Buzz
If you've spent any significant amount of time online, you've probably noticed that cats seem to be absolutely everywhere. From webcomics and gifs to Vines, YouTube clips, images, and memes, their presence is undeniable. A recent study from Indiana University revealed that cat videos on YouTube receive more views per video than any other type of content.
Whether it’s iconic cat videos like Ninja Cat and Two Talking Cats, or feline superstars such as Lil Bub, Maru, and Grumpy Cat, it’s evident that cats are claiming their place in the digital realm. But why cats? What is it about these furry creatures that makes them so irresistibly charming, flooding the Internet with their playful antics?
10. Cats Have Never Evolved to Serve Humans
Let's begin with a comparison. Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years. Over this time, humans have intentionally bred them to meet our needs, transforming them from their wild ancestors into the variety of breeds we know today. As a result, dogs have become highly attuned to human interaction. Cats, however, essentially domesticated themselves. They were welcomed by our ancestors because of their cuteness and pest-hunting skills, but even domesticated cats still resemble their wild relatives. In fact, University of Bristol biologist John Bradshaw estimates that 85 percent of cat mating still involves wild or feral cats, preventing any significant evolutionary shift toward domestication.
In other words, cats didn’t evolve to live alongside humans in the same way dogs did. This is why cats can be more difficult to read than dogs, often seeming independent and aloof. They also struggle to understand us. Consider how many viral cat videos show cats breaking things, ignoring commands, or just looking puzzled by human behavior. They aren’t being mischievous; they simply weren’t bred to interact with us.
9. The Odd Couple Dynamic
A favorite category of viral animal videos features unlikely “odd couple” friendships, often between animals that would usually be predator and prey. Examples include a dog bonding with a cheetah, a tiger befriending piglets, or a cat being chased by a parrot. The charm lies in the surprise – that cat shouldn't be hanging out with that parrot! After all, that cat should be eating the parrot! But look at them, they’re friends. It’s simply adorable.
Humans and cats share an “odd couple” dynamic as well. While the human-cat bond may have begun out of necessity, in modern times, we no longer depend on cats for pest control. There’s no real reason for us to keep small, furry creatures in our homes, especially when they aren’t as friendly or playful as dogs. In the wild, we used to hunt them, and their larger relatives are more than happy to hunt us. Yet, we still welcome cats into our homes because, well, we just love them. And since cats chose to stick with us rather than being intentionally domesticated, it seems they enjoy our company too. It’s simply heartwarming.
8. Our Cats Believe We’re One of Them
The sound of cats meowing is an immensely popular genre in online videos. But cats meow because they don’t fully understand how to communicate with us. Since they never developed a social framework for living alongside humans, they rely on their natural behaviors to engage with us. Essentially, cats seem to view us as a ‘big, dumb non-hostile cat.’ More specifically, they seem to treat us much like kittens interact with their mothers. Of course, cats know we aren’t their mothers, but that’s the best mental framework they have for processing the giants who feed them and occasionally try to pet them.
As a result, cats frequently try to communicate with us in the same way they would with other cats—using body language. However, since we don’t understand Cat, this often leads to a series of amusing misunderstandings, much like the Darmok-and-Jalad-style misinterpretations.
Meowing is a perfect illustration of this. Cats rarely meow at each other—except when they’re frightened, angry, or in heat. They only meow at us so frequently because we’re constantly talking to them. They recognize that we’re attempting to communicate, and in response, they meow back in an attempt to communicate with us. As Professor John Bradshaw told New York Magazine, meowing is regarded as “an absolutely classic cat behavior, but it’s something they’ve learned to do to get our attention. It’s really something they’ve adopted as a way of communicating with humans.”
7. And We Perceive Them as Humans
But don't get too comfortable. While cats may view us as oversized cats, we often think of them as miniature, more adorable humans. Assigning human-like motives to our pets is part of why we find them so fascinating to own or watch online. The issue, however, is that much of the time, we’re mistaken in our assumptions.
Consider one of the most common 'funny cat' behaviors: the gift of a dead animal. Whether it’s a mouse, bird, vole, cockroach, or even a large rat, your cat may decide to present this ‘gift’ at your doorstep, next to your bed, or even on your pillow. The typical explanation for this is that your cat sees you as its kitten and is trying to teach you the art of hunting. It’s sweet, endearing, and all about us. However, biologists now believe this behavior probably has nothing to do with humans at all.
Cats hunt by detecting the scent marks of small animals and then lying in wait for their prey to appear. The problem is that multiple cats are often attracted to the same scent trail, which can lead to fights over food. As a result, cats evolved to take their prey back to a secure location before eating. Moreover, cats have a hunting instinct that’s largely independent of hunger—a cat will hunt and kill a mouse even when it has no intention of eating it. So, our pet cats follow their natural instincts, hunting and bringing their catch back home. Once they realize that cat food tastes much better than some random reptile, they drop their catch for us to clean up.
6. Our Cats Think We’re Pretty Dumb
Since cats treat us as if we were other cats and depend on us for essentials like food, water, and opening the door to let them outside (and back in again, even though we just let them out), they do acknowledge, even as independent creatures, that we are in some sense the 'big cat' in their shared territory. As territorial animals, cats are often puzzled by our failure to do the typical cat activities that the dominant cat would usually perform in their domain.
For indoor-outdoor cats, the infamous 'let me in, let me out, let me in' cycle is a prime example. The dominant cat is supposed to patrol and mark the territory with urine to keep other cats away. But because we humans don’t do that, our indoor-outdoor cats begrudgingly take on the task themselves. To us, their frequent requests to go outside, only to return moments later, seem absurd and unnecessary. But to them, it’s crucial (and frustrating) to cover for their clueless human companions.
5. We’re So Inept, We Won’t Even Poop On The Floor
A common type of funny cat photos shows cats trying to get into the bathroom or simply observing their owners on the toilet. See, cats are naturally solitary, but in places where solitary cats cross into one another’s territories, the dominant cat will leave its waste out in the open as a sign of its rule (and a warning to others). Submissive cats, however, will bury their waste as a gesture of respect. Leaving it visible would be a challenge to the dominant cat and could lead to a fight.
This works in our favor, as our pet cats usually don’t need to be trained to use litter boxes. Since we’re clearly the dominant cats in the household, their instincts take over, and they bury their waste. Still, it can be a bit unsettling when you enter the bathroom only to find your cat watching you the whole time. The scent from the toilet is the closest thing cats have to the act of leaving waste in the open as a sign of dominance, reaffirming to them that you’re in charge of the territory.
4. Cats Aren’t Built to Understand Indoor Living
This one is pretty straightforward. Every time you get upset with your cat for leaping onto the kitchen counter (even though you’ve told him countless times not to) or for dashing around the house like a lunatic, keep in mind that your cat is, at his core, a wild animal. A house? Furniture? Bookshelves? These things weren’t part of a cat's evolutionary experience, so they have no innate understanding of them. Out in the wild, your cat knows how to hunt, evade predators, and interact with other felines. But indoor living is completely alien to them, so they simply try to make sense of it the best they can. That’s why they engage with indoor objects in ways that might seem frustrating or illogical to us—because to a cat, they are just that: illogical.
For instance, you might assume your cat is being deliberately naughty when it decides to park itself right in front of the TV while you're watching Scandal. However, cats process visual images much faster than we do, so they perceive your favorite TV shows as nothing more than a constant, annoying flicker. By sitting in front of the screen, your cat is simply trying to figure out what’s happening and why you’re so absorbed in it. This doesn’t mean that indoor cats are miserable. But a lot of their quirky behavior stems from their attempts to understand their strange surroundings. It may be frustrating when your cat is bouncing around on the counter, but it's undeniably charming when they try to squeeze into the smallest box.
3. Cats Are Often Our Main Link to Nature
Despite being man's best friend, dogs haven’t achieved nearly the same level of Internet fame as cats. While dogs and humans have evolved side by side and (for the most part) dogs are clever enough to figure out how to coexist with humans, living with a dog doesn’t feel as strange or different as living with a cat.
But when we have cats as pets, we are essentially cohabiting with small pumas. As we’ve mentioned, humans have become so distanced from nature that we rarely think about it unless we’re facing a snowstorm or preparing for a hurricane. We share the same brains as our hunter-gatherer ancestors, but we can go days without stepping outside, even though nature often makes us feel happier. Aside from the occasional Sharknado, we've mostly taken ourselves out of the food chain. By building cities and erecting walls, we’ve also lost our direct connection to the animal kingdom. It’s lonely at the top.
Cats serve as our furry reminders that the animal kingdom still exists beyond our urban jungles. Whether they're knocking over papers, curling up on laptops, or sneaking into the pantry to finish off all the Rice Krispies, they provide us with a vital link to the natural world. So, thanks to our feline friends for helping us reconnect with our roots and reminding us of who we really are.
2. Feline Confusion with Modern Life Mirrors Our Own Struggles
Humans are undeniably smarter than cats. We’re the ones who invented houses and all the modern conveniences inside them. We didn’t create these things because we disliked them; our need for warmth and protection led to the invention of homes, and our desire to simplify meals resulted in the creation of microwaves and frozen food. However, the pursuit of convenience often has its drawbacks. How many times do we return home from a day at the office feeling unaccomplished, only to waste the evening in front of our TVs or computers, accomplishing nothing?
You know that sense of satisfaction that comes after cleaning your house, even when you really didn’t feel like doing it? That’s because you’re actually achieving something concrete, and that’s what your primal brain understands best. Despite all the shortcuts to happiness we've discovered over the years, they often feel, well, like cheating.
Of course, that’s a fairly abstract issue, and many people have bigger concerns. But when we see a cat knock over a glass of water and then remain completely unfazed, we laugh because we can relate to that feeling. Even though society teaches us to follow rules like ‘don’t knock over a glass of water,’ there’s a part of us that resents that. So it’s refreshing to have a creature around that doesn’t care what others think.
1. Humans Aren’t Great At Indoor Living Either
Much like cats, humans evolved in an environment without the comforts of four walls and a ceiling. There were no TVs, computers, electric lights, or any of the other wonders of modern civilization. For most of human history, we were hunter-gatherers, living in the wild, occasionally constructing simple shelters, but mostly staying close to nature.
We may experience fleeting moments of happiness when we discover a fun fact online, complete a level in a video game, or laugh at a joke on our favorite TV show. Yet, there’s still a deeper, subconscious part of us that feels something’s off about being constantly indoors and largely passive. In this sense, humans and cats might share similarities. Perhaps when a cat knocks over all the pens and pencils on the desk, part of our brain can relate to that instinctive urge.
