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."
hardware? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe the researchers used frozen cats?
Re:hardware? (Score:5, Funny)
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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.
Self domesticated (Score:5, Informative)
Don't forget that cats self-domesticated so the the evolution of this kind of behaviour would have been baised from the begining.
Re:Self domesticated (Score:4, Interesting)
Thing is, cats *aren't* domesticated. They only pretend to be when it suits their purposes.
If you want to see what domesticated looks like, look at dogs, or horses. Domesticated dogs and horses take their instructions from human masters. Cats, as a rule, don't.
Cats live *among* humans and coexist more or less peacefully with them, but so do squirrels and houseflies. Cats accept food from humans and even depend on it as their main food source, but so do wild birds that eat at feeders. Cats will even occasionally approach a human and allow themselves to be petted, but only when it's their idea.
There's a continual argument between people who prefer dogs and people who prefer cats, over which kind of animal is smarter. Of course, there's a great deal of variation in intelligence from one dog to another, and one supposes there may also be from one cat to another, but fundamentally the main reason this argument has never been resolved is because nobody can really demonstrate exactly how smart cats are, because the cats don't cooperate with the study. If you've got a dog, you can find out exactly how smart he is, based on what you can teach him. A monumentally stupid dog can learn about one trick, and then when you try to teach him another, he either can't figure it out or forgets the first one. On the other end of the scale, the most intelligent dog I've ever known recognized an English vocabulary of several hundred words and understood SVO sentence order. With a dog, you can find out exactly how smart he is, because he'll cooperate with the whole exercise. A dog is a social animal. His whole life is focused around *you*. A cat is altogether a different beast. A cat does what it wants, when it wants. You can try to teach it stuff, but as a rule the cat doesn't cooperate, so you can never really be sure what it's learned and what it hasn't.
Re:Self domesticated (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, it isn't *that* difficult to train a cat. Most people just don't bother.
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Yes, you certainly can train a cat.
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True. You simply have to prove to the cat that it's being given the advantage by 'learning' the appropriate response. For instance, my cat will sit with (I hesitate to say 'command') the right suggestion and hand gesture. But I have to back the suggestion up with food or he gets disappointed I broke the agreement and the next time he will approach the 'sit' suggestion with wariness.
But he also trains me in return. He likes to drink from the tap, therefore he whines a particular meow until I go over and turn
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Most people do some training of their cats - I don't know of many cats that do their business, say, on the couch rather than in a litter box.
I admit, I personally have never trained one, but that has more to do with allergies... my scratch test was so severe that it overran about half the other tests and ran over my shoulder (I maxed the scale and then some). Basically, cat spit=fatality for me (and yes, it is their saliva that causes the allergic reaction, not their hair as is popularly believed). Heck,
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Most cats do this instinctually. We've had many cats (kittens, newborns) over the years, and I've never had to "train" them to do so. Just an FYI.
However, we HAVE been able to train a few to do some things, like retrieve a toy, etc...
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Re:Self domesticated (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Self domesticated (Score:5, Interesting)
ever been around a feral cat or dog? (Score:4, Informative)
If you want to see what domesticated looks like, look at dogs, or horses. Domesticated dogs and horses take their instructions from human masters. Cats, as a rule, don't.
If you want to see what non-domesticated looks like, have a feral cat in your house for an hour or two. Or a feral dog.
If you and your house survive, congratulations. Cats ARE, in fact, domesticated animals, as are dogs- because they have early and often human contact. If kittens (or puppies) are not handled frequently once they get beyond a certain stage, they won't recognize or trust humans.
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.
Re:Self domesticated (Score:5, Funny)
Try petting a squirrel.
He bit me.
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My neighbor had a mean black rottweiler. It used to get out *all* the time bailed all my other neighbors (and me) on our own lawns from time to time and left massive turds on the lawn, and it stank when I opened the door in the morning - thanks neighbor.
I took to spraying it with the garden hose, and when it growled at me I'd growl right back.
Eventually everyone in the street got fed up with the dog getting out all the time. The dog tur
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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
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Self domesticated? are you nuts?
Cats were domesticated normally originally in Mesopotamia, you really need to learn about cats. The wierd part is the bizzare letting the animal do what it wants holdover from a few millennium ago is all out bizzare.
My cats act like my dog. They come when called, they fetch (one LOVES fetch big time) they actually do tricks very well. And people are incredibly astonished at this. My youngest cat is not de-clawed as it is a experiment. It will NOT claw anyone it plays wi
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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:No. (Score:5, Funny)
They bring dead/half-dead animals home to let you know that you're one step away from being dead if you piss them off, not to feed you or teach you.
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
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I've owned dozens of cats. All the males and all the females come by, flop near me, groom me, knead at my clothing, purr happily and relax. Sometimes if I try to leave, one of my female kitties will reach up, grab me (with claws,) and pull me back to continue grooming/kneading me. Maybe your cat was mistreated, none of mine were and they exhibited all the behaviors their mothers performed around them.
Occasionally true (Score:5, Interesting)
Sometimes cats view people as other cats.
I saw a special once where a bunch of female cats on a farm developed a community. They would feed each others kittens and arrange patrols to keep aggressive males away from the young. It was communal. They were a band of mothers doing a community job.
And we have one cat here who decided same thing. We have three cats, two from a rescue shelter that were fixed as kittens, and one we found in our backyard pregnant. The cat that went through motherhood has mothering instincts, the other two do not.
Two years ago my wife got pregnant.
The mother cat knew exactly what was up, the other two did not. She would sit on her belly off to the side of the bulge and purr beside the child which would calm him down and make him sleep. She became very gingerly and delicate towards my wife. The other two didn't change their behavior - they'd step on my wife's belly and had no clue they were disturbing a baby.
On the day the kid was born I stopped back from the hospital to feed the cats. I'm sure to a cat's senses I reeked of blood and birth. Mother cat was staring at me wild eyed with suspicion, taut as a bow string. I had never seen her so tense. I spoke to her in reassuring tones and let her smell my hands where I was holding the baby. As soon as she smelled "the baby is ok and dad here didn't hurt him" she took off like a rocket and ran laps around our house. She's very fat and I had honestly never seen her run before. The cat was celebrating. I know that seems unlikely and the sort of anthropomorphizing that pet owners often times overdo - but I swear...she was celebrating! She ran a few laps around the house, jumped on one of the other cats and went for a tumble, then started loving all over me. She knew. She is lethargic otherwise. A burst of energy from this cat is completely out of character. She knew.
When the kid got home she "helped". You get a lot of visitors from people you don't see very often with a newborn in the house. Soon as one would show up, she would position herself near the baby, and *watch* the guest. Her intent was clear. "Harm that kid, do anything I don't like and I'll shred your face" It was the same pose and watchfulness she would do when her kittens were around (which we took to a no-kill shelter eventually - the same one we got our other two worthless cats from).
And the cat would praise me for being a good parent. Male cats are more of a danger to kittens than a benefit. It seemed at first she was worried it was the same with people. Any time she'd see me being good to the kid (feeding/playing/whatever) she would make it a point to come up to me and love on me. Purr louder than a lawnmower and rub on my legs. She is a very vocal proponent of good parenting. Soon as I set the kid down she'd stop. Pick him back up, she's on again.
But as for our other two cats - you're right. They definitely view us as parents, not equals. They will do that "kneading" thing with their front paws cats do when they sit on our laps. That's something kittens do to get more milk out of their mother. It's a baby reflex and they do it with us. But mom cat does not - she views us as fellow parents in the pack. So your observation is true if you have cats that have never been through parenthood, but occasionally that's not the case. YMMV though, of course. Cats are definitely unique individuals.
Re:Occasionally true (Score:4, Interesting)
From what I understand, 'house cats' (i.e. cats that are raised solely by humans) never mature 'mentally' and are basicly stuck as kids for their life, as such they see their humans as 'mother'. Cats that are raised by other cats and allowed to mature mentally (i.e. learn to hunt, learn how to take care of their own young, etc) don't have this disability and thus tend to see humans as 'part of the colony'
That makes perfect sense. I've heard the same thing about dogs - basically if they have people to raise them they remain mentally a puppy. That's why they bark. Youthful exuberance, like how puppies will yip and run in circles. It's puppy behavior.
And while I don't want to take away from your feelings towards your cat, I have a feeling that when she smelt 'new birth and blood' on your hands the reason she did the laps around the house wasn't celebration but panic. In nature a male cat showing up with blood and birth smells means there is probably a kitten out there dead. Male cats aren't just "more of a danger than a benefit", they actively look for kittens and kill them as it brings the mothers into heat quicker.
Yeah, I know that about male cats. And when I first showed up she was staring at me with a sort of horrified intensity. I'm sure that was the first thought on her mind.
But you would have had to have seen her to understand. She wasn't hauling ass around looking for anything. She did circles around the living room. Pure speed, no searching for anything. I've seen her when she panics. Being a former outdoor cat when we have a thunderstorm she does indeed panic. It's unmistakable. The body language is totally different.
This was not panic. It was joy, or as close to that feeling as a cat can get and display. She ran laps, pounced on another house cat and rolled around with her, loved on me a bunch then had dinner.
I agree that on the face of it your explanation is more likely, but if you had seen her you'd know that just wasn't the case. And it went from there. This bizarre cat actually tries to encourage me to be a good parent. When I play with my kid or show affection she makes it a point to love on me. She knows deep down that males are dangerous to children, so she does her best to reinforce behavior in me that she sees as beneficial to the baby.
I know how unlikely it all sounds, so I don't blame your skepticism one bit.
Re:Self domesticated aka evolution (Score:5, Interesting)
To a dog, the human owner is the pack leader, who should always be followed and obeyed. To a cat, the human owner is just a convenient source of food.
I used to agree with that statement, but not anymore. We have two cats in our home. One of the two plays fetch AGGRESSIVELY. While I'm at my computer she brings me toys to throw all night. Its an interaction I didn't think possible in cats. But its not a creepy as the pack activity.
The cats follow me around from room to room while I'm home. On the few times I've argued with people in my home they either flank or circle behind the person I'm arguing with, growling and hissing the entire time. One one occasion they actually attacked someone they like because I was yelling at them.
They also seem to understand that my children are my children. They tolerate abuse from them that they wouldn't take from me or anyone else and NEVER give them any grief. They actually hang out with my 1 year old (if I'm in the room) and let her roll/drool all over them without complaint. They even go so far as to wake my wife and I up when the kids are restless at night. Its not behavior I would have ever expected from cats.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
To a dog, the human owner is the pack leader, who should always be followed and obeyed. To a cat, the human owner is just a convenient source of food.
I used to agree with that statement, but not anymore. We have two cats in our home. One of the two plays fetch AGGRESSIVELY. While I'm at my computer she brings me toys to throw all night. Its an interaction I didn't think possible in cats. But its not a creepy as the pack activity.
Almost every cat I've owned over the years has done the fetch thing to one degree or another. They all fixate on different toys/objects. I had one who loved fetching pipecleaners of all things. You could fake him out and throw it another direction and he would NOT STOP LOOKING FOR IT until he eventually found it. Hours later he would deposit it at my feet and smack me in the leg.
The cats follow me around from room to room while I'm home. On the few times I've argued with people in my home they either flank or circle behind the person I'm arguing with, growling and hissing the entire time. One one occasion they actually attacked someone they like because I was yelling at them.
I've seen this happen too. The pipecleaner-obsessed cat was a 19 LB neutered male (black). People did not like to argue with me wh
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, as a cat owner I'm not surprised at all. My cat learned quite a few different sounds since I got her, initially it wasn't more than the common meow, but now she uses quite a few different purrs and grunts for different occasions. Like in the morning when feeding time takes too long it's almost like a dog growling in really short bursts, while when you get home it's a more like a high-pitch grunt or purr. I'm sure dogs have similar ways to show their feelings or try to communicate stuff. Cats know damn well what they can and can't do and what will happen when they act some way or another, so it's not a big step from different sounds for different events to learning that certain sounds seem to do trick.
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.
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:5, Funny)
Close, but not quite. Dogs have family, cats have staff.
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:4, Funny)
More disturbing was the time she went into heat and tried to convince my Jack Russell terrier to mate with her. I am ever so glad the dog didn't respond.
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm considering all these anecdotes, about cats and dogs actually being pretty smart, surfacing more and more. One didn't hear those kind of stories when I was little. So I'm wondering: perhaps it's all relative, and it's people who are getting dumber and dumber?
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:4, Interesting)
I think it's the opposite, that before, people (at least westerners) were too dumb to realize how intelligent they were. There's a line from the movie Little Big Man where Chief Dan George's character talks of the difference between the Natives and the transplanted Europeans (not an exact quote): "The Indian, we think everything is alive - the coyote, the bear, the trees, even the rocks. But the white man, he thinks everything is dead, and if he suspects something is alive he'll kill it."
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:5, Funny)
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Maybe you need to get one of these. [amazon.com]
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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.
More likely micro-evolution (Score:5, Insightful)
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Erh... the flaw in your theory is that the cats that are closest to human (i.e. cats living in apartments), thus also the best fed ones, are also the ones that are most likely not able to produce any offspring...
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Erh... the flaw in your theory is that the cats that are closest to human (i.e. cats living in apartments), thus also the best fed ones, are also the ones that are most likely not able to produce any offspring...
I don't know in what world you live, but those cats create offspring like rabbits! Where I live there are so many cats going outside each day and night, enough opportunity to do whatever needs to be done.
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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...
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The other thing to keep in mind is that dogs endear themselves with pack behaviour, something cats don't quite take to.
Dogs are extremely engaging, attentive and loyal and that's pretty much all they had to do to ensure their survival alongside humanity.
Cats, lacking this instinct, had to evolve to be cute as well or face getting eaten. Therefore the most personable, adorable and lovely cats had a much better chance of survival.
I guess that goes quite a way to explaining why cats are much elegant appearing
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Imagine an animal that looked like a dog and behaved like a cat. We'd eat that fucker to extinction as a service to the world.
Those are called foxes. I presume considering there is no Kentucky Fried Fox restaurant near me that they are not yummy.
Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? (Score:5, Informative)
Intelligent design is a term used for a fairly specific type of religious sophistry.
Re: (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...
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Did you get the raise?
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I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:5, Interesting)
I seem to be 95% immune to my cats when they pull tricks like that. My cats know damn well that I'll feed them before going to bed. It can happen anywhere between coming home and right before actually going to bed.
My cats are persistent, make no mistake, and my wife can be very annoyed with them, but I usually wait until I happen to feel like feeding them. So if their mewling is comparable to a baby's cry I shudder to think what kind of dad I'd make ;).
I should mention, though, that they have dry food available at any time so it's not like they're hungry when I feed them. It is actually a very interesting way to learn to not give in to annoying behaviour.
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.
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I'm hoping so, but only time and actually raising one or two will tell :).
Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, just remember not to take photos of your kids in amusing positions and photo-shop "OH HAI" onto them, and you'll have made a good start.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, lolkidz already exists : http://lolkids.com/ [lolkids.com] . It has a S instead of a Z, but it's the same thing. Looking at it for a moment and it doesn't even come close to been funny...
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Unless his cats have him so totally hypnotized he doesn't realize he's their slave. Seen teenagers do the Jedi mind trick plenty of times.
In any case, as an older guy, I remember that phase of my life when my friends would extrapolate from their pet owning experience to their incipient parental prowess. I won't spoil the fun, other than to say this: you'll find out for yourself. It's a hell of a ride, in every sense of the word.
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So if their mewling is comparable to a baby's cry I shudder to think what kind of dad I'd make ;).
I wouldn't worry. Most all women who have had more than one or two children know how and when to ignore a crying baby.
I've had just about any animal you could think of as a pet, but I've learned over the years that barring any individual's fascination with cats (and the requisite personality traits required for membership in a cult or a successful career as a waiter), dogs make far better pets. Hell, even for
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Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... (Score:5, Funny)
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.
So... (Score:2)
are cats poised to take over the world? Or is the exploitation thing only limited to catfood?
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The cats will take over the world AND divert it's resources to providing cat food?
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So... (Score:4, Informative)
Soylent Green Cat Food is PEOPLE!!!!!!!
The cats won't mind that; size is likely the only reason you're seen as a provider and not prey. Go jump in the nearest lion enclosure if you think otherwise. ;-)
Re:So... (Score:4, Funny)
I have a friend who is breeding cats for opposable thumbs and larger brains.
Forget Skynet.
We're done for.
--
BMO
Re:So... (Score:4, Funny)
Dare I ask, breeding with other cats, or with humans? The last thing we need is a human-cat hybrid. They'd probably make the purrfect advisary.
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
I doubt it. If you did that, you'd wind up with an animal with an amazing sense of smell but also a tendency to get distracted by expensive suits.
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Or more likely a retarded furry.
old news (Score:2, Interesting)
i noticed years ago my cat used to put on this special voice that seemed to elicit some kind of unconscious reaction in me. second time around at cat owning the little wench has tried it once or twice but i'm immune to it, the first cat overdid it and it stopped working for him.
when i first read this article i thought it was talking about the 'chirping' that cats do when they are extra happy purring, or maybe something a female cat a friend of mine has does a lot, these quiet, semi-pur semi-miao chirpy nois
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i thought i should clarify about the 'special voice' i refer to, it's not that brrraaao sound, although a neighbour's cat i noticed doing that, and it resembles the call female cats do when they are on heat, which can often closely resemble a baby crying, it's a sound that's more akin to the sound of a bell being struck, a very rich resonant sound. that's the only cat miao wanting attention that i've ever found compelling, the other kind of miao is just cute and doesn't seem demanding at all.
Re:old news (Score:5, Interesting)
My cat just has an annoying meow sound she makes when she wants attention. It's not cute or nice, it just grates on the nerves. She was very late in learning to meow when she wants things, so I think that has a lot to do with it. (I had another cat that took care of her and did all the asking, so she never had to. After he died, she had to learn to take care of herself and she was already like 5 years old.)
There's no doubt she learns, though... But sometimes she 'learns' things that are wrong. For instance, for some reason she thinks that I'll fill up the water bowl more often if she drops food in it. She's wrong, but she's done it for years now. There's always exactly 1 piece, no matter how far from the food bowl it is.
hidden effect (Score:2, Informative)
This explains (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This explains everything (Score:4, Funny)
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Interestingly enough, that is my house, except I'm the one with the cat. My wife often complains that I pay more attention to the cat.
I'm so tempted to tell her that if she were cute and cuddly I'd pay more attention to her. That, and the cat doesn't mind when I pet her.
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Hehe... that's good. I like this as well:
Felis catus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.
A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
You would not be so
I think I've seen a video of this research... (Score:2, Funny)
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.
Re:Definitely not evolution - adaptation, maybe (Score:5, Informative)
Cats are very unusual in evolutionary terms. For solitary animals, they have remarkably well developed social skills. The ability to make a wide variety of vocal sounds is usually associated with social development and mating habits too.
Clearly humans have not been a major factor in their evolution - we have not been domesticating them for nearly long enough. By chance they developed into cute, furry and agreeable little things that human beings enjoy having around. They are intelligent enough to manipulate us quite successfully and yet, despite being fully aware of what is happening we accept and even enjoy it. Being highly independent they have their own little lives which fascinate us.
Maybe it's just anthropomorphism, but it's certainly highly fortunate from the cat's point of view. Average life expectancy in the wild is a few years, domesticated it's 10+.
In other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
Stuff with brains can learn.
My faith in /. is restored (Score:2)
Over 50 replies and nobody resorted to LOLcats and the associated mangling of the English language.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry [ucomparehealthcare.com] to ruin it for you.
And If Humans Were Only Six Inches Tall (Score:5, Funny)
... cats wouldn't be purring at all.
cats also provide more (Score:5, Interesting)
Highlighted by the animal's actions previous to my mother suddenly passing away. For several weeks the cat would never leave her side, as she became ill. Then mom passed away suddenly in her sleep. The autopsy revealed a ruptured cyst around a cancerous growth on the large intestine. For a couple weeks previous to her death, she had complained the cat was licking the area just under her ribcage. The doctors were confused as to the raw area of skin on her belly area. The cat knew, and I believe was an effort to heal my mother the only way a cat knows how.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
First off, I'm sorry.
But ... the cat wasn't trying to heal her, it was preparing to eat her.
"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.
And who do you think domesticated *who*? (Score:5, Funny)
Come on - we partnered with dogs 70k years ago or so, and what happened? We sat around, scratched/licked our private parts, hunted (a little), and hung out and told stories.
Then, maybe 12k-20k years ago, cats domesticated us, and the next thing you know, we're doing agriculture, and building civilization... so that they could live in the manner in which they intended to become accustomed.
It's all their fault...
mark
--
The truth will out: someone got it at last:
Dogs have masters; cats have staff.
Re:Huh??? (Score:5, Informative)
I have never in my whole life experienced a purr that had ANY recognizable component of "baby cry" in it.
It's not said that it sounds like a baby cry but only that it's on the same frequency.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
From another report from LiveScience [livescience.com], I gather that it would be most recognizable to you as being called just a "baby cry," but with a subtle sound the same as cats make when purring mixed in, rather than as purring with a crying sound, but the language is utterly ambiguous and it seems hard to distinguish when they mean meowing, purring, or whatever.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The BBC report that I heard on the radio this morning didn't suggest that the "soliciting purr" sounded recognizably like a baby's cry - but if you stick a recording of it through a spectrum analyzer you find that it has some of the same frequency components as a baby cry embedded in it. So the sound puts humans on edge and plays on their subconscious in such a way that they want to satisfy the cat and make it stop.
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: (Score:2)
At least they're cute and fluffy, compared to the average politician I'd call that a step in the right direction.
Re: (Score:2)
Trolling has moved to story tags apparently...
Re:Cat purrrs that sound like babies (Score:4, Funny)