RENA THE HUNTRESS!

One of the more macabre things to think about when you're watching a kitten play (I'm channeling my dad right now, who had to ruin everything by turning it into a science lesson and knew way too much about biology) is what skill they're practicing. Having seen the adults in action with birds, this seems to be simulating that stage when they've already caught the bird, it's desperately trying to escape, and they're in the process of killing it. I always felt that housecats were shockingly inefficient at this, but it's probably because they're just hunting for sport and never had a mother train them properly.