A Catnip Addiction is Actually Beneficial for Cats (opens in new tab)

Not only have scientists found how these compounds affect cats, but also why. It's an adaptive feature of their evolution! Cats rarely pay any attention to plants, but the cats who went for catnip or silver vine were more likely to survive and reproduce millions of years ago until a catnip attraction became quite common among several cat species on the African savannah. This TED-Ed video explains why with some charming cat animation, although you might not like one of the experiments that led...