--- title: Tom and Jerry: do real cats really chase mice? — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Tom and Jerry: do real cats really chase mice?», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: In every episode of Tom and Jerry a grey cat crashes round a big kitchen after a cheeky mouse, gets flattened by an iron, p --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Tom and Jerry: do real cats really cha… # Tom and Jerry: do real cats really chase mice? Lesson 118 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/0/) — In every episode of Tom and Jerry a grey cat crashes round a big kitchen after a cheeky mouse, gets flattened by an iron, pops back into shape and loses again. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/1/) — It is very funny, and almost none of it is how real cats and mice live. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/2/) — Real cats do hunt mice, and people have kept cats for thousands of years partly for that job, but a real hunting cat is silent: it creeps, waits and pounces, because a mouse runs at the first strange sound. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/3/) — A real mouse is tiny, about 20 grams, as heavy as four sugar cubes, runs on four legs, lives in an untidy nest of fluff inside the wall, and would choose peanut butter or chocolate over a holey wedge of cheese. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/4/) — And Tom's saucer of milk? - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/5/) — Most grown-up cats cannot digest milk well, and it can upset their tummies, so a real cat needs a bowl of water instead. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/6/) — Real cats do hunt mice, and the hunting urge does not switch off when they are full, but many well-fed pet cats hunt only now and then and some never catch a mouse. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/7/) — A cat was buried next to a person in Cyprus about 9,500 years ago, so cats and people were already living together near stores of grain. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/8/) — Real mice prefer seeds, grain, nuts and sweet foods such as chocolate or peanut butter; they will nibble cheese, but it is not their favourite, and pest catchers bait traps with peanut butter. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/9/) — Real house mice build untidy nests inside walls, under floors, in lofts and behind cupboards, out of shredded paper, cloth, insulation and fluff, and can squeeze through a gap about as wide as a pencil. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/10/) — A house mouse weighs about 20 grams and an adult cat about 4 kilograms, about 200 times more; mice run on all four legs and only stand up to look or sniff. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/12/) — A real cat would be badly hurt by a small part of what happens to Tom; animators squash and stretch bodies because it looks lively and funny, a rule they learn by drawing a bouncing ball. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/13/) — Most adult cats cannot digest milk sugar well, because they lose most of the body chemical that breaks it down after they stop feeding from their mother, so milk can give them diarrhoea; they need water. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/14/) — A cat usually wins if it really hunts a mouse, but mice escape very often, because they are fast and never go far from a hiding place; big brown rats fight back, and many city cats avoid them. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/16/) — Real hunting cats are almost silent: soft paw pads and claws pulled back inside the paws let them walk without clicking, unlike a dog. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/17/) — Many pet cats bring their catch home, perhaps because home is their safe den, and mother cats bring prey to teach their kittens, so the best thing is to stay calm and clean up, as shouting only scares the cat; a cat called Larry has the title of Chief Mouser at 10 Downing Street. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/118-tom-and-jerry-do-real-cats-chase-mice/18/) — Most pet cats are ordinary mixed cats, and grey, which is a «diluted» black, is common; almost all tortoiseshell and calico cats are female. - ← previous: [Zoos in Australia and around the world, and the year's myths put right](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/117-zoos-around-the-world-and-myths-put-right/) - next →: [How real cats hunt: stalking, waiting and pouncing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/119-how-real-cats-hunt/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)