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 ...
haha. Yep you pretty much nailed it!! Now your thinking from the cat’s perspective! :) lol.
Along with the hairy tail...
hilarious!!!!!
And the beard was a definite non-starter as well. Begorrah!
The author added that whenever he used the can opener - regardless if it was cat food or not - the cat could be anywhere in the house and he would come running. It was, the author said, as if the cat was thinking, "Could be food, don't risk not knowing!". I LOVE these critters!
Can a cat be “His Master’s Voice” if cats don’t have masters?
Awww!
But does he hear you calling him to dinner, LOL.
Back in the days of the traveling salesmen visiting homes with their wares, my haridan grandmother was always welcoming in the hearing aid fellows to charm Pawpaw into making a purchase.
Knowing her ear was waxing the other side of the keyhole, Pawpaw would grit out that he could “hear enough, thank you!”
As a little girl I never got to know him as well as I wish now. Painfully shy, I shrank away from having to yell into that sweet old man’s ear.
But his having gone hard of hearing was truly a blessing. Only way that poor man got any peace, way I heard tell.
Our cats also come when called. About the only thing they ignore is us yelling at them when they sharpen their claws. That keeps me repairing the trim around one door frame every couple of years. Other than that they’re low maintenance, a proper ear scratch from us and they are ready to go.
I think that’s an ice cream koan.
My wife and I have been married going on thirty years, and we have the usual collection of old married couple things, and one of them that stands out is that she is generally a talker in most cases, where I am less so...particularly in the morning.
This would be me in the morning:
This epitomizes my wife in the morning:
We have been married long enough she knows what it takes before I become functional and civil, and is gentle with me, though she sometimes turns on lights that I immediately have to turn off...and often after she has had a cup of coffee, her cheery, conversational morning person kicks into overdrive.
There have been occasional times where she feels the need to apologize and explain she just can't help herself when she has a cup of coffee...
And I remind myself, there may be times in my life someday where the only thing I will want to hear is her voice, and I manage a weak smile and tell her it is just fine...I am interested in what she is saying even though at that hour of the morning it feels like a rusty chain saw is being inserted in each ear.
That is how I know I love her so.
It is so true. You have to appreciate what you have got, while you have got it. Goes for pets whose lives are so much shorter than ours.
And spouses who foibles cannot be any worse than your own...:)
Dates seriously do that?
My cat comes when called, every time. And, since I almost never feed him, he is responding to me, not the chance of food.
A man was convinced his wife was going deaf, so one day he stood about twenty feet behind her and said, "Can you hear me?". No answer. He moved up to ten feet and repeated, "Can you hear me?", still, no answer. He then stood directly behind her chair and said, "Can you hear me?", to which she replied, "For the third time, YES!". ;o)
LOL
BTW I showed your gifs to one of my regular clients here, a real sweet lady. I always like to put a smile on her face.
Enchanting little bugger, that slow loris.
BTW I showed your gifs to one of my regular clients here, a real sweet lady. I always like to put a smile on her face.
Enchanting little bugger, that slow loris.
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I’m glad you and others enjoyed them.
Yes, they must be absolutely one of the cutest little things in the world. Makes you want one.
(which is why they’re being hunted down in their native country and exported for pets. Poor ‘lil things.)
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