Cats use such gestures – more than you would think

A new study has revealed that cats employ a whole range of subtle gestures in their communication with each other.

Despite living alongside us for so long, there are still many things we don’t know for certain about our pets, including seemingly mundane things like the physiological background of purring. The cats’s ommunication is also a mystery. Cats try to express themselves through complex signals of body language, but humans are often prone to misunderstanding or not recognizing them.

The Cat’s Communication Is Pretty Complex

As it turns out, communication among cats is more intricate than we ever thought. While we may recognize the messages conveyed by their purring, hissing, or arched backs, these only scratch the surface. A study revealed that domesticated cats can produce nearly 300 unique facial expressions. The study published in the scientific journal Behavioral Processes, researchers observed 50 residents of a cat café in Los Angeles, focusing specifically on the gestures and facial expressions cats use when communicating with each other.

They discovered that by combining 26 gestures, cats can produce a total of 276 facial expressions. This includes actions like opening the lips or jaw, slow blinking, nose licking, moving the whiskers, and various ear positions. Expressions are mostly categorized into two main types: friendly gestures, making up 45% of the observed gestures, and aggressive gestures, accounting for 37%. The remaining 18% were too ambiguous for experts to categorize clearly.

Although we can’t be sure about the meaning of most of these complex facial expressions, some are easily identifiable. Forward-facing ears and relaxed eyes and mouth generally indicate a friendly disposition, while pulled-back ears, a twitching mustache, and a tense mouth often express anger or dissatisfaction.

How Do Cats Communicate with Humans?

One typical example is meowing, which domestic cats typically don’t use to “talk” to each other beyond kittenhood. The truth is that cats have spent less time evolving alongside humans than dogs. Records show that our relationship became closer 10-12 thousand years ago. It started as a symbiotic relationship: cats kept pests in check, and we provided them with excellent food sources through our settlements.

Once cats decided they liked humans enough to tolerate living with them, they had to realize that their new companions couldn’t quite understand what they were saying. Cats start meowing from a young age to get their mother’s attention, so they eventually started using this technique on us. Researchers traced the evolution of the African wildcat, the closest relative of domestic cats. They found that over time, cats’ vocalizations changed to become more “cat-like” and more pronounced for the human ear. This is how cats learned how to get what they want from us.

How Do Cats Communicate with Each Other?

While the study identified numerous individual facial movements and expressions, it has still been challenging to precisely determine their meanings. What’s certain is that cats use everything from their noses to their tails to communicate with each other. Cats also use certain sounds with their peers, such as growling, hissing, or purring. Additionally, through touch, like rubbing against each other, they can convey messages. They can also transmit a lot of information through smells and chemical signals. That’s why you see them sniffing each other’s hindquarters.

Another characteristic of cats is that when they rub against people, objects, or other animals, they leave behind pheromones that their peers can use to identify them. Sometimes, they may also mark their territory, although this is more typical of outdoor, unneutered males.