Hunting

Design a "dream machine" for hunting and you'd come up with something very close to a cat. From the smallest domestic to the biggest "king of the jungle," felines are gifted in all the bodily tools and techniques needed to chase prey in the wild or toys in the living room: speed, athleticism and the killer instinct.

Born to Run
If a cat were an Olympic athlete, the only marathon it might win would be in sleeping. But watch out in the sprint events. The cat would leave its competitors in the dust. Oddly enough, it is the cat's fondness for sleep that makes it such a speed demon. Sleep is its way of conserving energy for the explosive bursts of power it needs for a successful chase. More often than not, these brief, energy-sapping episodes of running prowess are punctuated by yet more slumber. But hunting is not the only arena for showing off a cat's running ability. Sometimes its speed is put to the test when the cat itself is the target of a chase. Felines that survive in the wild, especially on open plains, rely heavily on their ability to run — much more so than domestic cats — because their habitats put greater onus on stalking and surprise attack. Given cause, though, all cats are gold-medal winners in high-speed pursuit.

What makes cats so good at running? Observe any feline and you'll find some answers. When they walk, for instance, cats alternate opposite legs. But watch them run and you'll see that the front and back legs work as pairs to attain speed. At a gallop, the cat arches its supple spine as its hind legs propel ahead of its front legs, rendering it airborne for the time between strides. The speed with which cats run comes through their exceptionally long stride and strong back legs. Even domestic cats can reach speeds of up to 30 mph in just a few seconds. But like most great sprinters, the cat has poor endurance over the long haul; a sustained trot will exhaust it. It becomes overheated in less than a minute and must stop to pant in order to cool down.

Jumping
When it comes to the long-jump and the high-jump events, cats are back in the winner's circle. The same pliable muscles and flexible spine that make them great sprinters allow them to jump vertically or horizontally up to six times their own body length. Wildcats need a well-developed ability to pounce in order to survive, especially those solitary hunters that base successful dining on an element of surprise. Tigers can leap more than 30 feet through the air onto unsuspecting prey. With its exceptionally long hind legs, the puma effortlessly jumps distances of more than 40 feet. Even the relatively short-legged lion, a pack hunter without much need for jumping, can spring as far as four-and-a-half times the length of its body, i.e., some 40 feet. Humans measure in at the low end of the big-cat scale. The average person can barely jump twice his or her body length.

These pouncing, jumping and leaping talents come from the combination of powerful leg and back muscles, along with a calculating mind. Easy jumps are sometimes made during the course of a trot or run. More difficult leaps, especially where landing areas are short or narrow, call for careful planning. Because a cat pushes off with great force, it first tests the solidity of the takeoff point with its hind legs. Next, the cat sizes up the distance to be spanned and then calculates the hind-leg push needed to leap it successfully. Once all of these assessments are computed, the cat crouches forward, tips its pelvis and bends at the hips, knees and ankles. Then, it's liftoff time. Contracting its muscles and extending its joints, the would-be astronaut launches itself.

Whether jumping up onto the top of a bookcase or down to the ground beside its unwary prey, the cat usually lands on its front paws first and draws its hind legs in behind. A safe landing is assured by its flexible shoulders and solid feet, ankles and wrists, which absorb the force of touchdown with little or no lateral movement. Padded paws act as miniature shock absorbers.

Climbing
Equipped with effective crampons and powerful boosting and balancing systems, cats can go where less acrobatic animals fear to tread. While almost all felines are accomplished climbers, the skills of cats in the wild vary greatly according to body type.

• Small cats typically are the most talented climbers; however, even the largest of cats can scale heights to some extent.
  
  
• The leopard climbs with ease, thanks to its particularly well-muscled, broad chest and flexible limbs. Like most felines, its shoulders can rotate so that it can grasp a tree trunk between its forepaws.
  
  
• The cheetah, however, is a poor climber. It has a narrow chest built for speed and shoulder joints that are more limited to the forward and backward movement necessary for running.
  
  
• Tigers and lions carry much of their bulk on the front part of their torsos and consequently they have difficulty pushing themselves upward. But even these disadvantaged climbers on occasion will scale a tree, especially when seeking shade from the scorching sun.

Predatory Habits
Today's owners of house cats may be repulsed by the predatory habits shown by an otherwise docile kitty, but in fact it was the feline's ability to catch and kill disease-carrying rodents in ancient Egypt and medieval Europe that led to its domestication and popularity in the first place. Cats are born with the instinct to hunt. Their brain circuitry is wired to make stalking and attacking reflex actions. The mother's role is not to show them how to hunt but to bring them prey so that they can refine this skill. Play with their siblings also arouses natural hunting instincts. Some cats, even when deprived of this practice when young, can develop into great hunters.

All cats are capable of hunting, but some are not adept at completing the job with the killing coup de grace, the nape bite. A skilled feline hunter will dispatch its prey with one clean bite to the back of the neck, breaking the animal's neck and severing the spinal cord. Many domestic cats, however, are incapable of correctly inflicting the nape bite, probably due to a lack of practice in kittenhood. Often the result is a protracted, messy or even unsuccessful kill. In the wild, however, the victim almost always becomes a quick meal. The nape bite is used to dispatch small prey; larger victims are asphyxiated by a powerful clamping bite on the throat. Domestic cats, which have never had to catch their own dinner and are regularly fed by caring owners, sometimes manage to finish off a mouse or bird that happens to cross their path.

Even though hunger is not the motivation, the hunting instinct is strong enough to surface and the prey, either dead, mauled, stunned or alive and kicking, may be deposited at the feet of a usually unappreciative owner.

Dance of Death
Except for lions, which usually hunt in groups, most cats are solitary hunters that will generally attack prey only smaller than themselves. Domestic cats will target small mammals, although their diets can include everything from insects and birds to fish and reptiles. Some wildcats, however, such as the small but ferocious fishing cat of southern Asia, have been known to bring down animals twice their size.

All cats, domestic or wild, take what is known as a "stalk-and-pounce" approach to the hunt. There are several variations of this technique, depending on the prey, the nature of the surroundings and the particulars of the situation.

• Once the cat has detected and identified its prey, it sizes up the circumstances and chooses a course of action.
• Both wild and domestic cats generally catch birds on the ground by stalking. Since birds possess excellent vision and fairly acute hearing, cats must approach stealthily which, thanks to their soft, padded paws, they do well. To avoid detection, felines often freeze in their tracks for protracted periods before resuming the silent approach. Under cover of long grass, the cat crouches low to the ground, taking advantage of its flexible joints and shoulders. (On the manicured lawns of suburbia, where the cat's success rate in hunting drops dramatically, it's lucky for the cat that the next meal is just a can opener away.)
• Cats use the same techniques for capturing most mammals. Those living underground require different techniques. A cat will lie in wait patiently outside the burrow, sometimes for hours, until its victim pops out its head.

In the final movement of this ballet macabre, the cat judges the vertical or horizontal distance to be broached, then launches itself onto its prey. When leaping toward prey such as birds, it swats or grabs at its victim; when fishing, it scoops its prey from the water.

Despite good vision, a cat can't focus well close up, and sometimes must release the prey in its mouth to get a good look and a proper grip. Both to prevent the catch from escaping and for the cat's own self-protection, prey is preferably motionless before it is released. Thus the cat, whether wild or domestic, "plays" with its catch. In fact, this is an attempt to stun the victim into unconsciousness.

Once confident of the prey's submission, the cat uses its sensitive whiskers to feel for signs of movement before it delivers the killing nape bite. Then, it's back home with the kill if there is a litter to feed. Or, as is the case with most wild and feral felines, it's time for a fast-food meal on the spot.