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Justi,
thanks for popping in. I hope you're feeling better!
posted by
Nautikos
on May 31, 2006 at 6:59 AM
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Naut
Lovely story. I love to watch animals. Our cat is seventeen and was a good huntress in her day. Today the squirrel population has increased. Chipmunks are all over since she simply sleeps around where they play. The blue jays give her trouble. Thanks for your support.
posted by
Justi
on May 30, 2006 at 1:40 PM
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kingmi,
I'm sure you're right, imprinting plays an important role, especially in a bird's 'formative period', i.e. right after it has hatched. But I do think there's something like 'learning' involved as well. But then, I am not an ornithologist...
posted by
Nautikos
on May 30, 2006 at 5:27 AM
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Rumored,
your comment brings back memories of my 'hippie' days, and all the 'hip cats' I used to know...
posted by
Nautikos
on May 30, 2006 at 5:18 AM
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Darrke,
thanks for dropping in. In the meantime Mickey has gone home to my daughter's, and she is going to observe him as much as she can and possibly even record his 'barking'. I should mention that Ossie and Mickey are very close, often sleeping curled up together...
posted by
Nautikos
on May 29, 2006 at 10:45 AM
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Wiley,
everybody thinks of squirrels as the pests they are, but I must confess that we have grown rather fond of the little critters. We would find it rather upsetting if Ossie or one of the cats ever caught one...
posted by
Nautikos
on May 29, 2006 at 10:34 AM
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I've had a lot of cats...
but only one or two that did that chattering thing to the birds...like bird calls maybe? And now squirrel calls. Cool.
posted by
DarrkeThoughts
on May 29, 2006 at 8:58 AM
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Nautikos
LOL Fantastic story my friend. I only have those little red squirrels up here, and Simba, a huge Husky next door loves to crunch them up. Well, when she can catch one.
posted by
WileyJohn
on May 28, 2006 at 8:47 PM
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lol..could be..:) actually when we call him "Mick" for short....
Jagger comes to mind....:)
posted by
Rumor
on May 28, 2006 at 5:46 AM
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Naut, i don't think it's learning -- more like imprinting...
posted by
kingmi
on May 27, 2006 at 7:20 PM
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MandaLee,
thanks for visiting. Yes, it is quite funny! Actually, we would like to keep Mickey, go on tour, maybe the Letterman show, Jay Leno...the possibilities are endless! Just two problems: we would have to pack a squirrel as well, and our daughter would disown us...
posted by
Nautikos
on May 27, 2006 at 6:27 PM
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Rumored,
Why is it that so many cats are named after a
mouse? There must be some as yet unexplored depth-psychological reasons for that...
posted by
Nautikos
on May 27, 2006 at 5:33 PM
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nautikos..lol..this is hilarious..we have a cat named Mickey, too...
and his buddy, Sam..and yes, they get royally scolded when they sit in our front windows by birds that decide to land on our porch railing.
..
posted by
Rumor
on May 27, 2006 at 12:47 PM
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Nautikos,
Too funny! Made me smile.
posted by
Amanda__
on May 27, 2006 at 12:07 PM
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Nautikos,
Too funny! Made me smile.
posted by
Amanda__
on May 27, 2006 at 12:07 PM
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Saul,
thanks for popping in. I'm sure you're right, there's probably far more of that sort of thing than we are aware of. Also interesting is, as I read recently, that song bird populations of the same species but living in separate regions can have markedly different song patterns. This means, of course, that what takes place here is a 'social transmission' through learning, as in human society. One wonders whether this is just a matter of having different 'dialects', or whether the differences would be pronounced enough so that, should they meet, they would find themselves to have different 'languages', and possibly 'translation problems'...
I read your post on the Bernardo-Homolka case. The deal with that Homolka woman was one of the worst travesties we have ever experienced in this country, and still has people seething, whenever it comes up!
posted by
Nautikos
on May 27, 2006 at 11:52 AM
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I think animals are just as prone to mimicry as humans are, Nautikos. For
instance, when we are having a conversation with someone, we tend to mimic each other's hand movements and stances. We also tend to mimic the way people talk and act that we admire. Maybe the cat admires the dog. 
The Bernardo/Homolka affair was horrible. I wrote about it some time ago. Is there a lower level of depravity than to commit such an act against a loved one or family member?
posted by
saul_relative
on May 27, 2006 at 10:19 AM
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Julia,
thanks for dropping in. You're right, of course, 'momentous' may seem a bit strong, aside from being a trifle facetious, and looked at in the greater scheme of things it isn't much at all, but I can't help being amazed by it. I have also decided to make an attempt at finding out if anything like this is already known to zoologists.
posted by
Nautikos
on May 26, 2006 at 6:42 PM
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I don't know about momentous (lol) but
I enjoyed reading about it. And by the way, I also have a cat named Mickey!
posted by
Julia.
on May 26, 2006 at 6:09 PM
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