5 feline facts to help see your cat in a new light | 24CA News

Cats have lived alongside people for millennia, however there’s nonetheless a lot we do not find out about our companions. How do cats purr? Why do they appear so irritated on a regular basis? And when and the place did cats start sharing houses with people? 

Part of the problem with discovering the solutions to those questions is the notoriously secretive nature of home cats and their unwillingness to do what they’re informed — one thing that makes finding out cats in a laboratory setting fairly difficult. But advances in know-how and analysis strategies lately have helped to make clear some cat behaviour, pinpoint the origins of the species we all know because the home cat, and even discover a remedy for a deadly feline illness.  

Here’s a few of the newest science about our feline companions.

Cats’ faces are extra expressive than you assume

Humans have been attempting to decode the which means of their feline pals’ facial expressions for some time, making some progress in research of cat faces in interactions with people. But what are their faces doing round different cats? To discover out, researchers recorded movies at a Los Angeles, Calif., cat café to check the facial expressions the animals make whereas interacting amongst themselves. 

Using a facial muscle coding system, the scientists found that cats make 276 distinct facial expressions utilizing 26 distinctive facial actions, similar to parting their lips, licking their nostril or squinting their eyes. Brittany Florkiewicz, a co-author of the brand new research, mentioned the vast majority of these expressions may very well be categorized as both pleasant or unfriendly. “We were able to find evidence for something called a ‘play face,'” she informed Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald. “And we actually have current studies that show that big cats are capable of producing these play faces as well.”

Florkiewicz, who has additionally studied ape facial expressions, mentioned she was impressed by the vary of expressions present in cats, akin to over 300 expressions she has beforehand recognized in chimpanzees. “It was really interesting to think about how domestication has shaped that facial expression repertoire, and then thinking about comparisons that we could potentially make with other species,” she mentioned.

Cats are constructed to purr

Regardless of what their face seems to be like, a telltale signal of a contented cat is the signature purr. But one thing that has puzzled scientists is how an animal as small as a home cat can produce sounds at such low frequencies. 

Tecumseh W. Fitch studied the physiology of cat larynges — the organ behind the throat concerned in respiratory and sound manufacturing, also called the voice field — to determine this out. In his analysis, he recognized a pair of fatty pads that assist decelerate the vibration of the vocal folds to make the low-frequency rumbling. 

“So what we think is that the cat is using one part of its vocal folds to produce… sounds like meows. And only using the full vocal fold with these fat inclusions to make for a lower-frequency purrs,” he informed Quirks & Quarks.   

These outcomes, revealed in Current Biology, additionally problem the widespread idea of the mechanics of purring. “What was thought until our study for cats is that … each pulse of the purr was actually accompanied by a muscle twitch that had to be driven by the cat, by a neural signal from the cat’s brain,” Fitch mentioned. “And what we were able to show is that, that’s not necessary for purring to occur.”

Cat hair can assist clear up crimes

Here’s a truth that does not want a analysis paper to again it up: cat hair will get in every single place. And whereas this can be dangerous news on your fashionable all-black outfits, it is good news for forensic scientists. 

The potential of utilizing cat hair to unravel crimes has been recognized for a while now. In a 2023 U.Ok. manslaughter case, cat hairs left on the sufferer have been matched to these present in a suspect’s house, leading to a conviction. But there are some challenges to utilizing cat hair to determine wrongdoers.

Cat hair does not include as a lot genetic materials as a swab of saliva or a drop of blood, “so we have to look at another kind,” researcher Mark Jobling informed Quirks & Quarks. “And that kind is called mitochondrial DNA.”

In a paper revealed within the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics, Jobling and his workforce describe how they have been capable of extract mitochondrial DNA from cat hair. Jobling mentioned this take a look at “can work with as little as a single cat hair” and hairs which might be over 20 years outdated. This may be helpful in chilly circumstances the place cat hair is included within the proof, since in contrast to blood or saliva, DNA in hair degrades extra slowly over time.

Cats can get sick with coronaviruses — and higher with COVID-19 antivirals

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced further issues for cat house owners too, as experiences emerged of tigers and home cats testing optimistic for the virus. But lengthy earlier than SARS-CoV-2, there was a unique coronavirus plaguing the feline inhabitants. “The standard cat coronavirus, it’s all over the world. And most cats, if they go outside, they catch it,” mentioned feline infectious illness specialist Danielle Gunn-Moore. 

For most cats that catch this virus, it exhibits up as some delicate diarrhea. But in a small proportion of animals, the virus mutates into a virulent disease referred to as feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). 

Until lately, the FIP prognosis was a loss of life sentence. But when antiviral medication for SARS-CoV-2 grew to become obtainable, it turned out that these medicine are extremely efficient as FIP therapy. When Gunn-Moore and her colleagues examined the antiviral medicine in a inhabitants of over 300 cats, therapy was efficient in 85 per cent of the animals. “It’s like fate has given us the most wonderful gift of … something we can treat this devastating disease with,” Gunn-Moore mentioned. 

And it got here at simply the fitting time, as a very lethal pressure of the cat coronavirus was devastating the quite a few inhabitants of feral cats in Cyprus. Gunn-Moore and her colleagues are actually constructing on the success of the antiviral therapy to develop a simpler vaccine in opposition to FIP.

Even once they’re curled up in your lap, cats have ‘one paw within the wild’

Analysis of historical cat DNA — together with quite a few cat mummies present in Egypt — has helped scientists conclude that the the home cats species, Felis catus, originated within the North African wild cat. But as writer Jonathan B. Losos explores in his new e-book, The Cat’s Meow: How the Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa, a lot of our cats’ behaviour stays on the wild facet. 

“One thing about unowned outdoor cats is they very quickly revert to their wild existence,” Losos informed Quirks & Quarks. “They have, if you will, one paw still in the wild, because it’s very easy for them to revert and basically go back to living like their ancestors did, hunting and getting by quite well.” 

Studies of feral cat colonies additionally present an inner hierarchy completely different from most different species of cats, wild or home. “Cats have a reputation of being aloof loners that live by themselves … not being very friendly to each other. It turns out that at least in some circumstances, that could not be further from the truth,” Losos mentioned. “Domestic cats, when they’re living at high densities, form into prides just like lions.” These teams groom one another and play collectively, and even nurse one another’s younger.