Why do cats 'play' with their prey?

If you own an outdoor cat, you've likely seen your feline friend's predatory instincts in action: While wandering through the yard, your kitty suddenly leaps forward, batting at a small bird or mouse. The cat plays with this creature for a long time after it stops moving. After picking up their prize, they walk to the front door and place a small carcass on the mat.

This behavior is proof that cats are lovable. This is the act of a machine with a lot of knives that is being used to kill animals. The debate over whether cats should be allowed outdoors has been raging since this difference in perception.

Domestic cats play with prey after they die. Is it cute to be a himbo or a serial killer? There's a truth in between.

Dogs and cats run in spurts of speed.

We need to look at cat domestication. According to a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the first wild cats to take a tentative step towards domestication probably happened in Egypt around 8,000 years ago. The Felis silvestris lybica, also known as African wildcats, were attracted to cities by the rats they hunted. Humans kept these cats around because they helped control the spread of disease. Cats came to be considered lucky or even revered in ancient Egypt and China.

While we've lived with our cats for thousands of years, "true" cat domestication can only be traced back to around 200 years ago, according to a scientist. Cecchetti explained that true domestication means being deliberately bred by humans, as opposed to cohabitating with our species.

According to a 2006 study in The Journal of Nutrition, cats have the same instincts as their wild ancestors who hunted small prey throughout the day. The remnant drives a cat to catch prey even if it isn't hungry. Cats play instincts are derived from hunting behavior. Cats play with their prey in order to tire it out and reduce their risk of injury. According to WBUR, even modern domestic cat breeds can survive in the wild thanks to these instincts.

Environmental disruption can be caused by domestic cats left outside. According to a study published in the journal Nature Communications, cats kill upwards of 1.3 billion birds and 6.3 billion small mammals each year in the United States alone, with the majority of the killings perpetrated by the country's 30 million to 80 million un owned cats.

How can people stop their pets from damaging the environment? Some of a pet cat's drive to hunt can be stymied by providing them adequate play time at home and feeding them a high-quality, meat-rich diet that provides the right micronutrient balance.

If they aren't getting enough meat at home, they may look for it elsewhere.

The Humane Society recommends that you call in a trap-neuter-return program if you want to provide food for the cats. If local shelters can't accommodate the cats, these programs will return them to where they were found. Reducing the number of wild creatures they kill can be achieved through this process.

If you want to make sure that your feline friend doesn't run amok on your local environment, you can either keep it indoors with lots of toys and 20 square feet, or take it outside on a leash. It can let go of its hunting instincts without sacrificing the neighborhood wildlife.

It was originally published on Live Science