WHY ANIMALS DO THE THING

skirttailsofhappiness:

runicbasso:

sssn-neptune-vasilias:

xekstrin:

THE COUGAR MAKES A HAPPY NOISE!!!!

That squeak is so fucking cute. Mountain lions only do that when they’re really comfortable with the person handling them because they think it’s embarrassing (like something only kittens do) to do that in front of people.

marblemartin !!!!!!

@why-animals-do-the-thing Is this a safe practice for a human to handle food like that with animals? Also, is OP right when he/she/they says that that’s what the noise means??

Edit: this is CARE rescue Texas, which has been talked about at length on this blog. They aren’t a great facility, partially because they promote media like this without context and it encourages people to replicate dangerous behaviors.

To answer your first question, it’s not a great idea to pass bony meat through the fence like that for a big cat. It’s not exactly the best procedure, considering how close your fingers get to those teeth. What’s actually more worrying is the fact that there’s no secondary containment and you can get right up to that chain link - cats can put their paws farther than you’d think through links like that. This leads me to think it’s probably either a shady zoo scenario or a private pet, since it doesn’t fit institutional standards for most professional facilities. The cougar also looks overweight - look at that furry paunch. 

As to the behavior, well, no, they’re not embarrassed. That’s a human emotion in terms of relation to social norms. That sounds like an affiliative noise, not an aggressive one, simply from the pitch of it. That’s backed up by the fact it knows the person is bringing it food. Mountain lions actually make noises that people don’t expect - there’s an urban legend that people will mistake their cries for crying babies.