During training, Abyssinia imitated its owner, Fumi Higaki.
Fumi Higaki
By David Grimm
Abyssinia may be the world’s first literal picket. Researchers have shown that Japanese cats can mimic their owner’s actions in controlled scientific situations. Capacity has only been found in a handful of organisms, and research suggests that mammals evolved earlier than ever before.
“It’s really exciting,” says Christine Vital, a cat intelligence researcher and animal behaviorist at Unity College College. “People think cats are solitary and antisocial,” he says. “But this study reinforces the idea that they are watching us and learning from us.”
Discovered by a lucky event. Claudia Fugaza, an ethicist at Atvis Laurent University, has been studying dog intelligence for almost 10 years using “as I do” training. In this method, the researcher trains the dog or other animal to mimic an already known behavior – such as rolling – demonstrating such behavior and then saying “Do it!” Saying so. The dog is then rewarded for its success. Over time, the animal learns to “do it!” That means “copy me.” The approach can be used to test whether animals can actually imitate – i.e., mimic actions they have never done before, such as playing llnt.
Fugazza, who is also a dog trainer, was working with Fumi Higaki, a dog trainer in Echinomiya, Japan, when Higaki told her that she had trained one of her cats with “do as you please”. The cat, an 11-year-old woman named Abisu (after the Japanese god of prosperity) lived in Higaki’s pet store and was very inspired, which made it easier for her to train. “She always attended my dog’s training classes because she knew the people there behaved well,” says Higaki.
Fugaza wanted to study imitation in other species, and here, shockingly, was a cat that had apparently already received the necessary training. But Abisu was confused by strangers. So Higaki experimented in the evening in his pet shop, while Fugaza monitored the room from a distance.
Higaki showed that Abisu can mimic familiar actions such as opening plastic drawers and biting rubber wires. She then asked the cat to emulate two new behaviors. While standing in front of Abisu sitting on the countertop next to the cardboard box, Higaki raised his right hand and touched the touch box. At other times, he bent down and rubbed his face against B’s.
In subsequent 16 trials, Abisu copied its owner more than 81% of the time, the team reported this month. Animal knowledge (Watch the video above). The team says the cat used its paws and face to touch the touchboxes while its owner used his hands and face, respectively, to show that she was able to “map” her owner’s body parts to her anatomy, the team says. .
Fugaza says only dolphins, parrots, monkeys, and killer whales have been shown to mimic people. Cats with similar abilities, he says, suggest that they may be widespread in the animal state, evolving early in animal evolution. And yet, even though the study was conducted on a cat, Fugaza thinks most cats can imitate humans. “I don’t think Abisu was a genius.”
But Claudio Tenny, an ethicist at T ટbenjen University who has studied genetics in dogs and primates, is not impressed. He says it’s impossible to tell from the study whether cats have an innate ability to imitate humans, or whether intensive “as I do” training gave them skills. “We can train bears to ride motorcycles,” he says. “That doesn’t mean the bear is riding a motorcycle.”
Tenny also notes that both simulations – touching the box with the paws and facing the box against the box – are actions that a cat does anyway. He says, and Abisu would have just rubbed his face in front of his box to hide his owner’s scent. “I’m not sure we’re seeing a true copy.”
Vital is more optimistic. A few years ago, one of his cats, Bo, started pressing the call bell as he watched Vitale. “Hopefully others will copy this work so we know how widespread this is in cats.”
Unfortunately, this will not be possible with Abyssinia. He developed kidney disease last year and died in June.
Nevertheless, co-author Adam Miklosi, a cognitive ethicist at Eats Land, says more studies are coming in about man’s best medical friend. Research with Abyssinia, they say, reveals new ways to train and conduct knowledge experiments with cats that are notoriously difficult to study. Reinforces the paper, for example, cats – unlike dogs) will only show their true abilities if their owner is present. “We can learn a lot from Abyssinia.”
