Wild Cat Behavior
All aspects of a cat's natural behavior are to do with 'making a living'. To survive from day to day the cats primary business is that of catching food and as a member of a species it sole objective is to reproduce. Each behavioral aspect of the cat is 'tuned' to one of these objectives.
It could be said that the behaviors can be divided into two distinct groups. However there is often an overlap in the direct motivation behind specific behavioral practices. For example, social organization of territory plays an important role, not only in dividing living space so that mating and the rearing of young can be achieved without undue conflict but also serves to maximize prey to predator ratios - conflict between individuals over prey does not benefit the species as a whole.
Although wild cats are generally thought of as being primarily solitary animals, as opposed to wild dogs and wolves, which are by nature group or pack animals, social interaction is a primary motivation behind many behavioral aspects of there lives. Communication between cats then, plays an important part in their daily activities.
Other behavioral characteristics relate directly to the job of hunting and these serve to maximize the cats physiological adaptation to the task of catching prey. Although primarily solitary hunters, some species of cat, notably the lion, have adapted to hunt in social groups, thus maximizing the chances of success in completing a kill.
Flickr Tags: Wild cats
