Thursday, August 8, 2013

What Makes Cats so Special to Humans?

(Above, Moon, the "indoor cat" of a friend of mine. The "outdoor cat," named Pinky was of course outdoors at the time he took this.
Moon is of course completely independent yet demands to be "groomed" for a certain period of time every evening...

As I write this, one of my better friends is publicly mourning the recent passing of his cat on Facebook. People of course are rushing to console him and offer their condolences as if he had lost a human family member ( and of course, talk a little about their own cats).

This reminds me of a funny drawing of an ancient Egyptian wall with figures and hieroglyphics I saw that someone just posted recently.

It just said, "Facebook is like Ancient Egypt --people write on walls and worship cats."
(The number of adorable cat photos on Google Plus photo circles--capped off with the "Caturday feature" on Saturday-- is of course to be exepected. GIFS involving wicked, clever and funny cats...)

(One of the funniest videos I ever saw was titled "Les Chats Ninja," or "the Ninja Cats."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZiAQVrp8Nc

I was not looking for anything too profound about our attraction to our fine feline friends but found the following article and Infographic priceless..

Why Do We Love Cats So Much?

By Charlie WhiteApr 14, 2013

Is there any doubt that cats are awesome? We love cats, and being Mashable and all, we know a thing or two about them. But is it even possible to put our feelings about cats into infographic form? You be the judge.
Undaunted by such a Herculean task, we bring you this comprehensive look at the cats we've loved throughout history and even take a stab at psychoanalyzing them.

And you know what else? Cats love us back.

And you know what else? Cats love us back. There's even a scientific study that suggests that — see the infographic for details. And even though other animals attempt to make inroads into the cats' domination of the online world (we're looking at you, screaming goats), we are confident cats will keep their place on the throne of the Interweb memes for a long time to come.

SEE ALSO: Watch Grumpy Cat Hate Adoring SXSW Fans

Before we start waxing poetic about kittens, peruse this infographic that was generously provided to us by Nowsourcing, and then let us know in the comments why you think there's such a widespread fixation on these little furry pointy-eared mammals that we can't help but love.