Of felines and humans.

Sometimes, we humans think we are unique in the animal world, in ways which, actually, we are not. There is a tendency to attribute to humans a special set of values and behaviours which, of course, we think, no animal could ever have. Recently, I have come to observe how similar another animal is, to us, in what, to me, were surprising ways.

At our house in Kuala Lumpur, we have five cats – well, one mother cat and four kittens. We didn’t actually buy these cats…the mother turned up one day, and miaowed in search of food…and we, touched, perhaps, gave her some. She has stayed ever since.

Now, not long ago, I noted something very sweet about the mummy cat’s behaviour. Whenever I put out food for her and her family of kittens, she would not eat anything. She would sit off to one side and let her kittens eat, watching them warmly. She was never seen to eat, until her kittens had had their fill. Sometimes, this meant that they left nothing for her…but she would not complain.

This was quite affecting to see. It seemed to speak of a motherly love, of the cat, for her kittens. She was putting their needs before her own. This is something which a human mother might readily do, of course – but it was a surprise, to me, to see a cat…an animal with quite a small brain…do so.

On another occasion, I saw another behaviour which is very familiar from human conduct. One of her kittens, has what I would call a bad personality. He is always hissing at everyone – be it human, or animal. He even hisses when he seeks food from us. It is a nasty little hiss and sounds quite offensive, in a way. Well, one day, he hissed at his own mother. She reacted swiftly by hissing back at him, then swiping him, stiffly, with her paw. He was knocked back.

This again, seemed very “human”. It was of a mother scolding her child and then slapping him, for his poor manners. Again, I found it unexpected, since the behaviours were exactly akin to what one would find in a human, in similar circumstances.

It is observations and reflections like this that lead me to understand that we should all be much more kindly to our fellow animals in this world. They are much more like us, than you might believe. Yes, they are simpler – but they often share common “emotions” , which allow us to see parts of ourselves in them. It would not surprise me if there were not some common nature and set of responses, spread widely throughout the animal kingdom. I have seen enough of such, in our cats, to believe so.

If you have any interesting animal stories, please share them below.

Thanks.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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Fintan's knowledge of animals.

Fintan, five, likes animals. Though yet young, he seems to be developing somewhat of an expert's eye, where they are concerned.

A couple of days ago, the subject of snakes somehow came into conversation.

Fintan observed, to his mother, as if it had just come to him: "Mummy, an Anaconda is like a Python, in that both kill by constriction...but, you know, an Anaconda is amphibious."

She rather got the feel that he had pieced this one together himself, from information gathered at different times. It was delivered, not as an act of recall, but as an act of thoughtful observation - there was, in his voice, the air of a puzzle clicking into place.

It is a wonder where children's interests come from: why does Fintan like animals? Why does he seek to understand them? So, too, why did Ainan become interested in Chemistry at a similar age? What led him to such an arcane choice of subject matter for his consideration? I don't know the answers to these questions - but I do know this: it is ever a surprise to hear what Fintan knows about animals, just as it was with Ainan with regards to Physical Science.

At this stage, we cannot know if Fintan is going to develop his interest in animals beyond the level of a personal interest. We cannot know if he is going to be as interested in biological matters as Ainan is in physical matters. However, we can say this: they both came to a scientific interest of some kind, at about the same time, without any prompting from anyone else. Fintan chose his interest, just as Ainan chose his. We didn't do anything to guide him, or create the interest in him...it is emerging from within him.

Incidentally, Howard Gardner, of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences fame, suggested that there is a Naturalist intelligence, that determines the ability to make discriminations and have perceptions about the natural world. It would seem that Fintan has a fair measure of this, since, when very young, he was able to distinguish crocodiles and alligators from a brief flash on tv (a couple of years ago!)

We will see if this interest develops and persists. For now, I am enjoying watching his enthusiasm unfold.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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