my question is just that. why do animals look each other in the eye? maybe it’s the face and the information that can be drawn. But now my question is why does my cat look at me in the eyes? when she’s on the floor and my eyes are about 5 feet higher…why does she look in my eyes? it seems like a bizarre question but i’m dead curious.
[Cat speak]
Because you are my inferior, you silly hairless human. Now get me my tuna fish on a crystal plate, or I’ll pee on your keyboard!
[/Cat speak]
There are some comments here that may be of interest to you.
Because your breath smells like cat food?
I truly don’t wish to offend here, but could the old Cat-as-Dark-Overlord-of-Humanity meme possibly be any more stale and played-out at this point? I mean, I’ve known a few cats in my time, and I don’t get the stuck-up superiority vibe from most of them. Is there something I’m not getting about them? Or their owners?
I love kitties, but there is no room in my life for an overlord. Because of that and my allergies, I don’t have one.
I know what you mean. My cat, for example, is extremely needy and gets very fearful if I’m gone for any length of time, with much pitiful meowing and sticking close to me after I get back. He has abandonment issues… The whole cat-as-evil-overlord thing just seems odd to me. It might be interesting to know where/when/why it started.
Binocular range finding is a very readily identified behavior among higher animals. And very reasonably so, since it is the most frequently identifiable precursor behavior to predation. You look at it, then you pounce on it. Or chase it, or just snap it up, and eat it, depending on your predatory style. As a result of this, even non-predators get very good at telling who is looking at them. Cats are predators, and humans are large and important animals in their environment. So, they keep an eye on them. Two, actually.
You, as a very social animal, are additionally sensitive to gaze location. Being looked at by other humans is critical to your development, and even survival in a social environment. Noticing it is also important. So, the seemingly trivial behavior actually is a very big part of how we interact with other living things in our perceptive range. Cats are probably popular as pets precisely because they have the behavioral tendencies that cause us to notice that they are looking at us often.
Tris
“Don’t you want somebody to love?” ~ Grace Slick ~
Hahahahaha!!! LOL… This is the very thing that people say when they have already been assimilated by the feline goddesses and don’t know it yet. *
You are in for a big surprise. I thought I was immune, I was the quintessential cat-hater – I was wrong.
I had a bumper sticker that read: ** I break for animals: except those of the feline variety.** Now look at me; two siamese cats and a house full of kitty condos. UUHHGG…
Good answer Tris - it explains to me why cats do it. But I frequently wonder how they do it.
Cats stare into your eyes, yes. But how do they know where your eyes are, and what they’re used for?
I know where my eyes are - if I hold a hand in front of them I can’t see any further than my hand. But for a cat to know that my eyes are, well, my eyes, requires a level of intelligence that I would not have thought present.
There was a thread where a cat thought a female doper’s tatas were humongus eyes - I’d guess it’s the two dots at about that distance apart. Also, the camouflage used by that moth.