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 ...
yehp, that sounds like my cats. I have to give them a can of wet cat food to bribe them to come in then they obety me.
They've never forgotten that.
My husband does the same to me, except he says he is hard of hearing.
huh ?
Actually, it's just the stupid "Hello Kitty" thing that the cats have gotten tired of.
My cat must love me, because it never fails to come when I call.
My kitties ignore my voice, but they come running if they hear crunchies being poured into the food dish. And one of them comes running if we get cheese from the refrigerator; she knows what the packaging sounds like.
This is a good one!
My husband says, that cats remember they were once worshiped as gods and will never let you forget it.
Come to think of it, I can think of a couple of dates that I decided never to repeat due to similar attitudes. Here's a hint: when some female spends the majority of the occasion chatting on the cellphone... Run Away. It is only going to worsen from there.
Yeah, I use that one sometimes.
My cats follow my every command. As long as it’s what they wanted to do anyway.
>>For the cat people.
Because dog owners already instinctively knew this.
He recognizes my voice, but choose to ignore it.
just saying
Get it? *joking*
Texting has become a big player now which is slightly less annoying.
So you are a normal guy.
Well, duh!
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