Cats are individualists/one-person or small family pets as they are
domesticated in our society. However, cats can and do exhibit social behavior
(as my old house had a huge batch of catnip behind it, and the local cats
would get stoned (together) there, at least shows)-- studies of barnyard cats
show cooperation in hunting, raising of young and much less territoriality
than among house cats. Basically alynxes would be not so much house but farm
cats. Farm cats, of course, are semi-feral, and this behavior is much more
common amongst feral cats.
Hunting leopards were used by the Egyptians, actually (I seem to recall) as
chasers (like greyhounds)-- to tire the prey. Cats do share kills with
"family" and something like this-- or a system where the cats use their
skills as "pointers" [most cat owners have seen their cat freeze and stare]
and the hunter kills the game, sharing it with his or her companion would be
realistic.
Yinkin shows many more characteristics of the early, individualistic teenage
Orlanth/Odayla-- going out on his own, rather than the later king. The
importance of alynxes might lie in their role in pre-Initiate boyhood.
This does point up the likelyhood of the alynx and Odayla initiate teams
being individual hunters, not in groups, so no really big game, unless the
alynx is used to "point" as before. I guess Yinkin must have told Odayla
where the Sky Bear was going and possibly tricked him, but it is dubious if
he got into the battle.
- --Jeff Erwin
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