this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2025
986 points (98.9% liked)

Science Memes

17716 readers
3061 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] magic_internet_wizard@lemmy.world 29 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Domestic cats are not actually much different than wild cats in any way. they're just too small to eat us and raised to be more tame. If your loveable housecat was as big as a cheetah, they might not intentionally attack you out of aggression, but their predator instincts would kick in and would probably play with you until you died and possibly eat you like they do insects, lizards, and any other small creature.

[–] sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I read an interview with a zoologist which described cats as evolutionarily perfect. Their dna really only varies primarily for size. All cats all over the world have survived with no need to seriously adapt to their environment.

[–] remotelove@lemmy.ca 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

no need to seriously adapt to their environment.

Yeah, cats make everyone and everything adapt to their environment. You have to completely go outside the environment to avoid their influence.

[–] luciferofastora@feddit.org 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

go outside the environment

Isn't that where the wrecked oil tanker is?

[–] remotelove@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The one where the the front fell off?

[–] luciferofastora@feddit.org 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's very unusual

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Or snakes. Like, big snakes.

I swear, if a housecat sees a noodle, some "I'm born to paw this to death" switch goes off in their heads.

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rH5GxeyusM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIcpg_pFbF8

Interestingly, big cats aren't like that. They don't like snakes, and I think they're too big to dodge them.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Kinda funny how cats can basically parry things.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Cheetahs are apparently the most chill of the big cats, people do keep them as pets.

My local zoo will actually let people meet the cheetahs, and I can't imagine that happening with the tigers.

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

Apparently cheetahs aren't "big cats", they're just large versions of small cats. They share features like purring and meowing, and their temperaments are closer to housecats than a tiger or lion.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

If my cat was that size, I might actually die from the farts in my face in the morning (like now), the signal he uses to say he's hungry.