Internet Stunned by Savannah Cat's Uncanny Wildlife Impressions

Cats are born hunters, and thanks to the skills inherited by their ancestors they know all the tricks to attract their prey.

A cat called Raja, from Minnesota, has recently gone viral on social media after her owner caught her on camera expertly imitating the sounds made by other animals like birds and squirrels, focusing on their tone and rhythm.

The 3-year-old half-Savannah half-Bengal cat is not the only feline gifted with this particular skill. In fact, cats use chattering and chirping as a hunting strategy. By reproducing the sounds made by their prey, they fool them into thinking they're harmless, which will allow them to get closer making it easier to attack.

The hilarious clip shared on Instagram in December by the cat's owner, under the username outdoorsavannah, went viral on social media, becoming popular across the platform, where it has so far received over 1 million viewers. The video can be seen here.

The poster, David Husby, told Newsweek: "Raja has always been very vocal and I try to record any moment she makes sounds outside. It wasn't until reviewing older footage that I noticed her sounds had similarities with the other animals that she was reacting to. On a whim in late 2022, I made a short compilation of this mimicry behavior which ended up becoming our first ever viral video.

"Over the following year, I collected more examples of this mimicry behavior in hopes of creating a longer, more compelling compilation which led to our recent video. Cat vocalizations are not very well studied and I hope this video can spark more interest into what they could possibly mean."

While the popularity of cats continues to grow, dogs are still America's favorite pets. According to data recently published by Forbes, as over 65.1 million U.S. households own dogs, while 46.5 million households own cats.

Between the years 2016 and 2022, the percentage of American households that own dogs increased by 6.1 percentage points, from 38.4 percent to 44.5 percent. At the same time, the percentage of households that own cats increased by 4 percentage points, from 25 percent to 29 percent.

Of the more than a million people who interacted with the post, one user, shreya_sai_iyer, commented: "So the cat is basically doing psssp pssp at other animals." And annmarlice wrote: "The first time I saw my cat do this I didn't understand until I heard the bird he was talking to talk back."

Catstuff32 added: "Yes, cats do this naturally all the time. BUT what makes this girl unusual is her mimicry of the rhythm/phrasing and tone of the other animals. The chickadee is way different from the crow, squirrel, robin, etc., and she is responding to them in their language (with a feline accent, of course) in the same way we say 'bbrrrrp?' 'Mrawr' and other things to our cats.

"Human accent, but we're doing the same as this kitty is in this video. Bengals are pretty brilliant!"

Update 1/11/22, 12:17 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comments from the OP, and new pictures.

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