Why do cats love boxes?

Perhaps it frustrates you that your pet ignores a beautiful expensive scratching post or beautiful toys. But there is a subject that is guaranteed to attract his interest. This item is a box. In principle, any will do: large, small, standard or unusual shape. One has only to leave it on the floor, on a chair or on a bookcase – and very soon you will find that your cat has settled there.

What is the mysterious force that attracts representatives of the species Felis Sylvestris Catus to empty containers? The first explanation that comes to mind is that cats hunt from ambush, and the box is perfect for them in all respects – both as an ambush site and as a hiding place for escape. But it’s not only that.

Ethologists offer several more interesting versions that allow us to draw a general conclusion – cats do not just like boxes, they need them.

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Hide and calm down

It is known that the mind of cats is extremely difficult to study. They are generally very difficult to experiment with. Nevertheless, over the past 50 years, a lot of scientific data has been accumulated on the behavior of cats. All of them testify: close closed space is important for cats to feel comfortable and safe.

Ethologist Claudia Vinke from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands is conducting stress research on catteries. In one experiment, Vincke divided newly arrived cats into two groups. The first group were “given” boxes in which they could hide, the second group had no boxes. Vincke found a significant difference in stress levels between the two groups. Cats that had the opportunity to hide in boxes got used to the new environment faster, experienced much less stress, and were more willing to interact with people.

This effect is understandable, given that the first reaction of any cat to a stressful situation is to run away and hide. “Hiding is a behavioral strategy for this species to cope with environmental changes and sources of stress,” says Claudia Vincke. This is true for cats in the wild as well as domestic cats. Only they do not hide in trees, not in holes and not in caves, but in a shoebox.

In addition, cats are not good at resolving conflicts, they tend not to solve problems, but to run away from them. “They cannot learn to resolve conflicts as well as members of more “group” species, so they try to avoid conflict situations by avoiding other individuals or reducing their activity” (1). The box may symbolize a safe zone for them, a place where all sources of anxiety, hostility and unwanted attention simply disappear.

It’s cold here!

Fans of watching cats know very well that many of them like to relax not only in boxes, but also in other strange places. Some curl up in the bathroom sink, tucked into plastic bags. In general, they like tight, enclosed spaces.

The reason is simple: it’s cold, damn it! A 2006 study by the US National Research Council found that the thermoneutral zone for cats is between 30 and 36 degrees Celsius. At these temperatures, the cat is comfortable: it does not need to generate heat to keep warm, or to expend metabolic energy on cooling. The same NRC study notes that the majority of cats live in rooms with a temperature of 22 degrees, which is as much as 8 degrees below the minimum comfortable temperature for them. That’s why you can often see a neighbor’s cat sunbathing on hot asphalt in the summer.

This also explains why cats like to curl up in tiny cardboard boxes and other weird places. Corrugated cardboard is a great insulator, and the limited space forces the cat into postures that help conserve body heat.

So boxes, from a cat’s point of view, have many advantages: they keep you warm, relieve stress, provide a comfort zone and a place to hide, relax, sleep, and also ambush for a surprise attack on one of the huge and unpredictable “monkeys with whom they live.

(1) «The Domestic Cat. The Biology of its Behaviour» (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

Based on materials wired.com