Unlocking feline smiles. How blinking can help humans befriend cats, reveal British scientists
The saying, "A cat walks its own path" is an accurate observation when it comes to these animals. Anyone who has tried to befriend a feline knows it's not a straightforward task. The attempt to establish a bond between humans and cats has piqued the interest of scientists. Their work, published in "Nature Scientific Reports", demonstrated that this is possible. Moreover, they uncovered something unexpected - our purring pets can smile!
10:17 AM EST, January 20, 2024
To understand cat's etiquette, scientists from the aforementioned universities conducted two studies. In the first one, caretakers from 14 different households and 21 cats participated. The task for humans was to blink at the pet whenever it looked at them. Video footage captured the facial expressions of the caretaker and the pet's muzzle. This material was then compared to how the animal reacts to a human when the human is not blinking. The results were surprising.
Cats reciprocated the blink of the caregiver. They also sometimes initiated the blinking at the human, which occurred less often than when the caretakers first initiated the blink. Scientists suggest that the narrowing of the eyelids in these animals mirrors a human smile.
Want to win over a cat? Blink!
The second experiment demonstrated how cats respond to blinking strangers. This time, it was the researcher who first initiated the blinking signal, while extending a hand towards the cat.
The results showed that cats more often approach the extended hand of a stranger when the stranger initiates the blink. It was also observed that the cat sometimes reciprocated the signal - although this happened less frequently than with a blinking owner.
Professor Karen McComb, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Sussex and a cat owner who supervised the research, expressed her excitement in sharing this news with the world.
"It's wonderful to be able to show that cats and humans can communicate in this manner. It's something many cat owners have already suspected, so to find tangible evidence for it is exciting," could be read in the article available on the University of Sussex website.
