A study done on big cats not long ago showed that they can tell the difference between known and unknown human sounds. These results show that even big cats that aren’t as social can still be smart when it comes to people.
Reports say that cats, whether they are big cats or house cats, are generally very shy and don’t put themselves in situations where they can connect with people very much. That being said, research has shown that house cats can recognize the voice of their owner.
A new study shows that cats like cheetahs, cougars, tigers, and lions can tell the difference between sounds they know and voices they don’t. Even though this study only looked at big cats that lived in zoos, it is said that this skill can help them tell the difference between other animals’ social calls or their cubs’ sounds.
For the study, records of people talking were played for the cats. The voices were of people the cats knew and people they didn’t know. A phrase like “Good morning, how are you today?” was said to the cats.
When the cats listened to the voices, they were watched to see if their behavior changed in any way. For example, if the cats’ heads turned, moved toward or away from the sound, or hissed or growled at the voices, that was recorded.
A lot of people thought it was cool that the results were so clear and that all of the cats could recognize the sounds of people they knew. Doctor Jennifer Vonk helped write the study and this is what she had to say about the results:
Vonk said, “I think it’s interesting for the public to think that even cats that aren’t owned by people are registering who’s taking care of them.” “It makes me think that they might not be as cold and uninterested as they are sometimes thought to be.”
