cat gps 01

If you’ve never seen how far cats stray from home at night, then prepare to be just as shocked.

Cats are notorious for being, well, scaredy-cats, but apparently when it comes to walking around at night, far from home and in unfamiliar places, they channel their inner lion and turn into quite brave beasts.

To find out just how much cats roamed at night, the Australian government recently carried out a project tracking people’s pet cats via GPS. That may sound silly at first, but cats are technically an “invasive species” and can wreak havoc on natural ecosystems if not kept in check.

Of course, most cat owners didn’t think their cats roamed at all, or maybe just a few feet away from home. Here’s the tweet that brought the surprising results to the attention of the Japanese internet, with a link to the original study:

▼ “That is a much larger area than I expected.”
(Scroll down for highlight pictures.)

▼ “Seems like there are a lot of cat owners who don’t even think their pets roam at all. This not only shows that they get pretty far from home, but that third photo, I can’t believe the cat even made it back.”

▼ Wow, that cat got all over the neighborhood!
But even that doesn’t compare to…

cat gps 01

▼ Whoa! That cat had some pretty far away business to take care of.
But even that doesn’t compare to…

cat gps 02

▼ The “third picture,” where a cat literally goes up a mountain and then back…
plus a little bit of local roaming because hey, why not? The night is long!

cat gps 03

Personally, I find it amazing that the cats were able to wander that far from home and still make it back. I know that the second I’m in an unfamiliar area, I’m completely at the mercy of my GPS. How do those cats do it? Smells? Instinct? Or are have they just been geniuses playing dumb this whole time?

Here’s what Japanese netizens think:

“Whoa! I never knew cats roamed around that far!”
“That third picture… did the cat hanglide down from the mountain?”
“Do cats fly or something? How do they go so far?”
“Cats and dogs have an instinctual compass, the homing instinct, which is why you should never buy collars with magnets.”

We’re not 100-percent certain on the validity of that last comment, but hey, why take chances? If you want to increase the odds of your cat coming home after a night of roaming, it can’t hurt to invest in some magnetic underwear, right?

Source: Design You Trust via My Game News Flash
Images: Twitter/@orangeflower08