Why can't cats be trained to use guns like dogs?

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The story misses half of the question. Cats chasing something are just as efficient as dogs - something like a cheetah must be about the most efficient running thing.

The main reason not to give cats guns is that they would hold up pet stores.
 
I'm not sure what you mean by efficient.

A cheetah is the fastest land mammal, but it can run that fast for less than a minute. It's respiration and body temperature skyrocket to the point it would literally die if it continued the chase. They often have to rest before they have enough energy to eat what they've killed. It's designed for acceleration and speed, not efficient use of energy.

They're also one of the few species of cats that don't fully retract their claws. The cheetah cheats. He wears cleats. In fact, the female cheetah cheats on her cheatin', cleat-wearing spouse.
 
The article was describing cats stalking motion as not as efficient as a dog running.
but any cat running (most obvious in film of a cheetah) uses their back as a spring which looks very efficient.

Correct a cheetah's speed doesn't mean they are efficient, it just seemed that the fact that a cheetah can get upto the speed where metabolic heat is the limiting factor suggests that they can efficiently create a lot of mechanical energy.

A cheetah is also a pussycat rather than a big-cat (like a lion or tiger) not sure what the exact taxonomic difference is - except they can purr!
 
BobG said:
I'm not sure what you mean by efficient.

A cheetah is the fastest land mammal, but it can run that fast for less than a minute. It's respiration and body temperature skyrocket to the point it would literally die if it continued the chase. They often have to rest before they have enough energy to eat what they've killed. It's designed for acceleration and speed, not efficient use of energy.

They're also one of the few species of cats that don't fully retract their claws. The cheetah cheats. He wears cleats. In fact, the female cheetah cheats on her cheatin', cleat-wearing spouse.

The fact that the cheetah can even catch its prey before it can't run anymore means that it is very efficient.
 
That's why it's important to know what you mean by "efficient".

In the article, I think the author is using "efficient" the way you would refer to a vehicle's expenditure of energy. A Toyota Prius uses energy more efficiently than a Bugatti. I don't think you'd be able to run over a cheetah in a Prius, though.
 
Sounds like a great episode of mythbusters or topgear though!
 
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mgb_phys said:
Sounds like a great episode of mythbusters or topgear though!
Kari's too much of an animal lover to let that fly.

I think cats plan their actions and dogs just simply go. I mean, I've never had a cat come running towards me when I come in the room, but dogs do that almost every time.
 
dogs are scavengers more than hunters, and wear down prey. dogs have to be efficient at traversing long distances because they are just so bad at what they do.
 
But cats are easily distracted - if a mouse had a laser pointer and waved it on the wall, the cat would lose interest in eating the mouse.
 
Proton Soup said:
dogs are scavengers more than hunters, and wear down prey. dogs have to be efficient at traversing long distances because they are just so bad at what they do.

Don't be insulting dogs!

I say let's tie a cat and a dog to the back bumper and see which one is so bad at what they do.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/Rear_Bumper.jpg

That's what a back bumper looks like after being dragged around by a dog. My dumb cat just crawled on top of the bumper and fell asleep.

(Of course I'm not going to tie them to a back bumper that's actually mounted to a car. What did you think? That I was suggesting that we drag them around the city?)
 
BobG said:
My dumb cat just crawled on top of the bumper and fell asleep.
I think that is the whole cat superiority point ;-)
 
BobG said:
That's what a back bumper looks like after being dragged around by a dog. My dumb cat just crawled on top of the bumper and fell asleep.

Clearly proving the superior intellect of the cat. What purpose did trashing the bumper serve? None. So the cat saved its strength for more useful purposes, like leaving deep scars on your face while you sleep.
 
BobG said:
Don't be insulting dogs!

I say let's tie a cat and a dog to the back bumper and see which one is so bad at what they do.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/Rear_Bumper.jpg

That's what a back bumper looks like after being dragged around by a dog. My dumb cat just crawled on top of the bumper and fell asleep.

(Of course I'm not going to tie them to a back bumper that's actually mounted to a car. What did you think? That I was suggesting that we drag them around the city?)

bumpers and http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/3952/". what a brilliant species.
 
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mgb_phys said:
But cats are easily distracted - if a mouse had a laser pointer and waved it on the wall, the cat would lose interest in eating the mouse.

Dogs aren't any different.
 

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