Cats are animals that are famous for being cold and not connecting with humans or other cats. However, a Japanese study showed that cats know the names of their owners and also of other felines they live with.
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Cats are animals that pay close attention to what they hear.
The work was published in the journal Scientific Reports. Among the findings of the research is the discovery that cats are able to recognize both their name and that of their guardians and also of other felines that live with them.
How did scientists come to this conclusion?
The researchers decided to study cats that lived together in homes and in “cat cafes”, establishments that are quite common in Japan, where there are several cats and customers interact with them.
During the testing period, the researchers presented an image of a cat they were familiar with, called a “cat model” and while the image was shown, there was a voice recording of the tutor with the name of the model cat or some name different.
Over the course of the experiment, the team noticed that cats residing in houses spent more time staring at the screen when a different name was spoken. From this, the hypothesis arose that they were intrigued by the mismatch between what they heard and saw.
How did they discover that they can recognize the names of the humans they live with?
The researchers performed a second experiment, in which they presented images of humans instead of cats. As in the first test, there was a recording of the people's names, and the scientists noticed that again the cats spent more time looking at the screen when a different name was said.
Difficulties to carry out the study
One of the difficulties in carrying out the study was due to attempts to escape from the cats. There was even an animal that only completed the first test, and then managed to escape the room and out of reach of the researchers.
There are still questions to be clarified
In conclusion, the authors point out that cats actually seem to associate the names and faces of other cats and humans. However, how they carry out this association in their living environments is still not entirely clear. Therefore, further analyzes will be necessary.
