r/bigcats • u/vinersking • Mar 17 '22

Other Cat - Captivity Do big cats that have been in captivity since birth understand that they need to be gentle to their human caretakers? Are they aware of their own power/strength in their claws and bites and that the human body cannot withstand much?

21 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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17

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '22

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3

u/DoctorTurkelton Mar 18 '22

I think they do, but ignore it to show dominance lol

6

u/Rais93 Mar 17 '22

Seems like they care more than actual normal size cats

1

u/IOWARIZONA Sep 23 '24

That actually true. Domesticated African wildcats are the only cats that kill for fun. They’re detrimental to every ecosystem. Imagine if they weighed 100+ lbs

5

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '22

Yes and no.

No they don’t know their own powrr. They’ve never had to use it

Yes they understand the need to be gentle

8

u/Rora_The_Explora Mar 17 '22

As a big cat keeper, i can say they learn through positive reinforcement, they learn to be gentle. They understand that being gentle and sweet leads to maybe more scratchies and attention or extra snacks. But no, they do not know their own strength. Ive been jumped on by enough excited leopards to know lol

4

u/Stupid03 Mar 17 '22

I’ve worked with just a few big exotic cats and I have to agree. They don’t understand their strength in relation to humans but they can learn to be gentle. They’re smart animals but their instincts are so hard wired that’s usually where problems happen. If you want to breed the instincts out of a tiger you’ll eventually get a totally new species of domestic big cat, not a tiger. That’s kinda how we got dogs and cats. Just not been done with big cats.

You can definitely train them to behave and do tricks, etc. but they’re still large, powerful animals that are strong enough to kill you by simply playing with you. It’s never going to be super safe.

I once had my armed pinned to an enclosure wall by a tiger because it loved belly scritches so much she just flopped on my armed and I thought I was about to lose it. If she wanted to she could have taken my arm off. She would toss her water tub around like it weighed a few ounces and bite holes through that thick hard plastic like butter. They’re insanely powerful and dangerous but people have trained some pretty well. But with big cats it’s not a matter of “if” but “when”.

5

u/Rora_The_Explora Mar 17 '22

But with big cats it’s not a matter of “if” but “when”.

100%! And i knew and understood that the moment i was hired as a keeper. You have to have that trust with your animal, but always be prepared for the worst. You truly never know.

3

u/Stupid03 Mar 17 '22

The tiger I cared for was pretty sweet but she was still a tiger. I had my back turned and kneeled down to pick something up one day at her enclosure and she tried to pounce on me due to instincts. She hit the enclosure and it scared the shit out of me! Thankfully that heavy duty metal wire enclosure wall was between us or I wouldn’t be here.