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THE CURIOUS CAT Miebael Allaby and Peter Crawford Michael Joseph « London Firstpublishedin GreatBritainby MichaelJosephLimited 44Bedford Square, LondonW.C.1 1982 © 1982 byMichaelAllabyand Peter Crawford All Rights Reserved. Nopartofthis publication maybereproduced,storedinaretrieval system, or transmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recordingorotherwise, withoutthepriorpermissionofthe Copyrightowner ISBN0 7181 2065 5 Filmsetandprintedin GreatBritainbyBAS Printers Limited, Over Wallop, HampshireandboundbyHunterand Foulis Ltd., Edinburgh Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Downon the farm 12 Staking out territories 29 Hunting 44 The technology 60 Social life among the cats 72 Whatis a cat? 88 The next generation 104 Learning to be a cat 119 The winter 138 The outside world I§1 Postscript 158 Index 159 Geknowledgements Theauthorswishtothankthefollowingforpermissiontoreproducethe photographs usedin this book: Vanellus Productions Ltd., Maurice Tibbles: for those appearing on pages 13, 49, §5, 82, 107 and 118 (right) Radio Times: for those appearing on pages 14, 68, 139 and 144 Peter Apps: for those appearing on pages 20, 36, 41, 42, 46, 97, IIO, 118 (deft), 122, 128, 129, 132, 134 (both), 141 and 143 Peter Crawford took the photographs which appearon the following pages: 16, 17, 21, 25, 27, 33, 50, 64, 65, 127, 136, 148, 153, 155 Boris Weltman drew the endpaper map Introduction EARLYIN 1978,as one ofthe harshest winters ever knownin that part of the country was promising to turn into a North Devon spring, a small team ofpeople began work in a barn and a hut not far from the Atlantic coast. They were preparing for a year during which they wouldstudyandfilmthebehaviouroffourcats,whowouldbeallowed to roam free in the countryside. The project ended a year later. The ‘end product’, as far as most people were concerned, wasa film called “The Curious Cat’,whichwas shownonBBC2 intheseries The World About Us. It all began as an idea from Peter Crawford, a producer with the BBCNatural HistoryUnit. ForsomeyearsPeter,acatenthusiast,had cherishedthenotionoffilmingthebehaviourofordinarycats;forhim the private lives ofthese familiar animals held as muchfascination as the exotic wildlife more often featured on the television screen. The cat has lived with humans for many centuries — though perhaps for a shorter time than some of us imagine — and becauseit shares ourhomesandlives in ourtowns, we seemoreofitthanwe see ofcattle,say,orsheep.Notoriously,though,thedomesticcatinsistson retaining much ofits independence, and as every cat owner knowsit is liable toleave ahomethat displeases it. Whathappensto itthen? In ourcities,suchhomelesscatsliveasbesttheycanbycatchingverminif they are skilled in hunting, or scavenging as alley cats. In the countryside, though,the status ofthe catis ratherdifferent. Farm cats are ‘employed’tocontrolrodentsandtheylivefairlyindependentlives aboutwhichsurprisinglylittleisknown. Theyareseenwhentheyturn up at the dairy each milking time, and now and then you maycatch a glimpse ofone as it goes aboutits business in the fields and along the hedgerows. Thisstudysetouttofill insomeofthegapsinthispicture, by watching a group ofsuch cats closely to see how theyfared. From the very beginning, the project involved collaboration betweenthefilm-makersandthescientists whoadvisedthemandwho 9 The Curious Cat usedtheopportunitytolearnmoreaboutthewaycatslive. Thecentral question for everyone concernedthesociability ofcats. Is the cat the solitary animal that features in our literature and folklore, orare there circumstances in which several cats will collaborate? In either case, whatare the implications for our understanding of the cat family in general and ofthe position ofthe cat among carnivorous mammals? The Devon study was of short duration, the numberofcats involvedwas very small, andpredictablytheresultsweretantalisingly inconclusive. Yet aspects of cat behaviour were observed by the scientists that had never been observed in this way before, and they were recordedon film for the first time. Despite its modest scale, the projectbrokenewground,andservedasafocalpointfornewthinking about the natureofthe cat. The film proved highly popular, but there is a limit to the story anyfilm cantell. Inthis book, as wetell the story again, we areableto expand,to include thematerial that could notbe included in thefilm, and to relate what was seen to what we know already about cats and otheranimals. Thisisabookaboutcats,then,butespeciallyitisabook about Tom, Smudge, Pickle, Domino andaveryspecial kitten. Inthe course ofthe story wewitness mostofthe events thatare important in the life of a cat: mating, the birth of kittens,the ‘education’ of the kittensastheylearntofendforthemselves,hunting,feeding,sleeping, sickness, injury and death. Our farm cats experienced all of these duringthatoneshortyear. Welook,too,atthewayascientificstudyof animal behaviour is organised and conducted, and at the equipment that is used, and we consider,briefly, the waythis film was made. The film ended with the winter of 1978-79, but the project has continued back at Oxford University, and has flourished into a long- term study ofanimal behaviour. In this book wetell the story ofthe family ofcats that started it all down in Devon, and wedescribe their adventuresafterthefilmingcametoanend. Bythesummerof1980we knew the path that each ofthe cats would take, most probably for the rest ofits life. The project was financed by the BBC.In the past, the Natural History Unit had sponsored film projects that also yielded useful scientific information, but this wasthefirst time the unit had set up a scientificstudyspeciallyforafilm. PeterCrawford’sfirsttask,oncehis proposal had been accepted, wasto finda scientific consultant for the filming—someonewhowould setupthestudyproject. PeteraskedDr DavidMacdonaldoftheDepartmentofZoologyatOxfordUniversity to supervise the scientific aims of the venture, and to appoint a 10 Introduction qualified research student who would observe the cats 1n the wild. David chose Peter Apps, and the cats were selected by the RSPCA. They had been born on a farm in Oxfordshire, and were no longer wanted. The RSPCA had been asked to destroy them, and it was the cats’ involvementinthisstudythatensuredtheirsurvivalinallbutone case, so far as we know,to the presentday. Peter Apps and the cats took up residence, in a hut and barn respectively, on the small farm owned by Maurice and Edith Tibbles. Mauricewas thecameramanwhospentcountlesshourssittingbehind his viewfinder waiting for those moments that made the film so memorable. WithoutthediligenceofPeterandMauricethefilmcould not have been made, and we would have nostoryto tell. Was it all worth while? The Devon Study certainly yielded informationthathasprovedscientificallyuseful, andthere 1s no doubt that the film also provided popular entertainmentandaninsight into the widerworld ofthe domestic cat. Beyondthat, perhaps youare the best judge. In our opinion it helped in the slow business of piecing together, bit by bit, the details that make up the life of this most familiar, yetmost enigmatic, ofanimals. As cat enthusiasts wemay be prejudiced, but we found our glimpses of the private life of the independent cat fascinating and in many ways surprising. We hope you will be fascinated. We suspect you will be surprised. Michael Allaby Peter Crawford Wadebridge, Cornwall Bristol 11 Down on the farm IT WAS early morning, the time that humansassociate with breakfast, and it was spring. From the little wooden hut hidden amongthe rhododendrons there came a smell of frying bacon. The song-birds were shouting defiance at one another from the trees, watched invisiblybytheoldbuzzardwhosat immobile,highinanelm,waiting withthepatienceofapredatorforthesignalthatwouldmarkthestart ofhis hunting day. The air was cold and the plants were sodden with dew, but the clean blue ofthe sky promised warmth. Tommadehis way throughthe long, unkemptgrass andpast the patches of hogweed, keeping as dry as he could. Now and then he would divert to one side or the other, sometimes to pass round an obstacle, sometimestoinvestigatewhatmighthavebeenaninteresting smell, buthadyoubeenwatchinghimyouwouldhavesaidtherewasa purposeinhisjourneying. Hewasgoingsomewhere.Hedidnothurry, for his errand was not urgent, but neither did he dawdle. He looked confident, relaxed, and yet alert. For him the world was new. He was returning from his first exploration ofthe farm. Had he been a human, he would have beenable to see the bright metal ofthe barn for which he was heading. Asit was, the vegetation hid it from him until he reached the more open groundofthe small yard that had been made a few weeks earlier by clearing away undergrowth. TheyardhadbeencreatedpartlyforTom’sbenefitand partly to help Peter Apps, for they were colleagues, the half-wild tomcat and the young zoologist, bound to keep one another company for the year their study project would last. It was Peter who wasfrying bacon in his hut. That was where he lived, the hut. To this day, long after the farm projecthas ended,it is still known as ‘Pete’s hut’. It began as a fourteen by ten feet prefabricated building, like those you see on buildingsites. It did not end there, though, for after he had assembled it himself, Peter set aboutmakingithabitable. Helaggedtheroofandlineditandthewalls 12