and how many tax dollars did they funnel to Capt. Obvious for THAT analysis???
Posted on 12/02/2013 5:07:58 PM PST by Dysart
Cats, according to new research, recognize their owner’s voice. They just can’t be bothered to react to it.
Researchers in Japan arrived at this conclusion after performing experiments with twenty house cats. They played recordings of the cats’ owners’ calling to their pets in whatever cat-talk voice they typically used. They also played recordings of three strangers calling to the cats, using the same words.
To quantify the cats’ reactions, the researchers recorded how often cats moved their head, tail, paws or ears, or whether they meowed or dilated their pupils. While the cats showed a significantly greater response to their owners calling their names than to strangers doing so, they did not bother to get up in either instance, the researchers found.
As the Independent explains, the authors think cats’ dismissive attitudes are a product of their evolutionary history over the past 9,000 years:
As early societies developed agriculture, these cats moved in to prey on the rodents that were attracted to stores of grain. In the words of the paper’s authors, they effectively “domesticated themselves”.
“Historically speaking, cats, unlike dogs, have not been domesticated to obey humans’ orders. Rather, they seem to take the initiative in human–cat interaction.” This is in contrast to the history of dogs and humans, where the former has been bred over thousands of years to respond to orders and commands. Cats, it seems, never needed to learn.
Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/12/cats-recognize-their-owners-voice-but-chose-to-ignore-it/#ixzz2mMyn7FKZ Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.smithsonianmag.com ...
and how many tax dollars did they funnel to Capt. Obvious for THAT analysis???
we’re talkin cats................sense ? Cats ?
it did
The cat always wins.
"You know what those pics say to me?"
"They say: I'm Number One! I'm Number One!"
In other words, nothing else is so important as whatever I choose to do at the moment for ME.
Well, yes, cat people know of it; even I, fortunate dog guy that I am have observed this aloof cat phenomenon, but the WHY as postulated here, is what I thought was intriguing. Slightly.
Yep, I have three of them. They are always responsive.
ping
Nice. Festive & timely. If I were forced to take on care of a cat it would be Grumpy Cat.
my dogs know that sound.
String cheese, brick cheese, sliced cheese, grated cheese.....
here they come.
LOL,I have one just like yours.
We have 8 children, all cast-offs with one bona fide adoptee: Mipsy. Callie, Buddy, Dewey, Li’l One, Jack, Girl, and Grey cat. They all come running when they hear “The Cat Signal”-—can being opened.
Thanks! Well, cats are very smart little critters. Mine will likely abandon me completely just as soon as they figure out how to open their own tuna tins.
I love Maine Coons. What a great cat!!!
Too funny!
Dogs have masters. Cats have servants.
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