Cats know exactly how to tug at our heartstrings to get what they want. Researchers have proven that they manipulate our biological instincts with a very specific purr.
Anyone who lives with a pet knows: our four-legged friends are much smarter than we think. If the breed of the dog or cat has a lot to do with its intellectual abilities or even its personality, certain behaviors seem to be found in a large number of individuals. In nature as in our living rooms, animals demonstrate unparalleled ingenuity when it comes to getting what they want. And for this, cats are masters in the art of manipulating humans.
Our cats understand it well, it is the human who gives food. But above all, it is humans who choose WHEN they give food. So if they want a little treat, there is only one thing left to do: try to coax the person who distributes the food… even if it means a little trickery. A scientific study published in the journal Current Biologyled by researchers at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, proved that cats modify their purring in an attempt to make us give in to their whims. A fascinating technique that exploits an innate sensory bias in mammals, and particularly in humans: our biological sensitivity to the distress cries of babies.
Yes, it was when she noticed that her cat always woke her up with an insistent and unpleasant purr that researcher Karen McComb decided to look into the subject. The study highlighted two types of vocalizations: the classic purr, when the cat is relaxed and not asking for anything, and the “solicitation” purr, when the cat seeks to obtain food. By broadcasting the two types of sounds to around fifty participants (cat owners or not), the researchers discovered that humans systematically judge solicitation purrs as being more urgent and less pleasant.
The difference between the two? In the usually low purr, cats slip “a high-frequency vocal component, reminiscent of a cry or meow, which was found to be decisive in the assessment of urgency and pleasantness”. The study shows that felines have understood two things: we are naturally sensitive to high-pitched cries, associated with those of our own infants, and this modified purr is “more acceptable than an obvious meow”, which is more likely to annoy us and come across as a whim rather than a vital need.
You will have understood, cats do not only purr when they are happy: “Incorporating a cry into a call that we usually associate with satisfaction is a fairly subtle way to elicit a reaction”note the scientists. On the other hand, not all cats have adopted this ingenious manipulation technique. “It appears that this develops most often in cats who have an exclusive (one-on-one) relationship with their owners, rather than in large households where there is a lot of commotion and such purring might go unnoticed.”explains Karen McComb. Of course, it should be noted that if this purring occurs in the morning, it is very possible that the cat is really hungry, whereas it could only be a question of greed if it purrs like this in the middle of the day.
