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website English from BBC learning english.com welcome to six minute
English the program where we bring you an interesting topic and six useful
words or phrases I'm Neil and I'm Dan today we're talking about one of the
last mysteries of science no not if the universe will keep expanding forever but
this how did cats and dogs find their way
home over long distances mmm we hear incredible stories of lost pets
travelling tens and even hundreds of miles home but scientists struggle to
explain how they do it we'll hear the view of one scientist today but before
that I have to ask an important question Neil are you a cat person or a dog
person that's easy I'm a cat person for sure
dogs are just well their hard work aren't they if you say you're a cat
person it means you prefer cats a copy person
prefers coffee a something person likes or prefers that thing often over another
thing back to the topic I am a cat person but can you answer this Dan
recently a cat called Omar made headlines for being possibly
the world's longest cat how long is Omar is it a a hundred and twenty centimeters
B eighty centimeters or C a hundred and eighty centimeters I'm going to say C a
hundred and eighty centimeters now from Long cats to long-distance cats
scientists were scratching their heads a couple of years ago when a lost cat
called Holly travelled 200 miles to get home how did it do it we say scratch
your head when you're confused about something there are a few theories about
how cats and dogs navigate but we don't yet have the full answer well both cats
and dogs have an extremely powerful sense of smell of course smells are like
signposts they let you know where you are visual landmarks also play a role
just as they do with humans a landmark is something very easily recognized a
big building or mountain for example and what about this one magnets are pieces
of metal which attract certain other kinds of metal for example iron or steel
the earth itself has a magnetic force Birds use it to help them navigate over
thousands of miles it tells them where North is it's thought they have some
iron in their beaks but some scientists think mammals also have this capability
so we have a few ideas smell landmarks magnetic forces but can we explain how
one kitty traveled over 200 miles by itself back to its home let's hear from
cat and dog expert dr. John Bradshaw how did cats build up the maps in their
heads
what they do when they are in a new territory is explore it in a very
systematic way so they'll go out in ever-increasing circles they'll
literally construct a mental map in their heads and so a cat that's lost its
territory probably does the same thing they will rely on the idea that if they
go out in increasing circles or rectangles and eventually they will
either come across the territory or they'll come across a smell carried on
the wind of the territory that they used to live in and then be able to get home
cats have a systematic approach which means they use a system which is first
they walk around their area in a small circle then a bigger one and then a
bigger one until they have a strong mental map of the place yes a mental map
is a map in your head stored in your memory and the area cats explore their
home area is called their territory cats are territorial which means their
territory is very important to them having a map is great but what happens
when a cat gets lost dr. Bradshaw says that again it moves around in bigger and
bigger circles until it finds a clue which is a landmark or a smell that
tells it where it is well that's the theory though dr. Bradshaw says we
really still don't have enough data that's enough information about this
when there is a scientific breakthrough we'll bring it to you in six minute
English I hope for now let's content ourselves with Omar possibly the world's
longest cat how long then damn I said 180 centimeters Omar measures 120
centimeters that's over two-thirds of my height and weighs a heavy 14 kilograms
well one thing Neil if Omar ever got lost he'd be found in no time
he's a landmark in himself which reminds me let's run through today's words again
if you're a cat person you prefer cat if you're an evening person you prefer
evenings I've always thought you were a kind person that's nice of you to say
but we only use the phrase with nouns not adjectives indeed we don't want
listeners to be scratching their heads no we can't confuse them so let's
explain the next one clearly a landmark is something easily recognized
that lets you know where you are the bridges in London are landmarks and can
we say the parks are magnets in summer a magnet is a piece of metal that attracts
iron and steel but we can also use the word more widely to describe things that
attract other things to more words territory is a noun the area of land
that an animal considers to be its own animals who feel this strongly are
described as territorial humans can be two about land or subjects they feel
they own or control and finally systematic the adjective from system we
can talk about a systemic approach a systematic solution a systematic study
and we have systematically worked our way through all of today's words very
good which means it's time to mention our own online territory our website and
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