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Why Do Cats Hiss? Animal Mimicry

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The generally accepted answer to the question, why do cats hiss, is that the cats are mimicking snakes. It sounds far out, but it makes some sense too, it is a natural instinct for cats to hiss when they are about to go on the defensive, just like snakes will do. A snake in the wild will oftentimes stand up and hiss as a warning, think of the cobra in the Indian jungles, that is what they will do; a rattlesnake will do this too, and at the same time they will shake and rattle their tails. Have you ever noticed a cat do this somewhat as well? Cats will often hiss and slowly shake their tails as their own warning to back off. When we think about it, cats even look somewhat snakelike, it's in the eyes. Genetically cats and snakes do have some similar traits and it's been postulated that if we went far enough back into history that cats and snakes do have similar origins. Is all of that hissing an embedded natural instinct that goes back millions of years into the pas