Japan Team Finds Cats Prefer Silver Vine over Catnip

Tokyo, June 9 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese team of researchers has found that cats prefer silver vine, known in Japan as “matatabi,” over catnip, both regarded as cat attractants. According to a study by the team of Iwate University and Nagoya University, many free-roaming cats exhibited typical behavior of rubbing against and rolling around in silver vine, choosing the plant over catnip in most cases. The findings were published in an online edition of the Journal of Chemical Ecology. Masao Miyazaki, professor at Iwate University, said that the study has shown that cats’ reactions were not just affected by how strong the key smell component is, given the abundance of the component in catnip. He said that while the exact reason why self-anointing behavior was rarely seen when cats encountered catnip is unclear, they may have been reluctant to display such behavior due to the overly strong scent of raw catnip plants. The team observed how cats would react to both silver vine and catnip when they were left to roam around freely. During a period of about 10 days, six cats made 23 visits to an outdoor area where catnip and silver vine were placed, and they displayed self-anointing behavior mostly in the patch of silver vine. The team also conducted an experiment on 22 domestic cats, including those that originated in North America, Europe and the Middle East, presenting catnip and silver vine extracts at the same time. Fifteen cats rolled around or rubbed themselves against silver vine, while three exhibited such behavior toward catnip. Chemical analyses found that the catnip extract contained about 170 times more nepetalactone, a cat attractant, than the silver vine extract. “These findings demonstrate that chemical abundance and laboratory bioactivity do not necessarily predict behavioral reliability under natural encounter conditions,” the team said. According to Miyazaki, the team’s findings are used in habitat surveys of endangered cat species. He also voiced hopes that the results of the study will be used in efforts to encourage animals’ natural behavior and enhance their quality of life. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]