Читать книгу Animal Behavior for Shelter Veterinarians and Staff - Группа авторов - Страница 71

Millions of cats interact with humans in various housed or free‐roaming environments, and the field of feline social cognition is uncovering what most cat owners already know—cats are capable of forming strong bonds with humans (Turner 2017). Geering (1986) found that food may be an initial attractant for a cat, but affiliative behaviors such as stroking are needed to maintain contact with a person. More recent studies have suggested that once a cat has bonded with a human, the cat shows a preference for contact from this person compared to others and feels more comfortable in exploring surroundings with familiar people present (Edwards et al. 2007). Cats tend to look for cues from a familiar person in the presence of a frightening stimulus (Merola et al. 2015) but, unlike dogs, may not necessarily seek human guidance when solving spatial tasks (Miklósi et al. 2005). Cats can both recognize the voice of familiar humans (Saito and Shinozuka 2013) and alter vocalizations directed toward humans. Cats emit the meow (Yeon et al. 2011) and modified purrs (McComb et al. 2009) almost exclusively toward humans when seeking resources such as food and affection, although similar sounds may be heard in the queen‐kitten context. Most affiliative behaviors displayed by cats toward humans—kneading with the forepaws, purring, allorubbing, and allogrooming—mirror conspecific behavior. Human scratching and stroking are likely perceived as reciprocation and maintenance of the bond. Human personality and perception of the cat as a social partner have been shown to influence the characteristic of both the specific human‐cat interaction and a cat’s general behaviors in the home (Wedl et al. 2011; Kotrschal et al. 2014). Arguably the most important factor in the degree of sociability of any cat is early life experiences with humans or any other social partner.