- Feb 5, 2002
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Cats sometimes get a bad rap as loners and antisocial furballs with cold, indifferent looks. But, unsurprisingly for a domesticated hunter, they are very socially active according to a new study that counted their facial expressions.
While recording video footage of the 53 residents of a Los Angeles cat cafe, researchers Lauren Scott and Brittany Florkiewicz concluded that cats possess at least as much variance in their facial expressions as dogs.
In particular, they found that cat facial expressions and their complexity were derived from “compositionality” rather than complexity, meaning that in order to dig what your cat is communicating, it pays to look at its ears, nose, and whiskers, not only its eyes and mouth.
Lauren and Florkiewicz discovered 276 expressions made up of a combination of 26 facial movements; dogs by comparison use 27 movements and humans use 44.
Each expression combined about four of these 26 unique facial movements, including parted lips, jaw drops, dilated or constricted pupils, blinks and half blinks, pulled lip corners, nose licks, protracted or retracted whiskers, and/or various ear positions.
Continued below.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
While recording video footage of the 53 residents of a Los Angeles cat cafe, researchers Lauren Scott and Brittany Florkiewicz concluded that cats possess at least as much variance in their facial expressions as dogs.
In particular, they found that cat facial expressions and their complexity were derived from “compositionality” rather than complexity, meaning that in order to dig what your cat is communicating, it pays to look at its ears, nose, and whiskers, not only its eyes and mouth.
Lauren and Florkiewicz discovered 276 expressions made up of a combination of 26 facial movements; dogs by comparison use 27 movements and humans use 44.
Each expression combined about four of these 26 unique facial movements, including parted lips, jaw drops, dilated or constricted pupils, blinks and half blinks, pulled lip corners, nose licks, protracted or retracted whiskers, and/or various ear positions.
Continued below.
Cats Make Nearly 300 Different Facial Expressions to Communicate Feline Feelings
Each expression combined about four of these 26 unique facial movements, including parted lips, jaw drops, dilated pupils, blinks, etc.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
