Why Do Cats Like Catnip?

Catnip! Cats roll in it, rub their cheeks on it and paw at it… but what is it about this stuff that gets our feline friends caught up in such a frenzy?

Hosted by: Olivia Gordon

Special thanks to Animal Wonders Montana for letting us use a clip from their episode “Catnip Experiment”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmW9Lh-Ff0g
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Sources:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-2011-1090.ch004
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11043684
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00987747
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1480656/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347266801008
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3834921
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22354638
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02858923
http://pets.webmd.com/cats/catnip-effects-on-cats
http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/04/30/5.things.catnip.mnn/
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/catnip-effects-humans

Images:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AShorty-on-catnip.JPG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACatnip_%2C_Nepeta_cataria.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ANepetalactone_chemical_structure.png
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGillie_stalking_the_catnip_(2587001371).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACatnip-effects.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASilver_Vine_(Scindapsus_pictus)_1.jpg

Category: SciShow

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