I own a lilac point siamese cat. He has bright blue eyes and is the loudest complainer I know. Every morning, he comes to my bed, pulls the blanket off my face and unrelentingly meows at me. Sometimes he’ll climb onto my face or squeeze into the bed sheets, all to get my attention.
Your cat is probably different from mine, but I’m sure we can agree that it seems like they act crazy for no reason at all.
Sometimes it may feel like our cats are out to get us, but scientists are learning more about why cats do the things they do.
The history of cats
Cats have been around humans for thousands of years. But their domestication story is different from other animals.
According to National Geographic, cats started coming near humans about 8,000 years ago while hunting for mice and rats in farming communities in the Fertile Crescent. Humans didn’t capture the cats, unlike dog domestication where humans selected specific dogs for specific traits and kept breeding them.
As human civilization expanded, so did the cats. More and more, cats chose to be with humans and some even became icons (like in ancient Egypt), while others rode on ships to the corners of the world, per National Geographic.
Cats can make hundreds of expressions
In late 2023, a new study came out revealing that cats have 276 unique facial expressions. Around 83% of these expressions are primarily used for social interactions.
Co-author Brittany Florkiewicz, an evolutionary psychologist, told CNN, “Our study demonstrates that cat communication is more complex than previously assumed.” She added that it was probably domestication that contributed to the increase in communication.
The study was also able to classify the expressions into two groups: friendly or aggressive. Researchers found that 45.7% of cat expressions in the study were friendly, while 37% were aggressive, according to CNN.
OK, cats are technically murderers
Another study that was published in 2023 found daunting evidence that cats were committing mass murders — in 2,084 species, to be exact. Published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers were able to pinpoint three species cats were most likely to hunt down: birds, reptiles and mammals.
NPR explains that the study found that cats hunt 347 species that are a conservation concern to scientists (for example the green sea turtle) while also having been linked to the extinction of 60 species around the world.
More fun facts about cats
Researchers have found more interesting features of cats that weren’t known to us before. The Washington Post shares some of these unique traits:
- Cats are social beings and actually prefer social interactions (though sometimes they do want to be alone).
- Instead of separating cats into dominant and submissive groups, it’s better to consider them as territorial.
- A cat’s mischievous behavior could be caused by a variety of things like trauma or illness, and not just spite.
- Some cats are able to play fetch, walk on a leash or perform tricks.