Cat class at Washington University uses feline research to teach science

ST. LOUIS -- Have you ever wanted to know more about your cat? A university in St. Louis has a course that focuses on felines.

Professor Jonathan Losos teaches the class on The Science of Cats at Washington University. He is an evolutionary biologist known for his research on lizard behavior, evolutionary adaptation, and urban ecology. He sat down with The Conversation to highlight unconventional approaches to teaching.

What prompted the idea for the course?

I’m an evolutionary biologist who has spent my career studying the evolution of small lizards in the Caribbean. I’m also a lifelong cat lover, but it never occurred to me to do anything scientific with house cats. They’re hard to study – ever tried to follow your cat around to see what they’re doing? And in contrast to amply studied lions, tigers and other wild felines, I was under the impression that there wasn’t any interesting research being conducted on the domestic representative of the cat clan, Felis catus.

Twelve years ago, I learned that I was completely wrong. Thanks to John Bradshaw’s book “Cat Sense” and the BBC’s “The Sec...