Research overview: tool-adjacent manipulation in felids

True tool use is essentially absent in cats, but felids display tool-adjacent behaviours that involve manipulating objects and environments to achieve goals. This overview surveys examples such as using paws to rake or retrieve out-of-reach items, manipulating latches and handles, exploiting the physical layout of terrain during hunting, and big cats moving or using cover strategically. It discusses why the felid body plan and ecological niche have not favoured the evolution of object-tool use seen in some primates and birds. The topic clarifies what counts as tool use, why cats fall short of it, and how their manipulative and problem-solving abilities are nonetheless deployed flexibly.