The genesis of the cat's responses to the rat.

Neurological knowledge and complex behaviors

“…What happens, however, if the cat has never seen a rat (and has of course never seen one attacked)? As shown by several experiments (e.g., Kuo, 1930;Yerkes & Bloomfield, 1910), about half of the cats do not attack. The remainder, however, do attack.…”

Hunting performance of captive-born South China tigers (Panthera tigris amoyensis) on free-ranging prey and implications for their reintroduction

“…For domestic cats social experience per se is not necessary for the development of the prey killing response (Kuo, 1930). However, Caro (1981) demonstrated that siblings played a role in prey capture skills of other kittens by focusing attention on and motivating interactions with prey.…”

Historical and Theoretical Bases of Applied Developmental Science

“…These mechanistic and atomistic views of the past have been replaced, then, by theoretical models that stress the dynamic synthesis of multiple levels of analysis, a perspective having its roots in systems theories of biological development Gottlieb, 1992;Kuo, 1930Kuo, , 1967Kuo, , 1976Schneirla, 1956Schneirla, , 1957von Bertalanffy, 1933). In other words, development, understood as a property of systemic change in the multiple and integrated levels of organization comprising human life and its ecology (ranging from biology to culture and history), is an overarching conceptual frame associated with developmental systems models of human development.…”