I sense there’s a best-selling book in here somewhere: Ferguson: The Cat Who Saved a Trailer Park.
The world’s bravest cat
November 16, 2010 • 5:06 pm
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
So, have folks at this park been feeding then alligators? Seems odd they come up like that and mose around. They aren’t hunting fo sho.
Yeah, the utter fearlessness around humans that those gators showed is alarming.
I agree. Having spent a little time in Florida, I’ve seen some get conditioned not to worry about close approaches, but none that would advance so readily with humans right there. It looks like they’re expecting food to me.
In my area, they took off like a shot if anyone came close.
ssssRoww!
From observing my own cats, I came to the conclusion that that “nose-smacking” behavior is a generalized weaning behavior. Wild/feral cats smack their kittens on the nose when it’s time to wean them. Domestic cats generalize this to all the animals in their territory in order to enforce territorial boundaries and social hierarchies.
(There’s another YouTube somewhere of a cat repeatedly smacking a food-stealing raccoon on the nose.)
I think its fair to assume that that cat lives there at the docks, and it considers those gators to be part of its territory.
What’s surprising to me, though, is that the gator responds to the cat’s behavior exactly as a social cue and not overt aggression. But then I imagine crocodilians are more sophisticated than most people suspect.
Maybe it’s time for a re-assessment of the reptilian brain…:))
Were the people completely nuts or foolhardy to stand around rather close while the ‘gators came out?
I don’t know how ‘gators behave – didn’t meet any on Boston Common.
Right up there with the cat that attacked that bear.
I’m super annoyed at the folks who thought it was cute that their cat was in harm’s way.
exactly. I watched horrified that the poor cat was one big-gulp away from oblivion, and the children and commentator were laughing at its “bravery”. Disgusting human behaviour, and one very stupid, but lucky, cat.
*sigh*
nobody ever thinks of the poor gator, who went out of its way NOT to eat the cat.
why?
what the fuck do you think would happen to that gator if it up and ate the cat in front of all those people?
yeah.
gators have been killed for so long in Fla, that I’d bet there is even some selective pressure favoring ones that are tolerant of pets and humans.
not a stretch.
the book should really be:
Charles: the Friendly Gator that Saved the Everglades!
the cat is just background noise.
I agree entirely.
I’d also love to see how long said cat would last if we transported the scene to somewhere in the Australian NT and replaced the US Alligator with a proper Salty!
As Steve Irwin (RIP) once told me (name dropper!) :
When our alligators see the keepers coming with a rat in their hands they think “Here’s lunch, and it’s a rat”. The salties think “Here’s lunch, and it’s carrying a rat.” 😉
Cheers,
Norm.
Hahahahahaha. Very good! Definitely an Oz comment. I miss the place!!!
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Film-bus-going-cat-Casper/article-2713428-detail/article.html
That’s enough cat films.
There is more of this video somewhere. I saw it on the news yesterday, and these same idiots were letting their toddlers do essentially the same thing.
Ok, I totally agree, this is amazingly stupid and irresponsible. I was pretty impressed with the stupidity of the cat at first, but then the guy called the alligators up out of the water. They’re trained. I’ve seen other alligators that have been conditioned to human tolerance (according to one herp I met, they can’t be, though. They’re either born tolerant or not, and stay that way their whole lives. Dunno how true that is, it’s just what he said.) to the point that the handler carries it around a room full of kids, letting them pet it and even hold it themselves. I would think it would be easy enough to train such a gator to back off from an aggressive cat.
And yeah, I agree with the poster who was concerned for the welfare of the alligator, should he lose control and chomp the kid or cat. People just have so little empathy.
“(according to one herp I met, they can’t be, though. They’re either born tolerant or not, and stay that way their whole lives. Dunno how true that is, it’s just what he said.)”
The trainer/handler for the gator on Miami Vice said you can’t train them. They may look like they are trained but they are just waiting for the right time to eat you.
Today’s Garfield may be perfect insight.
http://www.garfield.com/comics/todayscomic.html