do cats perform their courtship?
Cats spend a great deal of time building up to the mating act, and their prolonged 'orgies' and promiscuity have given them a reputation for lasciviousness and lust, over the centuries. This is not because the mating act itself is lengthy or particularly erotic in form. In fact, the whole process of copulation rarely exceeds ten seconds and is often briefer than that. What gives the felines their reputation for lechery is the superficial resemblance between their sexual gatherings and a Hell's Angels gang-bang. There is a female, spitting and cursing and swiping out at the males one moment and writhing around on the ground the next. And there is a whole circle of males, all growling and howling and snarling at one another as they take it in turns (apparently) to rape the female. The truth is slightly different.
Admittedly, the process may take hours, even days, of non-stop sexual activity, but it is the female who is very much in charge of what is happening. It is she who calls the tune, not the males. It begins when the female comes on heat and starts calling to the males. They also respond to her special sexual odours and are attracted from all around. The male on whose territory she has chosen to make her displays is initially strongly favoured, because other males from neighbouring territories will be scared at invading his ground. But a female on heat is more than they can resist, so they take the risk.
This leads to a great deal of maleto-male squabbling (and accounts for most of the noise – which is why the caterwauling and howling is thought of, mistakenly, as sexual, when in reality it is purely aggressive). But the focus of interest is the female and this helps to damp down the male-to-male fighting and permits the gathering of a whole circle of males around her. She displays to them with purring and crooning and rolling on the ground, rubbing herself and writhing in a manner that fascinates the male eyes fixating upon her. Eventually one of the males, probably the territory owner himself, will approach her and sit close to her. For his pains, he is attacked with blows from her sharp-clawed forepaws. She spits and growls at him and he retreats. Any male approaching her too soon is seen off in this way.
She is the mistress of the situation and it is she who will eventually choose which male may approach her more intimately. The male who succeeds in this may or may not be the dominant tom present. That is up to her. But certain male strategies do help the toms to succeed.
The most important one is to advance towards her only when she is looking the other way. As soon as she turns in his direction the male freezes like a child playing the party game called 'statues'. She only attacks when she sees the actual advance itself, not the immobile body that has somehow, by magic, come a little nearer. In this way a tom with finesse can get quite close. He offers her a strange little chirping noise and, if she gives up spitting and hissing at him, he will eventually risk a contact approach. He starts by grabbing the scruff of her neck in his jaws and then carefully mounts her. If she is ready to copulate she flattens the front of her body and raises her rump up into the air, twisting her tail to one side. This is the posture called 'lordosis' and is the final invitation signal to the male, permitting him to copulate.
As time goes on, the 'orgy' changes its style. The males become satiated and are less and less interested in the female. She, on the other hand, seems to become more and more lustful. Having worked her way through one male after another at comparatively short intervals for perhaps several days, one might imagine that she too would be satiated, but this is not so. As long as her peak period of heat persists she will want to be mated, and the toms now have to be encouraged. Instead of playing hard to get, she now has to work on the males to arouse their interest. She does
Cats spend a great deal of time building up to the mating act, and their prolonged 'orgies' and promiscuity have given them a reputation for lasciviousness and lust, over the centuries. This is not because the mating act itself is lengthy or particularly erotic in form. In fact, the whole process of copulation rarely exceeds ten seconds and is often briefer than that. What gives the felines their reputation for lechery is the superficial resemblance between their sexual gatherings and a Hell's Angels gang-bang. There is a female, spitting and cursing and swiping out at the males one moment and writhing around on the ground the next. And there is a whole circle of males, all growling and howling and snarling at one another as they take it in turns (apparently) to rape the female. The truth is slightly different.
Admittedly, the process may take hours, even days, of non-stop sexual activity, but it is the female who is very much in charge of what is happening. It is she who calls the tune, not the males. It begins when the female comes on heat and starts calling to the males. They also respond to her special sexual odours and are attracted from all around. The male on whose territory she has chosen to make her displays is initially strongly favoured, because other males from neighbouring territories will be scared at invading his ground. But a female on heat is more than they can resist, so they take the risk.
This leads to a great deal of maleto-male squabbling (and accounts for most of the noise – which is why the caterwauling and howling is thought of, mistakenly, as sexual, when in reality it is purely aggressive). But the focus of interest is the female and this helps to damp down the male-to-male fighting and permits the gathering of a whole circle of males around her. She displays to them with purring and crooning and rolling on the ground, rubbing herself and writhing in a manner that fascinates the male eyes fixating upon her. Eventually one of the males, probably the territory owner himself, will approach her and sit close to her. For his pains, he is attacked with blows from her sharp-clawed forepaws. She spits and growls at him and he retreats. Any male approaching her too soon is seen off in this way.
She is the mistress of the situation and it is she who will eventually choose which male may approach her more intimately. The male who succeeds in this may or may not be the dominant tom present. That is up to her. But certain male strategies do help the toms to succeed.
The most important one is to advance towards her only when she is looking the other way. As soon as she turns in his direction the male freezes like a child playing the party game called 'statues'. She only attacks when she sees the actual advance itself, not the immobile body that has somehow, by magic, come a little nearer. In this way a tom with finesse can get quite close. He offers her a strange little chirping noise and, if she gives up spitting and hissing at him, he will eventually risk a contact approach. He starts by grabbing the scruff of her neck in his jaws and then carefully mounts her. If she is ready to copulate she flattens the front of her body and raises her rump up into the air, twisting her tail to one side. This is the posture called 'lordosis' and is the final invitation signal to the male, permitting him to copulate.
As time goes on, the 'orgy' changes its style. The males become satiated and are less and less interested in the female. She, on the other hand, seems to become more and more lustful. Having worked her way through one male after another at comparatively short intervals for perhaps several days, one might imagine that she too would be satiated, but this is not so. As long as her peak period of heat persists she will want to be mated, and the toms now have to be encouraged. Instead of playing hard to get, she now has to work on the males to arouse their interest. She does
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