They don't ask, they demand: How cats make us obey them
A new study from the University of São Paulo reveals that cats meow 16 times more in the presence of a human to demand a solution to a problem, rather than out of emotional reflex. The findings were published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
A new study from the University of São Paulo in Brazil, published in the journal Animal Behaviour, reveals that cats' meows are not random but a clear demand for humans to solve problems for them. In the study, 38 cats were presented with an "unsolvable task": a treat trapped inside a small plastic box. Researchers compared the cats' behavior when alone in the room versus in the presence of a human, and found that the cats were 16 times more vocal when a person was present. In addition to meowing, the cats displayed other behaviors such as a pleading look and shifting their gaze between the human and the treat, reinforcing the conclusion that this is intentional communication. These findings align with previous studies showing that cat sounds have evolved over thousands of years to be more "pleasant" to our ears, similar to the sound of babies.