll do anything they can to avoid it. 690 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,840 They generally will tend to keep away and sometimes they will 691 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,200 actually, run away from a silhouette that has the scary posture. 692 00:40:17,240 --> 00:40:22,080 We spotted even our unrelated urban cats using the tail-up signal 693 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:23,560 with each other. 694 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:26,200 Like Kali using it to say hello to Jasper. 695 00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:29,800 What do you want? 696 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:34,160 But we also saw cats like Monkey and Eric putting their tails up 697 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,120 when they were greeting people. 698 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:47,160 This is one of the most intriguing things about our urban cats, 699 00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:50,840 they seem to be more friendly towards us than to other cats. 700 00:40:54,240 --> 00:40:57,920 This left the scientists wondering why. 701 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:00,440 And the clues to this special relationship 702 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:02,840 are hidden in our cats' genes. 703 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:09,760 Dr Leslie Lyons is the creator 704 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,840 of the world's largest database of cat DNA. 705 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:17,320 She studies cats from all over the world to find out more 706 00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:19,720 about how they spread across the globe 707 00:41:19,720 --> 00:41:23,680 and where we first started keeping them as pets. 708 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:28,520 And now she's keen to get her hands on our cats' DNA. 709 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,320 Good girl. Well done. 710 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:36,720 We swabbed our cats' cheeks to collect the samples Dr Lyons needs 711 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:39,160 to tell us where our cats came from. 712 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,600 Good girl. She is a good girl. 713 00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:45,800 And that can help us to explain how they came to live alongside us. 714 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:52,520 We found that one of the cats in our study Daisy, who's a Birman, 715 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:55,440 can be traced back to the cats of India. 716 00:41:57,680 --> 00:41:59,920 And Kali is a Bengal breed. 717 00:41:59,920 --> 00:42:02,840 She carries DNA from the Asian leopard cat. 718 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,120 But over three quarters of our cats are moggies 719 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:11,760 and they're the ones we're really interested in. 720 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,440 They could hold the key to our special relationship with cats. 721 00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:21,600 Their DNA has been tracked back to a species of wildcat 722 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:25,160 that's been around for thousands of years. 723 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:28,800 We know that at least they're very similar to the cats 724 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,640 that were in northern Africa, in the Near East 725 00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:35,800 and that's going to be the Felis silvestris lybica subspecies. 726 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:38,040 They're in the right place at the right time. 727 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:41,680 We're settling down, that's where our first civilisations are built 728 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:44,560 and there's a wildcat subspecies there. 729 00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:48,440 That's most likely the one that has contributed to our domestic cats. 730 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:52,880 There's probably more than one individual that got domesticated. 731 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:57,120 It's probably several wildcats that had natural mutations 732 00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:01,120 that made them more tame, bold enough to come near humans 733 00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:02,880 and to tolerate us 734 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:08,360 and those are the cats that then go on to become our domesticated cats. 735 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:15,280 This species of wildcat still lives in remote parts of North Africa 736 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:17,120 and the Middle East. 737 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:22,400 But they all look the same and they're still very much wild cats. 738 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:27,760 So what journey have our cats been on from an ancient wildcat 739 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:31,760 to the huge variety of friendly pet cats we have today? 740 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:37,840 The wildcats that were there probably opportunistically decided, 741 00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:42,040 "Hey, free meal if I start becoming friends with humans 742 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:45,240 "and so that's going to allow me to survive better 743 00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:47,400 "if I kind of tame myself." 744 00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:50,200 The original wild-type cat 745 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:53,240 is probably just a brown Mackerel tabby. OK. 746 00:43:53,240 --> 00:43:56,600 And so when you start seeing a brown Mackerel tabby 747 00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:58,840 with a little white spot on its chest, 748 00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:02,720 that's your first evidence that that might be a domestic cat 749 00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:05,800 or that they're all black or all white, 750 00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:09,000 that's human selection coming along 751 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:12,920 and protecting that cat so that it doesn't actually have to survive 752 00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:17,120 in the wild with that colouration but can survive in our household. 753 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:20,680 Thousands of years ago, 754 00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:24,680 cats were attracted to our farms by all the rats and mice. 755 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:28,040 Then we started letting the friendlier, tamer ones 756 00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:31,920 that we found most attractive into our houses. 757 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:35,400 Over many generations we've unconsciously bred 758 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:40,440 and changed the wildcats into the pets we know and love today. 759 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:43,600 Like those in our study, living in urban areas 760 00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:46,600 and often friendlier to us than to each other. 761 00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:52,040 The life of our modern cats in the terraced streets of Brighton 762 00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:56,840 is a far cry from those first domesticated farm cats. 763 00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:00,040 And there could be a downside to becoming such a popular pet. 764 00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:04,400 It's like a big soap opera out there, I think. 765 00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:08,520 I don't think he has a lot of friends in the neighbourhood. 766 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:12,520 There's a lot of cats patrol back and forward on the high wall. 767 00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:16,760 There are cats who make a lot of noise and have large standoffs. 768 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:22,000 Living with us is forcing our cats to communicate more. 769 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:24,280 And now that we better understand them, 770 00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:26,560 what are they really trying to say to us? 771 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:34,440 There's one cat in particular that we followed 772 00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:39,120 in the very first programme who finds urban living stressful. 773 00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:41,800 Our scientists realised something was wrong 774 00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,320 when they looked at her GPS trace. 775 00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:47,080 So, she looks to be quite active, 776 00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:49,640 but within quite a constrained area. 777 00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:52,520 And a cat would not normally be that active 778 00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:55,360 at all sorts of different times of the day and night, keep going out, 779 00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:59,000 keep coming back, unless there was really something bothering her. 780 00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:06,280 Minkey is an 18-month-old grey tabby cat 781 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:08,800 who's spent her whole life here in Hanover. 782 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:14,280 Her body language and constant sniffing suggests she's anxious. 783 00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:19,120 By studying her behaviour, is there something we can do to help her? 784 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:22,200 She spends a lot of time going out of the cat flap 785 00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:26,360 and sort of skulking like this, looking either side 786 00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:30,120 and then waiting, looking either side, looking nervous. 787 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:36,800 It would be nice if she was just a bit more chilled, really, 788 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,920 she doesn't look relaxed. 789 00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:41,640 I always think she keeps patrolling. 790 00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:45,360 Don't you, Minkey? 791 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:50,120 First, our scientists needed to find out what was making her anxious, 792 00:46:50,120 --> 00:46:53,800 so they rigged CCTV cameras. 793 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:59,160 They picked up several unfamiliar cats invading Minkey's garden. 794 00:46:59,160 --> 00:47:01,760 MINKEY SCREECHES 795 00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:07,520 Now, our scientists have managed to identify one cat in particular 796 00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:10,200 who seems to be making her life a misery. 797 00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:12,560 Tigger. 798 00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:14,120 TIGGER PURRS 799 00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:21,840 We've heard reports that he might give Minkey a hard time. 800 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:26,000 I've heard rumours that he sits the other side of the cat flap to her 801 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:28,120 and stares in through the cat flap. 802 00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:29,800 Is that you, Tigger? 803 00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:31,920 (You wouldn't really do that, would you?) 804 00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:36,400 No, we don't believe it, we want, we want photographic evidence. 805 00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:37,760 THEY CHUCKLE 806 00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:44,560 These two cats are competing for the same area. 807 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:48,000 But Minkey's body language suggests she's finding it 808 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:50,360 far more stressful than Tigger. 809 00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:53,280 Our scientists fit Tigger with a cat camera 810 00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:55,480 for proof of what he's getting up to. 811 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:19,520 At the crack of dawn, Tigger's cat cam shows him 812 00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:23,480 patrolling the wall that runs along the back of the gardens. 813 00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:30,880 Another infra-red camera captures an unsuspecting Minkey 814 00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:34,200 approaching from the opposite direction. 815 00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:38,560 She spots Tigger and jumps down into the nearest garden. 816 00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,520 Tigger is hot on her trail. 817 00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:45,160 MINKEY SCREECHES 818 00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:53,120 He forces Minkey out of the space and she retreats, 819 00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:55,640 terrified, under the table. 820 00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:07,960 And he doesn't let up. 821 00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:15,000 In their battle for space, Tigger is taking control. 822 00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:23,440 Sarah Ellis is bringing vet and behaviour specialist 823 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:27,280 Rachel Casey to meet Minkey and Tigger's owners, to let them 824 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:31,360 know what's been going on and see if she can offer some advice. 825 00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:34,560 She's brought evidence of Tigger's behaviour. 826 00:49:34,560 --> 00:49:37,320 Well, we've been collecting some footage of them, as you know. 827 00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:39,280 I'd quite like to show you that now. 828 00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:41,120 This is in the morning. 829 00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:44,120 I love the way they jump. 830 00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:48,680 That's our window, isn't it? Yeah, that's our roof. 831 00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:53,160 Minkey spends a lot of time on that roof sniffing and... 832 00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:54,920 Yeah. 833 00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:57,480 He's like, "Are you coming out to play?" Oh, my goodness. 834 00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:00,800 He's right next to my... to my bedroom. 835 00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:03,760 Is that your bedroom window? Yeah. What? 836 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:07,720 Oh, he's actually gone in our house. 837 00:50:07,720 --> 00:50:10,320 For 37 minutes. Really? 838 00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:13,360 You're joking?! No. 839 00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:15,200 He's coming. 840 00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:17,920 Oh, gosh. 841 00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:21,280 So, he was in the house for 37 minutes? Yes. That's amazing. 842 00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:24,760 He's hidden under one of these... 843 00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:27,600 We'll have words when we get in. 844 00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:32,480 Scraps like the one caught on Tigger's cat cam... 845 00:50:32,480 --> 00:50:34,000 That's not very nice, Tigger. 846 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:37,440 ..are probably common in these terraced streets. 847 00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:39,280 But one thing is clear - 848 00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:43,160 different cats react to them in very different ways. 849 00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:47,440 There's a really big population density here, 850 00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:50,440 and they're all trying to work out how to move around their space 851 00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:51,800 and occupy their world. 852 00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:53,480 But the more cats you have around, 853 00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:55,440 the more difficult it is for them to do that. 854 00:50:55,440 --> 00:50:58,520 I think the difference between your two cats is that Tigger 855 00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:01,600 comes across lots of other cats, but he's less worried about it. 856 00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:04,320 Minkey comes across lots of other cats 857 00:51:04,320 --> 00:51:07,320 and it really worries her, it bothers her. 858 00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:10,600 All this tells us more about how cats communicate 859 00:51:10,600 --> 00:51:12,560 and that for cats like Minkey, 860 00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:17,880 telling cats like Tigger to stay off her turf can be difficult. 861 00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:22,040 All our scientists can do is try and give her more personal space 862 00:51:22,040 --> 00:51:26,360 by building walkways for her in the garden so she has escape routes. 863 00:51:27,920 --> 00:51:32,200 And making sure other cats can't get into her house. 864 00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:35,680 Tigger, on the other hand, 865 00:51:35,680 --> 00:51:39,360 seems to cope much better with life as a city cat. 866 00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:44,040 It was a bizarre experience to see what 867 00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:46,880 he gets up to because we see one side of it but obviously he's 868 00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:49,840 got a completely different life out here doing what he wants to do 869 00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:52,600 and going where he wants to go and he doesn't see the boundaries 870 00:51:52,600 --> 00:51:55,320 that we see so it's fascinating to see what he gets up to, 871 00:51:55,320 --> 00:51:59,880 but it also shows that we don't know him quite as well as we think we do. 872 00:52:03,120 --> 00:52:07,560 So, what's the difference between these two cats? 873 00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:10,600 What's going on inside Tigger's head which makes him 874 00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:12,840 far less stressed than Minkey? 875 00:52:16,040 --> 00:52:19,000 Rachel Casey has set up an experiment to try 876 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:21,680 and peer into the minds of our cats. 877 00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:27,400 So, what we're doing here is a study called cognitive bias, 878 00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:30,080 which basically helps us to get inside the heads of cats 879 00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:33,040 and understand better how they're feeling, or their mood 880 00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:34,960 and emotional state, if you like. 881 00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:40,840 Polly is offered either a bowl to her left or a bowl to her right. 882 00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:41,960 That's brilliant. 883 00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:44,560 The one on her right always has food in it 884 00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:47,680 and the one on her left is always empty. 885 00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:53,520 A new third bowl is then placed in the middle of the room. 886 00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:58,920 Our scientists want to see how Polly reacts to the new bowl. 887 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:00,680 POLLY MEOWS 888 00:53:02,240 --> 00:53:05,680 What we're basically asking them is do you think this bowl 889 00:53:05,680 --> 00:53:08,320 in the middle here actually has food in or not? 890 00:53:08,320 --> 00:53:11,480 Are you optimistic that it's likely to have food 891 00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:15,080 or are you pessimistic and you think it's likely to be empty? 892 00:53:19,960 --> 00:53:22,760 If a cat goes quickly to the middle bowl, 893 00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:27,080 it's a sign that it's in an optimistic frame of mind. 894 00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:31,160 The slower cats are likely to be feeling pessimistic. 895 00:53:31,160 --> 00:53:33,680 It gives us insights into what's actually 896 00:53:33,680 --> 00:53:37,360 going on in terms of the cat's underlying emotional state. 897 00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:39,800 The reason why that's so important is it's actually very 898 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:43,280 difficult to tell by looking at a cat whether it's stressed or not. 899 00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:46,440 It helps us better understand how our cats 900 00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:49,160 fit into the environment we keep them in. 901 00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:54,560 What's really exciting about this latest research, 902 00:53:54,560 --> 00:53:57,240 is that we'll be able to better understand our cats' 903 00:53:57,240 --> 00:54:00,720 emotional states, and what might be contributing to them. 904 00:54:00,720 --> 00:54:03,560 And so we'll be able to change those conditions 905 00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:05,640 and improve their welfare. 906 00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:12,080 This is very new science, but thanks to studies like these, 907 00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:13,720 we're beginning to understand 908 00:54:13,720 --> 00:54:16,920 what's going on inside the minds of our cats. 909 00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:19,640 And this should lead to us unlocking more secrets 910 00:54:19,640 --> 00:54:23,640 about the language and lives of our feline friends. 911 00:54:25,240 --> 00:54:28,240 There is one final thing that Sarah wants to show us. 912 00:54:28,240 --> 00:54:30,520 WOMAN CALLS CAT 913 00:54:30,520 --> 00:54:33,960 It sheds light on our cats' journey from a wild animal 914 00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:35,840 to a pampered pet. 915 00:54:38,160 --> 00:54:40,680 She's intrigued about their future 916 00:54:40,680 --> 00:54:44,080 and whether cats will retain their wild side 917 00:54:44,080 --> 00:54:47,440 or eventually evolve into more sociable, loyal 918 00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:50,120 and obedient pets, like dogs. 919 00:54:52,600 --> 00:54:54,160 You've taught your cat to sit? 920 00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:56,120 Yes, I have and to come when he's called. 921 00:54:56,120 --> 00:54:58,280 That's pretty impressive and it's about food 922 00:54:58,280 --> 00:55:00,560 so I'm sure there's a lot of owners who will say, 923 00:55:00,560 --> 00:55:03,720 "Well, yeah, I shake the bag of treats and try 924 00:55:03,720 --> 00:55:06,000 "and get my cat to come in but he doesn't come in." 925 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:08,600 Then really the case there is they're asking for too much 926 00:55:08,600 --> 00:55:11,040 all at once, so they're asking them to come 927 00:55:11,040 --> 00:55:14,240 from too far a distance, or the treats are not high enough value, 928 00:55:14,240 --> 00:55:17,400 that the reward is simply not exciting enough to motivate them 929 00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:20,440 to come in and there's other things outside that are much more exciting. 930 00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:21,960 Is this a high-value treat for them 931 00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:23,920 or did you start with raw chicken and then...? 932 00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:25,640 Yeah, these are quite high value... OK. 933 00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:28,760 ..but things like cooked chicken, cooked ham would be even higher value. 934 00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:32,760 I only use these types of treats in training so that enhances their 935 00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:35,360 value, they don't get free access to them whenever they want, 936 00:55:35,360 --> 00:55:36,920 they always have to work for them. 937 00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:39,360 OK. Do you think I could try and get Cosmos to sit? 938 00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:42,680 We could try, I've never generalised it to other people, 939 00:55:42,680 --> 00:55:44,640 it's always been me that's taught him, 940 00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:47,440 so he might not because we haven't taught him that other people 941 00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:49,960 might ask him this command, too. I'm sure it won't work. 942 00:55:49,960 --> 00:55:52,280 Cosmos. That's it. 943 00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:54,160 OK, now, sit. 944 00:55:56,520 --> 00:55:57,760 Excellent. 945 00:55:57,760 --> 00:56:01,240 And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get your cat to sit. 946 00:56:04,240 --> 00:56:09,800 Sarah has also trained Cosmos to come on walks with her and her dog. 947 00:56:09,800 --> 00:56:12,760 Come on. 948 00:56:12,760 --> 00:56:15,800 So, how often does he come for a walk with you? 949 00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:19,920 Maybe about three or four times a week. Mm-hm. 950 00:56:19,920 --> 00:56:22,520 Come on, Cosmos. 951 00:56:22,520 --> 00:56:25,360 One of the things, we live quite near a busy road 952 00:56:25,360 --> 00:56:27,720 and I'm always quite worried about the cats for that, 953 00:56:27,720 --> 00:56:30,000 so I've trained them to come when they're called, 954 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:31,560 and as you can see to walk with me. 955 00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:34,080 So, if Cosmos wants to come out, he comes out with me 956 00:56:34,080 --> 00:56:37,800 and the dog or I can call him and he'll come back to the house. 957 00:56:37,800 --> 00:56:39,400 He's very obedient. 958 00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:41,920 COSMOS PURRS 959 00:56:43,800 --> 00:56:46,920 If we can train cats like Cosmos to sit, 960 00:56:46,920 --> 00:56:49,280 and come back when we ask him to, 961 00:56:49,280 --> 00:56:52,560 could our close relationship with cats mean that one day, 962 00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:55,640 their wild side will disappear? 963 00:56:55,640 --> 00:56:58,480 Could cats become more sociable with each other, 964 00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:01,200 content not to go roaming and hunting, 965 00:57:01,200 --> 00:57:04,520 better suited to 21st-century life? 966 00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:10,400 But how much do we really want our cats to change? 967 00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:15,440 Personally, I'd like to think that instead of turning cats 968 00:57:15,440 --> 00:57:18,760 into something similar to what we have in the dog, 969 00:57:18,760 --> 00:57:21,920 we could try to conserve their unique nature. 970 00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:26,120 With a better understanding of why these fascinating animals behave the 971 00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:31,160 way they do, we could find a way for cats to maintain their independent 972 00:57:31,160 --> 00:57:36,120 wild side and live happier lives alongside us in the modern world. 973 00:57:39,600 --> 00:57:44,480 Over the last few weeks, we've met some amazing cats. 974 00:57:44,480 --> 00:57:47,400 Top hunters Sandwich and Saphie... 975 00:57:48,840 --> 00:57:51,520 ..and Ted, who started life on the farm 976 00:57:51,520 --> 00:57:54,200 and is now living a life of luxury. 977 00:57:56,360 --> 00:58:00,360 We've seen Black and Ginger teach her kittens to hunt... 978 00:58:00,360 --> 00:58:05,760 and Jasper and Buster scrapping in the dead of night. 979 00:58:07,240 --> 00:58:09,720 Our study of 100 cats has given us 980 00:58:09,720 --> 00:58:13,400 a unique insight into their secret lives. 981 00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:17,160 And one thing is very clear - 982 00:58:17,160 --> 00:58:19,960 they're at a time of great change, 983 00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:24,160 with two paws in the past, and two in the future. 984 00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:28,240 And although that sometimes makes life difficult 985 00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:33,400 for our cats, it's also what makes them so fascinating to us.