Do cats use their meow as language?

all lovers Gatos They are known to be very independent animals, but even often they look out for their owners (even the owners’ sworn enemies) and try Transfer With them.

If you have to live with domestic cats You know that at some point he will look for you, make a weird sound and stick his fur on your leg.

That is, we know that they are looking for ways to communicate with humans.

Just trying to decipher the method Gatos With humans came a curious study that analyzed the differences in purring, meowing, whining, squawking, howling, grunting and other forms of communication between “walkers” and their owners.

Cats talk to us

If you have NeverYou know, they’ve been able to get what they want to us. That is, somehow establishing contact with humans.

Now, understand exactly what”missThey mean it’s something completely different. This is exactly what a group of Swedish scientists led by Susan Schutz, in a series of experiments that became relevant this year.

Dr. Schutz is an expert in phonetics, so she decided to study the different types of meowing in cats, and this is where her research was born. Melody in Communication between Humans and Cats (Miyai Sika): Origin, Past, Present, and Future.

Schutz discovered that every type of sound cats make represents something they want to communicate, and the humans they live with usually understand what’s going on around them without too much trouble.

The secret is in the tone

In his first work on the subject, Schutz I discovered this Gatos They made sounds of different tones depending on the circumstances.

Thus, at mealtime, his meow was a tonal increase at the end; As cats die in the vet’s waiting room with a chromatic drop at the end of purring.

The most interesting thing is that the humans who listened to the audio recordings, all through their own recordings GatosThey can easily distinguish between meows coming out for food and which ones at the vet.

Thus, in this first approach, the expert determined that there are very successful forms of communication between cats and humans.

cat language

Thanks to this first work published in 2018, Schutz I decided to continue exploring the topic. He took advantage of the fact that he has five Gatos To study the sounds they make.

That is why he published two more studies in recent years, which together allowed him to win the prize. Nobel Prize in Biology This year, which is given to bizarre investigations that make us laugh at first, and then lead us to think.

In her experiments, the expert used the sound of her cats to discover the different sounds they make the cats They are more complex than you think.

Thus, using the same methods used in the study of human speech, he concluded that the cats They have a wide range of audio cues, and they don’t just use it to order food.

And even when they ask, they have variations to be very specific in their demands.

Group dialect of Michis

Among the intriguing things he found in his research is that, in families with many people GatosCats can develop what she calls a “group accent,” even if they don’t agree.

Schutz explains in One of his investigations.

approach Schutz It goes against the belief, even by some veterinarians, that the cats They just tend to be in a perpetual infantile state, without much awareness of their voices.

Do cats have language?

Now, the Doctor is not asserting that felines handle language as we humans understand it.

They can’t communicate to discuss their plans, or come to peaceful non-aggression agreements, or anything like that. That is, they do not have a real language, but each cat has its own personal voice for communication.

When you compare his five GatosIn addition to some imitation of sounds, most of them had a specific sound that they used for their own purposes, and even for entertainment.

for example, Schutz He revealed that only one of his cats imitated the sound of birds when he passed by.

Thus, it is possible that thanks to studies like these, we are closer to understanding the mysterious and beautiful lines.