Why do cats meow more to humans than to each other?
Cats were solitary creatures from the beginning. This means that they prefer to live alone and go hunting rather than being in the company of others of their ilk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0VNhjB-23k
This is a story that goes back thousands of years.
Cats were solitary creatures from the beginning. This means that they prefer to live alone and go hunting rather than being in the company of others of their ilk.
The peak level of their social behavior is ultimately limited to mother-kitten interactions. Outside of this relationship, cats rarely meow to each other.
Cats probably first encountered humans around 10,000 years ago, when people began living in permanent settlements. These habitats naturally attracted rodents, which in turn attracted cats in search of prey.
Cats that were more fearless and more adaptable stayed there and benefited from a constant and constant food source. Over time, these cats found closer and closer bonds with humans.
Unlike dogs, which were bred by humans for specific traits, cats essentially domesticated themselves. Cats that could tolerate humans and communicate effectively with them had a survival advantage, resulting in a population that was well adapted to coexistence with humans.
From snoring to crushing
To understand this phenomenon, we can look at the experiment on Russian breeding foxes. In the early 1950s, a scientist from the former Soviet Union named Dmitri Belyaev selectively bred silver foxes and mated them with those that were more fearless and less aggressive towards humans.
Over successive generations, these foxes became progressively more docile and friendly, acquiring physical characteristics similar to domestic dogs, such as drooping ears and curled tails. Their vocalization also evolved, changing from aggressive “howls” and “snorts” to more friendly “squeals” as if they were laughing like humans.
These experiments showed that selectively breeding animals for domestication can lead to a range of behavioral and physical changes in them that you can achieve in a matter of decades that would normally take thousands of years.
Although the evolutionary differences between cats and modern dogs are less clear, cats have also changed from their wild ancestors in Africa. They now have smaller brains and more varied colors that are common among many domesticated species.
Like Russian silver foxes, cats have adapted their vocalizations over time, although this evolution occurred over a much longer period of time than lab-bred foxes.
Human infants are “alteric” at birth, meaning they are completely dependent on their parents. This dependence has made us especially sensitive to cries of helplessness and urgency, as if ignoring them would cost human survival.
Cats have also changed their voices to exploit this human sensitivity. A 2009 study by animal behaviorist Karen McComb and her team provides evidence of this adaptation. Participants in the study listened to two types of purrs: one recorded when the cats were looking for food (begging purrs) and one when they were not looking for food (non-begging purrs). As a result, both cat owners and others rated pleading purrs as more urgent.
Acoustic analysis of these vocalizations revealed a low-pitched component in these pleading grunts that resembles crying. This screeching sound taps into our innate sensitivity to distressing sounds and makes it nearly impossible for us to ignore.
But it’s not just cats that have adapted their voices: we have too. When we talk to babies, we use a baby voice, which is characterized by a lower voice, exaggerated tones, and simple language. This form of speech helps babies interact and plays a role in their language development.
We have extended this communication style to our interactions with pets. Recent research shows that cats respond to this form of communication.
Meow meow; The upper hand of cats in relation to humans
A 2022 study by animal behavior researcher Charlotte de Mouzon and her colleagues found that cats can distinguish between speech to themselves and speech to humans.
This ability to distinguish between cats talking to themselves and between cats and humans is most evident when the cat wants to communicate with its owner.
This type of speech reinforces a bond that mirrors the interactions of a mother and a kitten.
Changes in vocalizations are not only seen in cat-human relationships. Dogs have also developed their barking in the process of their evolution to communicate more effectively with humans, and just like talking to cats, we humans also use pet speech when interacting with dogs.
Over time, cats have developed sounds that trigger our instinct to care and protect them.
This two-way communication, combined with our use of baby talk with animals, has created a unique relationship with these feline friends.
It seems that cats may have the upper hand in this regard and adapt to our care and attention. However, many cat owners want nothing more than that.
