Cats "Exploit" Humans By Purring 503
An anonymous reader notes a BBC report on research recently published in the journal Current Biology, indicating that cats manipulate humans by adding a baby-like cry to their purring. "Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans. Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a 'soliciting purr' to overpower their owners and garner attention and food. Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a 'cry,' with a similar frequency to a human baby's. The team said cats have 'tapped into' a human bias — producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore."
Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:5, Insightful)
Assuming that the cats are in fact intelligent creatures, it would make sense that they have learned this behavior. Feral cats do not exhibit this behavior, so it is most likely learned or self-developed.
However, it could also be that the constant exposure to humans and the direct selection of cats which humans like the most by the owners has led to a selection bias for cats with this behavior.
I find it hard to believe that this is somehow one of those hokey "100th monkey" behaviors, but I also find it extremely interesting that this behavior is widespread.
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:5, Insightful)
cats and dogs are smarter than we give them credit for, when they look at you, they are thinking about something it's not just a vacant look.
More likely micro-evolution (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I for one welcome ... (Score:4, Insightful)
New?
The cats were worshiped as gods in ancient Egypt. They never STOPPED being our overlords.
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:2, Insightful)
All I learn from this is that cats that are more insistent (extrovert, cute, lucky to have that purr characteristic), get more food and shelter, and thus a higher chance of survival.
It's like the introvert in the IT closet who won't ask for a pay rise. Yeah, you're stuck eating ramen then, aren't you. GO AND PURR AT YOUR MANAGER. Unless your manager is Catbert...
Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:5, Insightful)
It is actually a very interesting way to learn to not give in to annoying behaviour.
This alone tells me that you'll be one of the few parents that raise good kids.
Cats are evil (Score:2, Insightful)
When a dog looks at you it thinks "What can I do for you master"
When a cat looks at you it thinks "If I had hands I could open my own cans, and you'd be dead"
Definitely not evolution - adaptation, maybe (Score:3, Insightful)
In fact, pretty much any animal - even my goldfish, can be conditioned to respond to a food stimulus - they know what precedes them being fed and act accordingly.
The only surprising thing about this is that the cats haven't got their owners better trained in all this time.
In other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
Stuff with brains can learn.
Re:More likely micro-evolution (Score:3, Insightful)
Dunno where you live, but where I do people routinely have their toms' cores removed, so to speak. With them they tend to be a wee bit hard on the olfactory senses.
And female cats in heat can be quite a bit of a handful too, so this is 'taken care of' as well...
Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:4, Insightful)
Doesn't suprise me. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, cats and babies use what works. If a specific sound is what gets you going, then that's the sound you'll get when they want something. Which is why your approach is perfectly fine; as long as you know there's nothing really wrong, training them to sound like something's horribly amok all the time isn't desirable.
On the other hand, sometimes it's good to reinforce nice ways of asking for attention. Personally I give in and play a bit when my cats roll over on their backs and purr (just far enough out of reach so I can't pet them), or when they bring their toys to me. Or I'll look what they want if they tug at my elbow. The only annoying sound that will get them something is the plaintive meow accompanied by scratching the floor near the litter box. That one means 'the litterbox is dirty, change it or I'm gonna piss on the floor', and considering they usually have a point and a reasonable tolerance, I'll accept that one.
Re:Self domesticated aka evolution (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:3, Insightful)
That's the sound of anger and frustration.
Any animal would be angry and frustrated to find out that the being in control of their life was a moron.
Women do it too! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Self domesticated (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, it isn't *that* difficult to train a cat. Most people just don't bother.
Re:Self domesticated aka evolution (Score:2, Insightful)
"have tapped" "exploiting" what bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
cats have not tapped into anything at any time. it was already their normal attitude. cats psychologically see humans as their mothers. both men, and women alike. it doesnt matter. therefore they do all stuff they do to their mothers, to their human companions. no surprise they also make that sound.
to 'tap' into such a thing would require a cat to observe a baby, then imitate him/her. yet, how many cats that were in the research have observed a baby crying ? how many cats were raised with a baby ?
this thing has to be just another instinctive behaviour cats do to their mothers at early age. i wonder why this schmuck didnt research whether baby cats also do that to mother cats.
Re:Self domesticated (Score:5, Insightful)
You're wrong; thay are domesticated, moreso than horeses and almost as much as dogs. They just have different psychologies. I taught my oldest daughter's cat to fall down and play dead when I point my finger at it and say "bang. We had cats when the kids were growing up, and the cats listened better than the kids.
I care for my oldest daughter's cats, they'll come when called and obey other instructions.
Cats live *among* humans and coexist more or less peacefully with them, but so do squirrels and houseflies.
That's bullshit. Try petting a squirrel.
The biggest difference between dogs and cats is that "nice" dogs are whores, letting anyone pet it. Try petting a mean rottweiler; I've seen dogs bite their own owners.
No. (Score:4, Insightful)
to a cat, human owner is a mother. they exhibit all behavior they do to their mothers to their human owners.
Re:No. (Score:5, Insightful)
to grown up male cats, humans are a source of food and entertainment. maybe like a brother. to females, humans are more like ofsprings. that's why they bring in dead and half-dead animals home. they want you - the human - to use that carcass/weakened creature as play toys. this teaches usefull hunting and killing skills.
* humans don't own cats. we live with them in the bast-case scenario. in the worst case, the CAT owns YOU! cue the "in soviet russia" jokes.
Re:Self domesticated (Score:2, Insightful)
and letting them piss and crap all over the neighborhood is simply being a jerk.
This is very true. When people let their dogs do their business in our yard, and do not pick it up, I want to find out where they live so I can empty our litterbox in *their* yard...
And seriously, the world is not a safe place to let any kind of animal run free anymore, there are just too many mean people who think it's fun to kill or torture animals. Our kitties are indoor only.
Re:Self domesticated (Score:3, Insightful)
Cats do have a strong independent streak. While they are often trainable, it does have a fair bit to do with them being willing to be trained. If they are willing or neutral about the activity being trained, they will be fairly receptive. If they dislike the activity being trained it can be difficult to impossible to train them. They most certainly can learn to come when you call them, although even well trained cats will occasionally choose not to come. My cat for example will often come to me if I talk in her direction, even if I do not use her name, and even if I am not talking to her. But at other times, she will not, because she has something else she wishes to do.
If a cat truly does not want to do something it is almost impossible to use training to compel them to do so. Similarly, if a cat really wants to do something (and does not require human assistance to do so), it can be difficult to stop them. If the activity is undesirable, then there are techniques that do work, but in the general case it can be quite difficult to convince them to do something else.
Cats are definitely very social creatures, and are perfectly willing to include humans into their social structure, although admittedly, humans are not counted as cats within this social structure. Feeding them definitely is part of why most domestic cats like their humans, but they do generally enjoy attention by humans.
Obviously much of the above does not apply well to completely feral cats, although even most feral cats can be domesticated.
Re:Self domesticated (Score:2, Insightful)
My youngest cat is not de-clawed as it is a experiment.
Are you implying that you did declaw all your other cats? Are you aware of how much amputating your cat can hurt them [typepad.com]?
I think you have the wrong idea about what being the "absolute worst kind of cat owner" constitutes.
Re:No. (Score:4, Insightful)
Our male, 20 year old tomcat had the same behavior wrt bringing home "food" for us. Not so long ago he dragged home a large rabbit he'd killed, and deposited it in front of the cupboard in the kitchen where the cookware was housed. Then he sat by it and talked until we noticed.
We figured that he wanted us to cook it up and eat it. ...
We lost him a couple months ago. Our lives are bleak without him - he was more intelligent than most humans, and had a very low sense of humor - is humor a mark of intelligence? We miss him terribly.
Cats are at least as intelligent as humans are. Possibly more so.
Just because humans have developed technology and the ability to destroy ourselves does not make us more sapient than anything else.
It's likely a mark against us that we can't recognize the other intelligent species on this planet we live with.
But that's just my opinion. No, I am not a member of PETA, although I do think they make some good points, mostly wrt we can't consider ourselves civilized until we stop treating even the members of our own species as objects rather than as people.
Of course it could be that I'm getting old and bitter and pissed off...
SB
Re:Self domesticated (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Self domesticated (Score:1, Insightful)
> My youngest cat is not de-clawed as it is a experiment.
What?! Boy, am I glad that declawing cats is abolished in germany. And most of Europe.
> The absolute worst kind of cat owner is the ones that let kitty roam the neighborhood free.
I cannot take you seriously. There is nothing, absolutely *nothing* wrong with freedom. Cat haters? Where the heck do you come from? I could understand if you lived in a big city, but only just *maybe*.
Tammej