Folded Ear Cat

　　We often see various videos online of cats crawling into boxes; their cute appearances really make people smile. But have you, the smart one, ever wondered why cats like boxes so much? Zoologists have found that this is actually a way for cats to gain a sense of security. Now, let's take a look with the editor from Boqi Web.

　　Relieving Stress

　　Claudia Fink, a veterinarian at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, is one of the researchers who has focused on stress levels in shelter cats in recent years. At an animal shelter in the Netherlands, she divided newly arrived domestic cats into two groups: one was provided with boxes, the other was not. She found significant differences in stress levels between the two groups. In the new environment, cats with boxes adapted much faster, had much lower stress levels, and were more willing to interact with humans.

　　Almost all cats' first reaction when facing a stressful situation is to retreat and hide. Claudia Fink said: "Hiding is a behavioral strategy cats adopt when facing environmental changes and stress." This applies to both wild cats and those living in your home. The only difference is that wild cats hide in treetops or caves, while your home cats seek comfort in shoeboxes.

　　Hiding Problems in Safe Places

　　An important point to note is that cats are actually not good at resolving conflicts. To quote from Domestic Cat: The Biology of Its Behaviour: “Cats do not seem to have developed the conflict resolution strategies found in other more social species, and thus may avoid confrontations by evading others or reducing activities.”

　　Therefore, cats tend to avoid problems rather than solve them. In this sense, a box often represents a safe zone, a place where all anxiety, hostility, and unwanted attention vanish.

　　To Keep Warm

　　Observant people will notice that cats not only like boxes, but also relax in many quirky places. Some curl up in sinks; some prefer hiding in shoes, bowls, shopping bags, coffee cups, empty egg cartons, and other confined spaces. This leads to another reason why cats like small boxes (and other seemingly uncomfortable spaces): they feel cold.

　　According to a 2006 study by the National Research Council, the thermoneutral zone for domestic cats (the environmental temperature range where a homeothermic animal's metabolic rate is minimal) is 30 to 36 degrees Celsius. Within this range, cats feel comfortable without needing to expend extra heat to maintain their body temperature or use metabolic energy to cool down. This range is approximately 6.7 degrees Celsius higher than that of humans, so if you see a neighbor's cat sunbathing on the asphalt in summer, don't be surprised.

　　This also explains why many cats like curling up in small boxes and other strange cramped spaces. Corrugated cardboard is a good insulator, and the narrow space forces the cat to curl tightly, which in turn helps conserve heat. In fact, this NRC study also found that the surrounding temperature of most cat nests is around 22 degrees Celsius, nearly 10 degrees below the lower limit of cats' thermoneutral zone. (Source：PetsZone)