Which spring cue can affect a cat's breeding rhythm?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Longer daylight
Longer daylight ✓ — Correct! Cats are commonly described as long-day breeders. In intact females, increasing daylight can help shift the hormonal system toward estrous cycling. So spring matters less because the air feels poetic, and more because the light schedule has changed.
More flower smells — Wrong. New plant smells can make a cat investigate, but flower scent is not the main switch for feline breeding rhythm. Smell may change attention or patrol behavior; daylight is the sharper reproductive cue.
The calendar turning March — Wrong. March is a human label. A cat's body is responding to physical signals such as day length and local environment, which is why geography, indoor lighting, and climate can shift the timing.
More Animal Behavior questions
- A platypus lays eggs but feeds hatchlings milk without nipples. What makes that less contradictory?
- Male platypuses have venomous ankle spurs. Why are they probably not mainly prey-hunting tools?
- Platypuses have ~40,000 electroreceptors, but short-beaked echidnas have ~400. What best explains the drop?
- Why does a hunting platypus sweep its bill side to side instead of just pointing it forward?
- What can a platypus bill read from a shrimp's muscles rather than from water motion?
- When should you worry if a cat suddenly gets very clingy?