are often shaded in a bad light for hating humans but a new study says
they actually likes people more than we think. In a research conducted
on the cute creature, it is discovered their snobbish and aloof
behaviour may simply be misunderstood.
The trio, Kristyn Vitale
Shreve, Lindsay Mehrkam and Monique Udell who conducted the experiment
with Oregon State University and Monmouth University noted that Felis
catus have complex socio-cognitive problem-solving abilities.
Evidence that Cats Likes their owners
order to assess the degree to which cats like (or are stimulated by)
certain things, the researchers tested reactions from two groups of 19
cats each—those living with people and those living in a shelter. The
pets were kept separated for two and a half hours and were then watched
as they were presented with three items from one of four category types:
food, scent, toy and human interaction.
researchers mixed up the stimuli for the different cats to get a better
read on which they found the most stimulating. The degree of preference
for any one stimulus was judged by which stimulus the cat went for
first and how and for how long it interacted with it.
found that overall social interaction with humans was the stimulus most
preferred. That is, half of the cats chose interacting with a human
above anything else offered, which included food—they spent on average
65% of their time interacting with a person.
Hilarious Facts About Cats
1. One legend claims cats were created when a lion on Noah’s Ark sneezed and two kittens came out.
2. When they leave their poop uncovered, it is a sign of aggression to let you know they don’t fear you.
Hearing is the strongest of cat’s senses: They can hear sounds as high
as 64 kHz — compared with humans, who can hear only as high as 20 kHz.
4. Contrary to what we believe, cats don’t eat raw fish.
5. The world’s richest cat is worth $13 million after his human owner passed away and left her fortune to him.
6. The world’s largest cat measured 48.5 inches long.
7. Cats sleep 70% of their lives.
8. A cat has been mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, for 15 years. His name is Stubbs, and one ran for mayor of Mexico City in 2013.
9. They can survive falls from over 32 stories (320 meters) onto concrete.
10. A group of cats is called a clowder and they have 20 muscles that control their ears.
11. Evidence suggests that domesticated cats have been around since 3600 B.C., 2,000 years before Egypt’s pharaohs.
In ancient Egypt, killing a cat is forbidden partly because they
provided the great service of controlling the rat population. They were
also mythic symbols of divinity in ancient Egypt.
13. The animal
was pronounced demonic in the 15th century by Pope Innocent VIII and
gave orders to began killing of cats – It’s no wonder why the animal is
widely hated in Nigeria.
14. Cats can’t taste sweetness. When
they grimace, they are usually “taste-scenting,” – using an extra organ
that, with some breathing control, allows them to taste-sense the air.
A cat’s cerebral cortex (the part of the brain in charge of cognitive
information processing) has 300 million neurons, compared with a dog’s
16. They have a lower social IQ than dogs but can
solve more difficult cognitive problems when they feel like it, as well
as a longer-term memory than dogs, especially when they learn by
actually doing rather than simply seeing.
17. A cat’s brain is 90%
similar to a human’s — more similar than to a dog’s, which explains why
cats and humans have nearly identical sections of the brain that
18. Adult cats only meow to communicate with
humans. They also recognise their owner’s voice but just acts too
majestic to care (probably because they are).
19. A study claims
cats make more than 100 different sounds whereas dogs make around 10.
They can change their meow to manipulate a human and often imitate a
human baby when they need food.
Abraham Lincoln is said to have kept four cats in the US White House,
and when asked if her husband had any hobbies, Mary Todd Lincoln
reportedly replied “cats.”
21. The first cat in space was French named Felicette, or “Astrocat.” She also survived the trip.
The reason why they are able to squeeze through very small spaces is
because they have free-floating clavicle bones that attach their
shoulders to their forelimbs.
23. Most cats don’t like water because their cool and soft coat do not insulate them well.
24. They can be domestic or wild animals.
25. They are the most popular pet in the United States: There are 88 million pet cats and 74 million dogs in the US.