Why Do Cats Move Their Tails as They Stalk Their Prey?

Animals have many behaviors that may at first seem a bit strange, but as we study them we may sometimes not only learn about how they view the world and can sometimes gain an insight into our own behavior. As a domesticated house cat or a large wild cat stalks their prey they often move their tail, especially the tip of the tail in a back and forth motion. It would seem that this motion would reduce their effectiveness as a predator. This behavior is not shown when they are far from their prey. When they are moving with great stealth and getting close is when it seems to become more pronounced and some people had thought it might be from the "excitement" of the hunt, but many behavioral scientists now think that it is an intended instinctual response.

If for example the prey is a "bird" then one of the main enemies of a bird could be a snake. Naturally the tail of a cat does have a snake like appearance, but this you might also be enough to make a bird fly away. You should remember that a bird must eat a great deal of food. It's metabolic rate is very high and simply flying away at every potential danger is a waste of energy. It is far more efficient to be "aware" of potential dangers and continue to eat and of course watch. Any prey makes a judgment about how fast it is at getting away, how far away the predator is at the time, and how fast the predator is on the attack. Birds and other potential prey will even attack a snake in some situations. Birds that are nesting will sometimes make loud noises and fly at and even peck snakes near their nest and they may be joined by others birds of different species in a behavior called "mobbing". I have only seen "mobbing" one time, but have seen a nesting pair of birds attack a snake on several occasions.

Now imagine that you are a bird in the open grassy area and you see a cat moving in your direction. You may at first instinctively stay quite still while you evaluate the situation, then make a judgment call about the distance you are from the prey. The movement of the tail of the cat is relatively far back from the head end of the cat. The prey (bird) has a tendency to fixate on the moving part of the cat, the tail. The tail is located a sufficient distance from the prey (bird) that it makes the conclusion that the distance is sufficient to allow escape if needed. This distraction technique by the cat although instinctive is very effective. It allows the cat to get so close that with a rapid sudden attack the prey is caught off guard.

It has been found that domestic cats are remarkably effective when hunting. They can capture their intended prey from 70 to 90 percent of the time (when they make a serious attempt). Sometimes they are simply curious and really have no intention of "hunting". With big cats their techniques may vary somewhat with the type of prey they are hunting. In Africa big cats will often creep up on a herd of animals, but may single out a particular animal in the herd that they feel for some reason they might be able to capture. Their decision could be based on size, age, speed, distance etc.

Domestic cats have a great difficulty in suppressing their hunting instinct. If you tie a small piece of paper about the size of your pinky to a string that is about 3 feet long and move the paper around things like table and chair legs most cats can't resist the urge to hunt this as if it were a mouse or some other prey. They especially like it when the "paper prey" tends to move erratically and to do a kind of "hide and peek" from behind things. You may even observe the "tail" movement just discussed.