Yet cats, like dogs, have been remarkably successful at penetrating the inner sanctum of human domestic life, and insinuating themselves into our families-an ability more than worthy of extensive scientific exploration. Ever seen that YouTube video of a cat knocking a glass of water onto his sleeping owner? Plus, they pee on the couch when we go out of town and have been known to go to diabolical lengths to wake us up when hungry. But often cats can seem imperious and indifferent to our affections-as if they own us and we should feel grateful when they bless us with their attention. Sure, some might tolerate a scratch behind the ears or a few minutes of heavy petting. The feline-human relationship has always been more nuanced. They overwhelm us with affection-telegraphing their delight at our very existence by leaping into our arms, licking our faces, wagging their tails and, when ignored, scrunching their eyebrows and whining like babies. Orange cat walks on the back of young boy. They're just more subtle than dogs in the way they express themselves. Most of all, the evidence is growing that the cat-human bond is both reciprocal, real and enduring.Ĭats, this evidence suggests, don't just like us. They can learn rules and schedules, understand rudimentary human cues and draw conclusions based on limited information. They are capable of understanding complex human signaling. Many can recognize their own names and the voices-and faces-of their owners. They are also far more intelligent that many assume. In the process, they are beginning to answer the kinds of questions that have long nagged at cat owners-overturning some long-held misconceptions in the process.įar from being solitary misanthropes, many cats, we now know, are capable of complex social groupings and developing deeply meaningful attachments to their human protectors. But in recent years, a promising new generation of cat lovers-many motivated by a fierce loyalty to their chosen species of pet, and the belief they have been continually and unfairly maligned-have begun borrowing experimental paradigms and drawing from lessons learned in the dog field. Since then, labs have sprung up across the globe devoted to plumbing the minds of dogs-measuring their capacity to read and assess human emotions and signals, understand abstract ideas and social dynamics and answer other questions central to the human-canine relationships, such as whether they truly love us.įor most of that time, cat owners were out of luck. The recent renaissance in cat research was inspired, in part, by early experiments on dogs in the 1990s and early aughts by Pongrácz and his colleagues at Eötvös Loránd University. For decades, cats took a back seat to those other animal stars of human households: dogs. Read more Vegan cat study surprises scientists
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