--- title: Cats as hunters: presents on the doormat and why Tom never catches Jerry — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Cats as hunters: presents on the doormat and why Tom never catches Jerry», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Even a fat, sleepy pet cat is a hunter inside. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/) [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/) / Cats as hunters: presents on the doorm… # Cats as hunters: presents on the doormat and why Tom never catches Jerry Lesson 198 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/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/0/) — Even a fat, sleepy pet cat is a hunter inside. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/1/) — Watch it with a toy mouse: it crouches, its bottom wiggles, it goes perfectly still, then it pounces and lands exactly on target. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/2/) — In Tom and Jerry, Tom crashes around the house after Jerry and never wins. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/3/) — Real cats hunt the other way round: they wait silently, creep closer and strike in one quick jump, and they often do catch mice. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/4/) — That is why people kept cats on farms and ships for thousands of years: to catch the mice and rats that ate the grain. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/5/) — When your cat leaves a mouse on the doormat it is not saying thank you or teaching you; it is simply bringing food home, the way its hunting instinct tells it to. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/6/) — Many cats bring prey home and leave it on the doormat or floor; the cat is carrying food back to a safe place, not thanking or rewarding you. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/7/) — A cat may bring in a live mouse and let it go, patting and chasing it; this looks cruel, but the cat is acting on instinct and does not understand cruelty. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/8/) — Real cats often catch mice, and people kept cats on farms and ships for thousands of years for this job; the Tom and Jerry story where the mouse always wins is cartoon fun. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/9/) — Cats are ambush hunters: they wait very still for a long time, creep close, and pounce in one short burst, rather than chasing prey wildly around a house. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/10/) — Sitting still and watching a mouse hole, like Tom does, is the true part of the cartoon; cats can hear the high squeaks of mice that are too high for us to hear. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/11/) — A real animal hit with a frying pan or squashed flat would be badly hurt; bodies cannot be flattened and pop back into shape the way cartoon animators draw them. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/12/) — Cats sometimes make a fast chattering or clicking sound at birds through a window; nobody knows for sure why, and ideas include frustration, a practice killing bite or copying bird calls. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/13/) — Pet cats kill very large numbers of small birds and animals each year, and a bell on the collar, a bright collar cover or keeping the cat in at dawn and dusk can help protect them. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/14/) — Cats judge distance very well and notice moving things much more easily than still ones, so they can land a pounce exactly on a moving toy. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/15/) — Cats chase a laser dot because it moves like prey, but it can never be caught, which can leave the cat frustrated, so play should end with a real toy the cat can grab. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/16/) — Cats walk almost silently thanks to soft paw pads and by walking on their toes, and they place their back paws almost exactly where their front paws stepped. - ← previous: [Cats: purring, whiskers, night eyes and grooming](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming/) - next →: [Cat body language and cat myths: milk, nine lives and landing on their feet](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/199-cat-body-language-and-cat-myths-milk-nine-lives-and-landing-on-their-feet/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)