How to play safely with a big cat?

Why are dogs so obedient while cats are always so high-strung? Who is the "master", the cat owner or the cat? Have cats been truly domesticated?

This question, many people have a convincing answer. However, in reality, the king of understanding is often hit by the complexity of the actual situation. Because whether it's a kitten or a big cat, there are just too many possibilities for feline relationships with people.

In this world, some people have raised the cat as their master, not only to give or not to jerk completely depending on its mood, a little carelessness to be scratched out of claw marks; but also some people have trained the cat into an obedient police officer, not only on call but also disciplined and resolutely obey the instructions.

A more extreme example is the news of seemingly listless lions and tigers in zoos attacking humans once they find the opportunity. But in some wildlife sanctuaries, some people can lie down among the lions and tigers and leopards and play with them.

We are still flirting online with the "I a slip shovel ......" when the Russian lion park Oleg director is taking his slippers into the lion group to stop them from fighting, a man fought off five adult lions in a matter of seconds.

Dangerous?

The park manager: convinced or not? If not, you are next!

"I can still play a little more excessive"

Why others can get along with wild animals like family, but we can not even capture the heart of a domestic cat? To crack the mystery of the domestic cat, perhaps we can start from the experience of the wild big cats together, and then give them a "descending blow" - with the method of dealing with your grandpa Zuzu Zuzu Zuzu, I do not believe you are still not convinced.

After all, each big cat tamer (to be precise, a good friend), are the real animal world PUA master.

A lion can not hold still want to be a gardener?

First of all, whether it's a well-known webmaster or a veteran zookeeper, they'll tell you the most basic prerequisite for engaging with wild animals: make sure they're fed and well-fed.

This is, of course, very basic common sense, but it also contains biological principles that we can refer to.

In 2014, Wesley Warren, a geneticist at the University of Washington, published a study. Through a seven-year genome sequencing study, his team confirmed that at the genetic level, domestic cats diverge much less from their wildcat ancestors than dogs do from their ancestors (wolves).

This research has, to some extent, become the basis for the theory that domestic cats have never been domesticated, leading to the "man-made cat slave" theory in recent years. But in fact, everyone has overlooked a very strict point in Professor Warren's original statement - this is only on the genetic level. The degree of genetic change to determine whether the animal has been domesticated is too much to see the wind as rain.

Oxford University paleontologist and archaeologist Grella Larson argues that there is no point in talking about whether an animal is semi-domesticated or fully domesticated.

The term "domestication" is defined in biology as "an ongoing symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship between humans and another species". In other words, all wild animals that are attracted to human society should do so because we can provide them with a better living environment.

So back to the original point about getting along with felines: if we can't provide them with adequate food, then a good symbiotic relationship will be broken in an instant. When they come to you are certainly attracted to "hunger", but that is a horror story to another plot.

The second trick common to the human friends of big cats is to ensure their "social status" in front of them.

The animal kingdom has always been a society where the strong are the strongest and the weak are the strongest. Oleg's "taming" technique is to bring them up from a young age, he is always an elder in the lion group. If the young lions do not obey, they are beaten with a slipper, and when they grow up, they realize that the "lion king" is not happy with their behavior, and will naturally stop.

If you've always been a "godfather" type of ruthless person in the lion pride, of course, no one dares to make a challenge or even attack you. Then again, if you think about it, how is human society not a higher level of the "animal world"?

Why do you think they are so afraid of the head gardener's slippers - respect for the elders of the young lions to be taught from childhood!

So how does it work?

Well-known oil tube owner Dean Schneider once made a video to reveal to everyone his secrets of getting along with big cats. He figured out a lot of methods in the reality of little by-little contact, which can be called the "Feline Get Along Code".

Dean Schneider, founder of the Swiss Animal Sanctuary

Similar but not identical to Director Oleg, he entered the colony as a "brother" of the big cats. So it is clear from the various videos that Schneider's "colony status" is far less than that of the slipper-wielding Russian gardener.

Schneider's approach is to treat himself as a member of the big cats: you can go over and wash your face when they are drinking at the pond, you can do the same when they are yelling at each other, roll on the ground and do the "head rub" and "face lick" salute like felines. "......

If you insist on stroking a lion or tiger's head with your hand in the arrogant posture of a two-legged beast, they will soon realize they have a mole - and may start discussing when and who will take the first bite.

So, do you know why cats often prefer to play with children? Because children will play with them on the floor, lying down, and close to them. That's how "own cats" get close.

Another key point Schneider makes is that you need to understand that it's common for big cat brothers to wrestle and scratch each other's faces. Many times they are unintentional, but, inevitably, they can accidentally get humans hurt.

What we have to do in the process of getting along with felines is to make them understand that they hurt each other. Faced with a big cat, if you have completed the first two steps and it has become a good friend, it must be scratched or nibbled in a timely and heavy-handed manner.

This is how felines are mistakenly hurt by each other, yelling back at you with a paw. Long memory will not be next time - and so do we who have cats. If you get scratched, you must hit it first, either on the head or by snapping the cat's teeth, and control the force so that it remembers, so that you can at least occupy an equal position in the family.

Schneider "taught" the lion brothers a scene, that was denounced by animal protection organizations as "animal cruelty" Emmy was suspected of lion abuse

Back to the most fundamental guidelines of human-animal relations, we need to do is to create a "mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship". Food, living environment, emotional companionship ...... whether for a community or a single animal, animals will tend to be close to the creatures that can provide these facilities.

So the next time your cat plays badly or ignores you, think about whether it controls its food, has a dirty living environment or has too little time to play with it.

Then again, for the big cats these wild animals, can provide a good living environment and conditions or very few. Since they can't, it's good to watch from afar.