Les hommes ont oublié cette vérité. Mais tu ne dois pas l'oublier, dit le renard. Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé.
Le Petit Prince, chap. 21

Thursday 15 January 2015

Correlation between coat colour and behaviour in semi-feral cats

Datta, J. (2014). Correlation between coat colour and behaviour in semi-feral cats. Science and Culture, 80(9/10), 283-286.

Correlation of coat colour and certain behavioural patterns has been studied in 192 semi-feral cats. Of the 5 different categories of coat colour namely, (1) pure black, (2) pure white, (3) black and white, (4) white and yellow, (5) white, yellow and black, the first (pure black) was the wildest (most shy) while category 2 (pure white) was the most tameable. However, pure black once tamed (forcefully), behave rather like a "one man's dog" owing allegiance to the master only and avoiding members of his/her family. Furthermore both category (1) and (2), each comprising only 4% of the total population are basically loners. The majority (49%) of the cats belongs to category (3) (black and white) and these cats are tameable and social among themselves. Categories (4) (white and yellow) and (5) (white, yellow and black) comprise 22% and 21%, respectively of the cat population. Only category 4 (white and yellow) shows reaction with family members of the person who feeds, but these cats are basically aggressive; they direct their aggressiveness even to the person who feeds, if they are disturbed while feeding. Ethological implications of the findings have been discussed.

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