ACBS 160D1 Lecture 34: 34-catattunement

• School: University of Arizona
• Department: Animal & Comp Biomed Sciences
• Course: ACBS 160D1
• Professor: H.Steklis, N.Steklis

Document Summary

How well do we understand our cats- Cats give lots of signals, but do humans understand them, and do they. Loving and happy but also when distressed or hurt. Alertness, depends on the sound of meow they use. Most common cat to human call, rare in cat to cat communication. Undomesticated fields meow when they"re young, but not to humans as adults. Are meows a specialization for communicating with humans. Human listeners asked to classify a single recorded meow by 5 contexts. Cat orients toward owner and or food; eyes open, looking alternately from owner to food, ears up, tail up. Cat orients toward offending object, spitting, growling, ears back, eyes wide open. Cat orients toward owner, leg rubbing, purring, eyes closed, tail up. Cat orients towards obstacle, eyes open, looking alternately from owner to obstacle. No specific orientation with repetitive movement such as pacing, eyes wide open, ears up but slightly back, tail down and mobile.