I’ve always felt that cats have had the ideal human face! Wide-set eyes, small, well bridged noses fit to their face, and a small mouth on a delicate chin. The american short hair has a great deal of symmetry.
I’ll admit to being a perfectionist searching for completion in face patterns. I don’t think there can be a more beautiful face than a feline’s, large or small. Their slit eyes are so smooth and well formed (domesticated). Their bodies are sleek, and they sway, but unlike a snake, they’re furry and adorable.
Obviously it would be impossible to breed with a cat, but humans would be a perfected species. Golden ratio can be applied to animals as well as humans. I believe cats are more beautiful mathematically speaking.
Cats haven’t adapted for about a billion years, are lazy, selfish, stupid, demanding, rely entirely on humans for their elevated status and yet have thrived.
They disprove evolutionary theory like no other species.
But sure, they’re cute. And they make pleasant noises.
Lazy, no,/ selfish, no,/ stupid, no/ demanding , yes, reliance on humans , no., evolved, some have… to certain points. Consider they are creatures of Eugenics and not natural process.
Maybe American cats are different to British ones, but most of the cats I’ve met spend the first three years of their life chasing anything that moves, and some things that don’t, then the next 15 years sleeping, eating and pestering humans for attention.
Good point, Kris. Many cat breeds are artificial, but they still remain naturally beautiful as seen in the wild. Lynxes, for example, are my favorite.
Ask anyone what they think the most beautiful animal is, not the coolest or cutest, but the one with sheer beauty, and they will say a cat. My theory is the golden ratio. We’re mathematically inclined to choose their face pattern over others, and humans who come closest to such a beauty are considered most attractive.
We have the same exact qualifications for human beauty that a cat possesses. The artist Leonardo Da Vinci claimed that cats were masterpieces, and used the golden ratio extensively throughout his work.
This is not simply a personal preference of mine; cats have a true dimension that doesn’t go unnoticed by the keen human eye.
SIATD, You hit the nail on the head. Environment. Age yes but environment has alot to do with how cats are and espcecially breed and or personality. I have a 12 year old cat that still loves to hunt and be frisky. I have others that are fat and lazy. But they are not fat and lazy compared to cats that reside in the city or within apartments within cities. Then I have other cats older that are sleek and damn good hunters, they actually can hunt in packs.
Breeds, environment and personality. A chihuahua is not the same as a shepard. A tonkanese is not the same as an American shorthaired Tabby. A city cat is not the same as a country cat. A humanized cat is not the same as a feral cat. Some cats are stupid some are smart. All are frigging demanding if they think they own your butt.
Echo, you might be right in general, but, the cutest ones we have are the flawed ones, I think it has to do with our perception as being parents to them. You tend to spoil the hurt ones or the ones that have flaws. We don’t own ours they are our kids. All 38 felines and 14 canines. Wheew what a rowdy home, wouldn’t change it for the world.
I’ve tried to bring up my cat right. I chuck him out in the rain and tell him to hunt for small beasts when he’s hassling me but has already been fed, and he goes and sleeps under the car.
I’ve never spoilt him, nor do I put up with his nonsense (he gets sprayed with water if he seriously crosses the line) yet he’s still a lazy little bugger who thinks he rules the world. Maybe my ‘do as I say, not as I do’ method of rearing has backfired, because he does remind me a lot of me.
that sure is personality coming out… yep you are his alpha daddy and he just wants to be like you. Seriously why are you feeding him and then expecting him to hunt for live food, he already tracked down the lair where you store food., you silly human sounds pretty smart to me.
He seems to pick and choose what attributes to ape based purely on how to get the most he can though, which isn’t particularly like me.
The point is that he gets a certain amount of food and if he’s still hungry he can go hunting. He has an entire riverbank only a few yards from the back door teeming with little creatures that he can readily kill. And he does kill quite a lot of them.
I think his recent lethargy is down to the weather. We’ve not had a proper summer this year, indeed, it’s been nicer through September than it was for July/August. So he’s not had a proper period in which to run about slaughtering smaller, slower, dimmer beasts.
Did I mention that the other night, given the choice of the scraps left on my dinner plate, he went for the lettuce over the chicken pasta salad?
It takes 20 minutes at least to get to the nearest town, I am so far out in the country cell phones do not work out here.
A few cats are permantly indoors, most choose where they want to be, we have a cat door for them to go in and out as they choose. Our dogs are the same except they have a huge fenced yard.
SIATD, yea, weather does affect hunting attitudes. Mine do better when its cooler too. Ours though refuse to catch any critturs that may have invaded the house. They only kill the ones outside. Its almost like they think the mouse or other creature must be a part of the pack. We have cats that prefer vegies to meat at times…It is strange but, then again I figure they are instinctually trying to balance something inside them with specific nutrients. Sort of like grazing. Cats use vegies to cause vomiting at times too, especially grass or near grass things.
Leaonardo , did a great job on the cat, its expression is perfect,“Dear God its touching me Oh,Icky”
Echo you should read the Man-Kzin Wars,Its SciFi series done by multiple renowned authors, The Artistry on the covers are beautiful works. The Kzin are sentient felines that evolved to be hominid. The authors have the feline ways down pat.
The Maine Coon has grown almost 10% in like 200 years or maybe less, in few thousand years it could be the size of a lion if the environment pushed it in that direction for long enough. (It won’t/wouldn’t).
But part of the reason things like crocodiles/cats can stay unchanged (though cats show amazing amounts of diversification/change) is because they’re so good at what they do.
but anyway, yeah theres all kinds of cat species, all sorts of them adapted to doing different things like pack hunting, solitary hunting, ambush predation, speed, adapted to different environments like fishing cats and etc.
The modern house-cat can hunt about a thousand species, thats a massive ability. I have a house-cat that weighs about ten pounds, it can jump 6 feet without effort, without taking a run. The abilities of cats are spectacular.
they might ‘thrive’ on humans, but they do quite well on their own as well. Which is why cities usually have feral cat colonies and why the outdoors has a lot of cats.
I agree with the positive observations on cats here. Cats have adapted to human society largely by ingratiating themselves. Their ability to hunt small animals that are viewed as pests was undoubtedly viewed as an asset in agrarian societies. Their capacity for affection toward humans and their beauty keeps them popular among people who are susceptible to those feelings.
I have observed marked behavioral changes in feral cats who are welcomed indoors. It is as if acceptance in the home triggers socialized domestic behavior that was apparently latent while the cat was living in the wild. For example, a feral cat that attacked my pet cats when he was living outdoors, stopped the aggressive behavior as soon as I brought him to live inside my home. Has anyone else observed similar cat behavior?
By the way Echo, can you say more about what you mean by the golden ratio?
Long haired cats make me itch and sneeze and my eyes water like crazy. Short haired cats are ok. I once knew a guy who had some of those bald cats, which freaked me out as soon as I saw them. Weird shit man.
astetic qalities like symmetry exist for reproductive reasons, not functional ones… symmetry is typically found in good/complete genes, and anattrction to symmetry gets used as a means to increase the odds of speading good genes. but still symmetry says noting about capability… perfection lies elsewhere, IMO.
