Jungle Cat Mimics Monkey to Lure Prey — A First

nationalgeographic ^ | July 13, 2010 | Christine Dell'Amore

[JoeProBono]

Despite "poor imitation," cat shows surprising "psychological cunning."

For a plucky little forest cat, the key to survival might just be "monkey see, monkey do."

The margay (picture), or tree ocelot, mimics monkey calls to draw in prey, the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced Thursday.

Scientists in the Amazon rain forest's Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke, near Manaus, Brazil, heard a margay imitating the call of a baby pied tamarin monkey in 2005.

It was the first—and so far, only—scientifically documented case of a cat imitating a prey species in the Americas, team member Fabio Rohe, a researcher for the New York-based nonprofit WCS, said in an email. Rohe added that he's unaware of any other predators in the world using vocal mimicry as a hunting tool.

[fullchroma]

Aww, it said Tiggy passed away on...

Oh no! Good-bye, little "hello" kitty!

[garjog]

Mimicking the sound of prey. Hmmm. Seems just like what the Obama Administration does when it claims that it is pro-business, wants to cut the deficit and is actually FOR tax cuts. Yeah, right. These monkeys won’t be lured.

“In a Thursday interview, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel argued that rather than recoiling against Obama, business leaders should be grateful for his support on at least a half-dozen counts” http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39495.html

[TheOldLady]

There are a million, no a billion, tales about cats. Calling a cat a weirdo is to say it is a normal cat. If you want to start another undead thread, open one where cat lovers are asked to share their stories.

They are all very sweet kitties, even Miss Hissy Slashy. She does love being massaged and brushed, and she almost never slashes me anymore.

My kittehs all have different voices, and the only mimic is Lucas, who learned to hiss from the late Bitch Cat From Hell, and to seem to be choking from little Shadow, who no longer does it since Lucas started doing it.

Sigh... [shrug]