Saturday, December 23, 2006

play time

The players:
  • Felix, male, seal point, age 1.5, 13 lbs
  • Mina, female, chocolate point, age 15.5, 7 lbs
1. detente:
They have shared the space for naps. They awake and avoid eye contact.

2. making the first move:
He begins with a fake stretch -- one paw almost touching her.

3. the ploy:
His stretching moves him into a position that says: "I'm a goofball, I''m bored, and I'm now going to start bugging you." He has succeeded in provoking her. (It doesn't take much.) She raises herself and her tail begins to flip.

4. The game is afoot.
He starts to grasp at her flipping tail. If he is allowed to continue he will ultimately try to bite it. (She would do the same and he is much more playful and gentle than she is.)

5. game over:
She puts an immediate stop to his shenanigans with a sharp loud scream. She turns to bop him but because he immediately backs off she just jumps off the chair and runs away.

He usually looks very confused after these altercations.

2 comments:

lotusgreen said...

it sounds like universal male female behavior to me

kora in hell said...

good point! It's just sibling behavior. The main difference is the pitch and tone of the screaming.