I used to have this rescued Boston terrier who was completely terrified of my cat. The cat, in the dog’s defense, is pretty damn fat and weighed only about four pounds less than the dog. Cat would slink into the room, check out where the dogs were (I had two), and then sprawl out on the floor right in front of the door to the dog’s bowls. My rescue would stand there and whine for a half hour but would not budge to take a step past the cat. The cat acted like he didn’t give a damn. But when I’d finally intervene and encourage the dog to just walk past the cat, the cat would lazily swipe at the dog’s ass as he skittered past.
It eventually got to the point where the dogs would trot into the house. Cat touches noses with Old Dog, swats Rescue Dog on the ass, and wanders off to his food bowl.
Old Dog, on the other hand, used to fuck with Kitty all the time. She’d literally pounce on him and get him flipped over on his back. Then she’d float like a butterfly and sting like a bee: She jump back and try to time her next lunge at Kitty’s belly against his futile defensive swats. She’d dart in, nip a little fur on his belly, and dart back out before he could connect any claws with her face.
After that game ended, they’d curl up and take a nap together.
While it could have been competition for resources or my attention, I highly doubt it. All my animals are very well fed and spoiled rotten. A lot of people don’t live as well as my critters do. They really have no reason to mess with each other, aside from just fucking around to entertain themselves.
My thoughts exactly. I’ll add ferrets to the list of “pets I’ve seen tease other animals” to the list here, and add that I’ve seen inter-species teasing as well.
I used to have a ferret who worked out a game of whack-a-mole with one of my roommate’s cats. Ferret would get under the couch and poke her little pink nose out … and wait. Cat would see her and come sauntering over. bop Ferret would withdraw, and poke her nose out at some other random spot. bop They’d do this over and over, and it was clearly the ferret who was instigating the game.
Same thing here, except cat and squirrel. The cat would chase the squirrel, and then if she got bored and lost interest, the squirrel would creep up behind her to gain attention again.
Our corgi makes our cat “run the gauntlet” if he wants to get to his dinner.
Since the dog will eat anything in reach, we have to feed the cat in the den in our half-basement. I will bring the food dish down; the dog will dutifully follow and wait at the top of the stairs. The cat slowly walks up from behind and has to decide which side of the dog is safest to pass. He slinks up to the dog and then darts by. The dog always gives a half-hearted nip at the cat’s hind legs, and then walks away.
That is so awesome! It’s the giraffe version of “can’t get mad, not touching!”
I’m going to do that next time someone stands too close to me in the check-out line.
You’ve reminded me that my cats do something similar, too - for them it’s doors. I open the back door to our fenced yard so they can go in and out all day, and it’s great fun for one of them to stand in the doorway and keep the other one in or out.
My dog is somewhat freaked by cats, ( I got him from a home with 3 persians!), and spends his days atop the bench seat, in the enclosed front porch, from whence he can look down on his domain.
The cats in the neighbourhood have figured out that he’s going to jump up and make lots of noise but no one’s going to let him out, they’re safe. They strut right up the side of the house, just to annoy him, and set him off, even from a dead sleep. While he’s getting his freak on, the cat just strolls down the walkway, stopping, glaring back, while one of us is chastising the damn dog.
In a nature show about cheetahs - or maybe lions - in the heat of the day, the cheetahs would circle around the hot heavy lioness, repeatedly getting just close enough to make the lions get up and chase them.
All sorts of primates engage in play behavior. Capuchins are notorious for being six-year-old boys in that they’ll harass all sorts of species, and not just dangerous ones. We’ve seen them wake up species just to pull on their tales and bounce at them. I’ve seen monkeys of all ages annoy each other and, while it’s sometimes about dominance, it’s often just playful fun (at least for one). There are also certain individuals who are more likely to tease than others.
Crows will “mob” hawks and owls in an attempt to get them to move elsewhere. One way of finding owls during the day time is to listen for crows. The owl will be sitting on a branch, sleeping and minding it’s own business and the crows will be dive bombing it, cawing and generally going batshit. Similarly, other birds will pester crows. But these aren’t random acts of “hey, I think I’ll piss off another creature because it’s fun” – it’s an attempt to get predators out of the neighborhood.
Toads. One toad was trying to jump on top of another who seemed to want nothing to do with it. It could not have been more obvious, jumping toad was being deliberately annoying.
According to a piece I read many years ago (I seem to recall it was by a keenly observant Nature writer), after wolves had gorged on a Caribou carcass and were in a state of collapse due to a deep digestive state known as “meat drunk,” where they lie around in semi-sleep, a Raven who had taken his fill of what was left would walk over to a wolf and peck at his flanks, hop out of the way, wait, return, and peck again. The wolf would barely react and the Raven enjoyed the “game” until he got tired of it. The author claimed he could think of no other reason for this than the Raven taking enjoyment from it with impunity.
Ravens and wolves are “smart” and it it possible that this observation is correct, and that this behavior had nothing to do with any survival advantage. This is a significant anecdote, to me, because it is cross-species. I would certainly guess that intraspecies “teasing” occurs, but I have no special information on this.
It’s true that it might be a by-product of their intelligence rather than a survival advantage per se. However, it’s also possible that “play” behavior exercises one’s mind and keeps it sharp and so does confer an advantage (much like cat species playing with their food keeps their reflexes sharp despite the fact that prey will occasionally get away.)
