Cats know how to manipulate people

Many cat owners admit they always feed their cats every time they cry out. A study shows that such cries are a tool for cats to " control " their owners.

Occasionally, foster cats will emit the intestinal ' meow ' sounds with high volume. Many people think that it is a sign that cats are having fun, but some people think they just shout like that when they want to eat. Scientists at the University of Sussex (UK) claim that people can feel uncomfortable when hearing the urgent cries of cats, but can not avoid.

' Cats complain to resentment when they feel hungry and want to attract the owner's attention. Such urgent calls are more acceptable than any other form of expression, 'said Karen McComb, an expert in animal communication at the University of Sussex.

A previous study demonstrated that cat's cries and infant cries have many similarities. McComb said that cats emit a ' meow ' sound with a high volume to take advantage of people's sensitivity to children's cries. According to her, that sound is actually a combination of moans and cries.

'The appearance of the cry while the cat moans makes people feel sorry for them. Thanks to that, their risk of being beaten down every time they ask for food, ' McComb remarked.

However, testing cats for cries is not easy, because animals only make sounds like that when they are close to their owners. McComb and his colleagues trained some cat owners to record their cries for several days in a row. Finally the research team has sound data for 10 cats.

Many people think that cats make a cry when they are happy or excited, but they are not.(Photo: 2funnycats.com )

They played back to 50 volunteers to hear (none of them raised cats) and assessed the urgency on a scale. The results showed that all volunteers thought that the high-pitched cry of cats when they were looking for food seemed more urgent and pitiful than the cry in other circumstances.

When the team put the data into the audio software to eliminate the cry, leaving only a moan, an assessment of the volunteers' urgency for the cries of the cat's demand for food was reduced.

' When animals call, their vocal cords vibrate at a certain frequency. The height of the sound depends on the size, length and tension state of the vocal cords. But cats are able to produce low-frequency moans using vocal string muscles. When they call, the vocal cords only vibrate slightly , "McComb explained.

Because cats' moans and moans are created by two different mechanisms, they can 'insert' a high pitched cry into a moan. The urgency of the sound of 'meow' depends on the energy that the cat mobilizes.

" People can't know what cats are thinking when they cry out, but apparently they've learned how to make that cry to get their attention ," she concluded.