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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 186 responses total. |
jep
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response 125 of 186:
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May 21 20:25 UTC 2002 |
Some people say Grex is dry and boring, but any system hosting a
discussion titled "Sex" which includes the relationship between dogs
and wolves certainly isn't your ordinary conferencing system.
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jaklumen
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response 126 of 186:
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May 21 20:54 UTC 2002 |
resp:119 That's right-- they chuff, which is a low, bassy, guttural
sound that comes through the nose. It sounds somewhat
like "hooorrrrlll." The Tonight Show had an animal trainer that was
explaining this with some Bengal and Golden Tabby Tigers. The
cougar/mountain lion he had sounded more like it could purr, however.
Charming, but of course the trainer pointed out that they are
dangerous pets, especially after they pass their relative childhood.
I saw a white Bengal cub up close at RadCon last February, and it was
apparent that a lot of careful and smart handling is required.
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bhelliom
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response 127 of 186:
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May 22 17:29 UTC 2002 |
The general consensus among scientists, if I remember correctly, is
that dogs descended from the grey wolf, which in turn decended from the
red wolf.
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janc
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response 128 of 186:
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May 23 02:32 UTC 2002 |
I read something about this recently. Cats are descended from North
African Wildcats, which look just like tabby housecats, but are very
solitary, which is weird because not only are cats fairly social, but if
they go feral, they continue to live in social groups, sharing food and
kitten-care. Turns out that a kitten raised in a social group remains
social it's whole life, while kittens who aren't turn into incurable
loners. So people probably caught kittens and kept them a bit because
they were so cute. Playing with them as kittens left you with an adult
cat who was semi-sociable, quite unlike wild cats. So they probably got
domesticated just because they had this behavioral peculiarity.
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jaklumen
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response 129 of 186:
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May 23 05:52 UTC 2002 |
Cool-- that's about what I figured, and again, I'll bet the Egyptians
were among the peoples that domesticated them.
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mdw
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response 130 of 186:
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May 23 06:04 UTC 2002 |
Wild cats vary between social & solitary; the lion, for instance, is
social, while the tiger is solitary. I think the basic cat genotype
allows for both, and the exact choice made by a species may depend as
much on food availability as anything else. Modern north africa is
pretty desolate, but even within recorded history it was much more
fertile. Perhaps the prehistoric north african wildcat was less
solitary and more lionish.
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jaklumen
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response 131 of 186:
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May 23 07:03 UTC 2002 |
That's not completely accurate-- the tiger will accept company at
times, but yes, it does not have the pride structure of the lion.
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mdw
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response 132 of 186:
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May 23 07:56 UTC 2002 |
Well, they *all* have to accept company at times -- otherwise there'd be
no cats left after one generation.
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gull
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response 133 of 186:
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May 23 12:53 UTC 2002 |
My grandpa used to have a semi-feral bunch of barn cats. They definately
roamed in packs. ;)
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hotboy
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response 134 of 186:
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May 25 13:55 UTC 2002 |
its seems the topic is is wandering a little..um..anybody get laid at work
or in unusual places? my most unusual place has got to be on a snowmobile
up north while trail riding with my girlfeind....heh 'trail riding' cold but
conquered...
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janc
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response 135 of 186:
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May 26 12:55 UTC 2002 |
Well, the particular thing author I read was the opinion that all this
business about lions being social was pretty irrelevant to the question
of cat sociability, because house cats are not decended from lions. It
does seem that the behavioral malliability of North African wildcats
must have served some purpose in the past - maybe some ancestors
occasionally lived that way. But modern North African Wildcats seem to
have a pretty good suite of solitary behaviors. They mark out
territories and rarely encroach on another cat's territory (one gender
is more strongly territorial than the other, but I forgot which).
Modern housecats' social behavior is kind of limited, on the other
hand. It seems to be patched together from bits and pieces of kitten
behavior and mama cat behavior, those being the only social stages of a
"normal" wildcats' life. So when your cat brings you dead mice, it's
thinking of you as a kitten. When your cat rubs against your legs,
it's thinking of you as a mama cat. Dogs social behaviors are much
more sophisticated. They have ideas of social hierarchy's, not just
mama and kitten.
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jmsaul
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response 136 of 186:
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May 26 15:04 UTC 2002 |
Cats develop social hierarchies too, if there are enough of them around.
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slynne
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response 137 of 186:
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May 26 15:42 UTC 2002 |
Yeah, you might not notice it too much because humans always seem to be
at the bottom of the kitty social hieracrhy
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jmsaul
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response 138 of 186:
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May 26 18:30 UTC 2002 |
Heh...
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jaklumen
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response 139 of 186:
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May 26 23:08 UTC 2002 |
This reminds me of a Samoyed mix a gaming friend of mine had. (For
those of you familiar, this was at a Camarilla event). The more I
observed the dog, the more I could see that she regarded Chuck at the
alpha, and the rest of us as other members of the pack. She was
really hungry for attention the last time we visited; the game
location was changed and so she didn't see the group as often.
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jaklumen
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response 140 of 186:
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May 26 23:10 UTC 2002 |
Oh-- the one thing in particular was when we came to a game and she
went right up to us to greet us. Chuck called her back, and her
obedience was immediate. She often followed him *everywhere* at his
side throughout many games.
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mdw
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response 141 of 186:
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May 27 03:29 UTC 2002 |
At least cats don't jump on you and slobber all over. At least, not
without asking first.
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jaklumen
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response 142 of 186:
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May 27 03:54 UTC 2002 |
Cat person.
I've noticed people in the computer field generally don't keep dogs.
I am guessing that dogs generally interfere with that kind of work.
Cats do too-- they generally crawl on the keyboard when they want
attention-- but it's easier to find a cat that's much more independent.
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slynne
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response 143 of 186:
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May 27 14:15 UTC 2002 |
re#141 - Wrong! I was able to train my dogs not to do that but my cat
jumps up and slobbers on me whenever she feels like it. She is
untrainable. Not because she is stupid, of course, but because she is a
cat. I hate that she is always licking me, though. She drools on me too
when she is happy. blech.
re#142 - I have two dogs and a cat and I work in the computer field.
Pets are less of a responsibility than children.
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jaklumen
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response 144 of 186:
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May 28 08:19 UTC 2002 |
Interesting. But you seem to be the exception so far.
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bhelliom
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response 145 of 186:
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May 28 15:28 UTC 2002 |
Agreements in total with Slynne. The only time my dog jumps on someone
is if she likes them and hasn't seen them in a long time. Loki hadn't
seen my mom in nearly a year, and when I broght her to my mother's
house on saturday, she was incredibly excited, it was incredibly cute
to see. She's got a great memory. Loki is also not really into
licking people all over the face.
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void
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response 146 of 186:
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May 28 20:50 UTC 2002 |
Edison washes my face frequently. When I'm at the computer for long
periods of time, he'll drape himself over my right shoulder with his
back feet on the back of my chair and his nose in my shirt pocket and
take a nap.
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keesan
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response 147 of 186:
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Jun 2 12:21 UTC 2002 |
Jim says cats clamp onto his leg with their claws and are difficult to remove
- he does not know why they are doing it.
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sarkhel
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response 148 of 186:
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Jun 5 14:15 UTC 2002 |
re147; May be we ( men) like cat walk.
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sarkhel
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response 149 of 186:
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Jun 5 14:20 UTC 2002 |
re147 So they do it.:-)
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