Boxes and cats

[telophase]

The cats were stealthily fighting each other to gain possession of The Box underneath the desk lamp, so I fished another box out of the recycling and placed it next to the first box.

This has been only a qualified success, as while the cats each get into a box they are convinced, in that feline way, that the other cat has the better box and every so often, switch boxes. Only to realize that the new box fails to live up to the standard they had expected, and, naturally, now the other cat has the better box. Wash, rinse, repeat, ad infinitum.


ETA: Nefer just left her box to go get something to eat. Sora immediately switched boxes.

Comments

[yhlee]

Eee, so cute!

[chomiji]

Hee!

The buns do something similar with treats, if they're not sufficient delectable to simply grab and devour immediately. Some fresh dandelion greens from the yard are "check to see whether other bun has something better," but a chunk of banana is "OMG OM NOM NOM NOM!"

[telophase.livejournal.com]

XD Nefer likes to eat dry, crunchy things like taco ships and saltine crackers, and if I give her a little bit, Sora comes over, wanting some of what Nefer's getting, but ends up thoroughly confused, because she's obviously getting something yummy, not this cardboardy stuff I'm letting him sniff. XD

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

I read a paper about similar behavior in hermit crabs. When hermit crabs think they are in a poor quality shell, they both readily give it up when challenged and readily challenge other crabs for shells. Because hermit crabs don't have the greatest memory in the world, if you put two crabs in identical shells in the same tank, they will endlessly swap shells.

The researchers suggested that it might be a primitive solution to the Monty Hall problem - by swapping, they increased their chances of finding a good shell.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Heee! Makes sense. And now I can't get the vision of hermit cats with box-shells out of my head.

[emtigereyes.livejournal.com]

Heh, nice. :)