How do cats "know" to use litter boxes?

Dear Yahoo!:
How do cats "know" to use litter boxes?
Felix
Catskills, New York
Dear Felix:
Cats know how to use litter boxes because they still have thousands of years of wild cat DNA floating around in their nervous systems. It's the same reason why dogs like to bury bones, or people respond negatively to high-pitched shrieking sounds.
Cats are attracted to litter boxes for elimination because they provide a sandy substrate for covering their waste. Covering waste is very important in the wild, as it helps to elude predators. A cat's urine can smell pretty strong -- it can actually attract hunters. That's why in the wild cats always urinate far from where they sleep and hunt, and they do their best to cover it up when they're finished.

To be effective, a litter box also has to provide a certain amount of space for the cat. "Taking care of business" can be a vulnerable moment in more ways than one, especially if something is actively hunting you.

If your cat is having litter box accuracy problems, you may want to consider replacing it. Most litter boxes are plastic, which means they tend to absorb odors. Try to replace your litter box with an identical model, however, as our feline friends are notoriously sensitive to changes in their environment.