garius,
@garius@mastodon.me.uk avatar

This article is genuinely interesting (cats are BIG on umami, apparently).

But I love that for all the science, the reason WHY a desert animal love fish still seems to come back to them just deciding they did one day. And then demanding it off our ancestors, who duly obliged. https://www.science.org/content/article/why-do-cats-love-tuna-so-much-scientists-may-finally-know?utm_campaign=SciMag&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=ownedSocial&fbclid=IwAR3dgpvT7dJfn_hEcBI-vQpemCRFv3IgSnzX6TuCkULmYzviwgGPtMrKXmg

garius,
@garius@mastodon.me.uk avatar

EARLY CAT: What that?
HUMAN: A fish. You can eat them.
EARLY CAT: Mine now. I need it. I need the fish. Without fish I die.
HUMAN: But you're from the desert. How can you possibly-
EARLY CAT: WOE. WOE FOR KITTY. HUMAN INFLICTS A THOUSAND WOES ON-
HUMAN: God. Fine. Have it.

JonRowe,
@JonRowe@fosstodon.org avatar

@garius Everyones heard the proverb, “Give a man a fish, they eat for the day; Teach a man to fish, they eat for a lifetime.” less know the second verse, “Give a cat a fish become slave forevermore”

dammitjanet,
@dammitjanet@mastodon.social avatar

@garius Get Fuzzy, the very best comic about cats and tuna https://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy/2000/10/03

demi,
@demi@xeno.glyphpress.com avatar

@garius While funny, African wildcats existed in the early Middle East… where humans lived… near water.

garius,
@garius@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@demi which is exactly why the article talks about how they likely picked up their fishy habit from hanging around with us.

jrdepriest,

@garius
Early Cat thought Human called it God in the last bit and liked the sound of that.

herhandsmyhands,
@herhandsmyhands@romancelandia.club avatar

@garius The first thing cats learned is that humans are easy suckers.

Millennia later, we are still the easiest of suckers.

kithrup,

@garius Cats will die if they only eat fish.

thorne,
@thorne@rants.au avatar

@garius @cstross This conjured up memories of giving a raw garfish to a childhood cat. I recall the cat in question was a placid little beastie, and she had obviously never seen fish before.
“…the fuck is that?”
cautious sniff
“Am I supposed to…?”
eyes glaze over
The moment she realized it was food, she grabbed the fish and ran, full tilt, growling ferociously the whole time. She ran the full length of the house with it and hid under my parents’ bed to eat it, still growling around every mouthful, continuously.
We moved the bed afterwards. There was No Detectable Residue.

Jeanniewarner,
@Jeanniewarner@wandering.shop avatar

@thorne @garius @cstross cats are the best...

ErgonWolf,
@ErgonWolf@pawb.fun avatar

@garius I mean, Jerry Seinfeld used to deal with hecklers, after they've started, by treating them as a customer service issue. "I see you're unhappy with what's happening here, how can we make things better for you?"

You, on the other hand, have addressed hecklers preemptively, by entirely denigrating them as a class.

It's a bold move, I will say.

pericat,

@garius all cats are Legolas when it comes to the sea and its contents.

oddhack,
@oddhack@mstdn.social avatar

@garius the Fertile Crescent wasn't a desert. Plausible they evolved as fishercats prior to domestication. There are wildcats and domestic fishercat breeds today.

Now my cats - both "domesticated" from neighborhood ferals - tend to sniff at raw or cooked chicken and turn their noses up at it, preferring kibble. Maybe they contain kitty crack.

JamesPadraicR,
@JamesPadraicR@mastodon.social avatar

@garius Our last cat couldn’t stand tuna, but our sheepdog Chaim loved it.

BoredomFestival,
@BoredomFestival@sfba.social avatar

@garius to be fair, humans love tuna too, but I doubt human ancestors were hunting them on the African savannah

BenAveling,

@BoredomFestival @garius humans are omnivores. We can survive on anything. Cats need meat. And not just any meat. Cats can’t survive on a fish diet.

BashStKid,
@BashStKid@mastodon.online avatar

@garius I’m going to guess those umami receptors were originally tuned to mouse livers or some such thing, and coincidentally so is tuna …

… or you could ask your in-house biochemist?

BunRab,
@BunRab@mstdn.social avatar

@garius
I remember seeing some ships of the Purina Cat Chow fishing fleet in harbor one time when I was visiting San Francisco. Yes, there is a dedicated Purina Cat Chow fishing fleet. (Purina is Nestle, though, and Nestle is still evil, so I am only mentioning, not recommending.)

seanb,

@garius Wasn't fish a common meat for humans, in those deserts? Egypt, Mesopotamia, and such.

garius,
@garius@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@seanb yeah, that's basically what the article eventually gets to.

That it was probably once they ended up hanging around with us a lot (particularly fishing industry scraps) that they developed the taste for it.

joyographic,

@garius I suspect desert cats would often hang out near oases and rivers, where there would be fish.

LauraJMG,

@garius Fascinating!

CaseyL,
@CaseyL@mastodon.nz avatar

@garius

If you're a desert-dwelling human who adores your kitty, tuna is hard to come by.

Kitty knows that, and is adamant that you prove your worship by getting some.

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