Science of the Spirit
Now, a new study led by Mason, a behavioral biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada, shows that people who can consistently decode feline expressions belong to a special clan: That of the cat whisperer.
For the research, Mason and colleagues created an online survey and invited internet users (aka, the cat's biggest fan club) to take part. The 6,329 participants from 85 countries watched between two to 20 short videos of cat expressions, and then responded if they thought the felines were distressed or happy. These random users got an average of 11.85 out of 20 ratings correct — better than chance, but not by much.
But about 13 percent of the survey takers were unusually skilled at reading cats' emotions, scoring at least 15 out of 20 correct — the so-called cat whisperers. Those who self-reported being young, female, and having professional veterinary experience were mostly likely to score well. Surprisingly to Mason, cat ownership had no impact on the ability to interpret cat emotion.
In humans, facial expressions are a major — if underappreciated — form of human communication, says Mason, whose study appeared in the November issue of the journal Animal Welfare. And recent research shows that a variety of animals, from rats to dogs to horses, also "make facial expressions that clearly communicate how they're feeling," she says.
A study published earlier this year found that cats were no exception, while also hinting that humans could comprehend subtle forms of cat communication, especially facial expressions.
To find out, Mason and her colleagues at the university's Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare turned to the world's largest repository for videos of cat behavior: YouTube.
Cats are often perceived as inscrutable, but they likely have subtle forms of communication that people have previously ignored.
The scientists trawled through countless hours of feline footage with a very specific set of criteria: Clips of under four seconds that clearly showed a cat's face — its eyes, muzzle, and mouth — in situations in which the pet was clearly relaxed or upset. The video's narration or description helped the team discern the context of the video, and, not surprisingly, many of the upset cats were visiting the vet. (The researchers avoided videos in which cats displayed pinned-back ears or exposed fangs, which are already well-known signs of feline fear.)
They eventually settled on 40 short videos, 20 showing happy kitties and 20 showing distressed ones. Each group was further subdivided into active and resting cats so that the feline's movement wouldn't bias the results. The team also snuck in clips of their own cats before finalizing the survey and blasting it out on social media.
Beyond the intriguing cat whisperer findings, the study also revealed that people were better at seeing positive emotion in cats than negative ones — for instance, more than 85 percent of respondents correctly guessed that Mason's cat, Luke, was content.
Mikel Delgado, a cat-behavior expert at the University of California, Davis, says the research "shows that people can identify a cat's emotional state from very limited information."
She adds that this study is a "great start" to cracking cat communication, but cautions against identifying a cat's emotional state based on one piece of information. "There's still a lot for us to understand about cat body language," says Delgado, who wasn't involved in the research. (Take our National Geographic quiz on animal feelings.)
For instance, body language such as tail and ear position are also relevant signals to how a cat is feeling.
Looking for cues
In future studies, Mason hopes to figure out how exactly cat whisperers are so good at what they do. For instance, pinpointing specific cues that people are reading in the pets' facial expressions could help veterinary professionals and cat owners to better "speak cat."
And lest us humans think our furry friends only put on a happy face so we'll open another can of tuna, Mason adds that cats probably use these expressions while interacting with one another.
The bottom line? "Cats are expressive," she says, "even though they're usually regarded as inscrutable."
Reader Comments
@ny7fmlqt:
Animals have been some of my very best friends. They are good teachers.
Both my wife and I love animals.
Sometimes more than each other.
Well, maybe not.
But it is animals and natural habitats (and intuitions) that cause us to live and still try to farm the way we do.
We are in our sixties now.
Take care,
ned
R.C.
R.C.
Mojave Desert: till 1/65;
Brevard County Fl. Till age 18,
I was well aware of how long Vietnam had lasted. Remembered the draft turning from something 'funny' to 'scary'; and had my plan. Perfect grades, perfect eyesight, 5'7"; I would've gone off to the USAF Academy and dropped the nape and grape where they ordered me to.
R.C.
As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo.even if is "spam" is not...
Fail! FBI seeks to recruit 'Russian spies' with awkward, inept Facebook ads
The FBI has sought to recruit "Russian spies" in Washington, DC through a series of Facebook ads - suggesting a degree of desperation when it comes to counter-intelligence assets, but also a...I have a bit more to ask about why you griped at me! WTF?
R.C.
I have a bit more to ask about why you griped at me! WTF?Because you needlessly called him a "bitch" to begin with. He may be one, but as you know, we require readers to keep comments non-combative here, for obvious bloody reasons.
AFTER THAT, I called him a bitch. HE THREATENED TO TRACK PEOPLE DOWN AND KILL THEM, WAS WARNED BY SCOTT, and he's still doing it and I am the bad guy???
HOW???
Please read my post infra and reply there, if that is ok. I just don't get it why you seem to disapprove of me, hence my email request.
RC
There are other ways you could have phrased that, he just hit your trigger button, which is when you need to take a pause, and realize that he was just taking the piss... fishing for a reaction. I think his copy/paste is something he does when feeling threatened. Oh well, he's gone anyway, I wonder what his new username will be... Anyway, I'm not sure if Joe was correct or not but it's actually regardless since he is 'top dog' here and could literally do so much worse, I'm amazed at his reticence, sometimes.
Listen; to jump to that conclusion, "he doesn't approve of me" is not true either. I've had a warning in the far long ago past, you just have to get over your ego and realize that there are some rules here for the good of all, most of what you say is fine, why get all sensitive all of a sudden? It's alright, just breathe.
oh the hypocrisy
Tulsi Gabbard votes 'present' on Trump impeachment and slams the 'purely partisan process'
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, voted "present" on the two articles of impeachment against President Trump on Wednesday. This made her...do you think Im the one to be scolded here? lolz
and he does the same to you...
@Joe
Why the comments of this sicko zeroBrains have not been deleted? He is banned but his hatefull and conflict instigating comments are allowed to stay? What is the purpose of that? Just to have reason to then send warnings to RC and me? Seriously? What did we do wrong? Why warn us in the first place instead of deleting this thread when its un-acceptable as you have also said? Why would SOTT even allow such threads/comments to exist if it banned the user? Thats weird to me and I know I didnt do anything wrong. Precisly WHY I wrote it in that way!
All I said was for that douche to come and try it near me, whats wrong with that? He DID say he likes TO EAT CATS ON AN ARTICLE ABOUT CAT BEHAVIOUR WHICH CLEARLY IMPLIES HUMAN LOVE OF CATS!!!!!!! ....only if he was a husk of a chinese "human" who eats dogs and cats would I be ok with it since I know how and why chinese have become such low-vibrational entities regardless of such rich culture in the past.
So I feel you could have gone without warning me... or RC for that matter.
And it ceartainly is weird. Certainly what you would not expect from a site that advertises itself as a place for forward thinking people.
I only point this out to note the silliness of the attached image of a Scottish Fold cat, whose ears' motions are far less noticable and functional.
R.C.
If you do it with a smile on your face and honesty in your heart they usually/mostly will simply come over.
I am proud to say that like my mum and my uncle, I have had a 'Doolittlesque' effect on critters. including managing to convey, by words and screams that if an 80 lb. pit bull jumped again at the cat I was holding, that the black metal thing I was holding in my hand would killi it.
"I don't want to kill you! I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU1!!!1 BACK UP!!!"
The dog did.
R.C.
As I noted above, . . . I can picture few things that would 'fire my ire' ('baby') than such cruelty.
Any such would have lots of 'splaining' to do, so that they'd survive? MY ASS! So that it would be quick!
RC
And cats know that about you, so they don't give one, either.
R.C.
R.C.
Trust me, i got a cat.
The first was a hybrid Eurochausie (shelter/rescue) who weighed 24 lbs. (22 in his prime.) He was >3 feet long, nose to tail, haunches were ~15-16" and his eyes were almost 3/8ths inch wider apart than mine. He could ride sitting up in my 96 Mystic Cobra, sitting upright on the passenger seat, and look out the window. I called him my portable panther.
Next was a beautiful Maine Coon: about 12-13 lbs.
Now, just me and a 5-6 lb. runt.
RC
What is the visceral attractiion that most have to felines?
My guess is that it is similar to the visceral fear of sharks.
Each are, pound for pound, THE most effective predatory machines.
R.C.
R.C.
Humans are a body of Animal Instincts... as in Totem Animals or Power Animals or Spirit Animals.
N.B. we do deeply love ourselves even though we have been taught to 'neurosis'....! We actually are the magnet which calls in our life experiences, peeps animals situations et al. And always for the intent of healing.
I'm thinking so is B.. but 3rd or 4th.. could be 7th.
8 is sexy... check out Otter Medicine strutt your stuff as they say BB.
R.C.
RC
*Spoonerisms apply.
RC
First made-in-China aircraft carrier, the Shandong, officially enters service
Comment: Shandong province was one of the first places in which the 1899-1901 Boxer Rebellion started and became one of the centers of the uprising. The Chinese were 'punished' for this...I have today recommened/linked two songs. I hope folks take the time to hear them.
First (from whence that image comes) is some poor stupid sot, like me, who (would've) volunteered for the most deadly 'duty' (sic) then available,.
Thomas Dolby: One of our Submarines...[Link]
TO Clarify, that guy AT 21-22 secs looks WAY more like me (then) THAN the poor bastard (RIP) at 16 seconds looks like Tom Cruise.
Details at thrree articles. Please see: This, that, and the below. (Good song basis/title.)
Surgeons withdraw support for heart disease advice after unpublished data and conflicts of interest come to light
European clinical guidelines on how to treat a major form of heart disease are under review following a BBC Newsnight investigation. Europe's professional body for heart surgeons has withdrawn...R.C.
Giggles..just the best! Rowan i'd say more Cancer babes and Gems. Libra/Leo here but oooohhh with such a lot in, i thank our Lord, lol... Scorp
Ok... while your with your totems... add scorp of course and DOG which is a major for you. Also your chinese sign and chinese rising. If your Natal Rising Sign is an animal add that too and of course any fascination with a creature (love or fear).
We all have atleast 9 animal instincts in our personal Totem. ALL need to be healthy.
Stop this video at 21-22 secs. [Link]
As re the eyes? Here's their list:
Notable people with sanpaku
Julius Caesar[6]
Adolf Hitler[7]
John F. Kennedy[8]
Sal Mineo[9]
Marilyn Monroe[8]
Robert Pattinson[8]
Sylvester Stallone[9]
Natalie Wood[9]
Charles Manson[10]
Billie Eilish[11]
Not a doormouse amongst 'em.
RC
I've not heard a word on my new 'old' look . . . hmm
RC
But then again, my scary stares/ 'looks' have saved my ass far more than any pretty boy looks ever could have.
R.C.
Am I missing something here?
History This article: On 12/16/19, Monday, at 18.14.39 Zulu/GMT: Zer0range writes: “I like to eat cats, espeically (sic) free range ones I find... “
Meaning, he likes to eat cats, which generally requires killing them first; but with folks like Zer0range, and other moral degenerates, (e.g., Hannibal Lecter), that’s not always the case; but it’s safe to say that the poor cats end up dead.
Less than three minutes later, at18.17.04, Agron wrote: “zer0range come try that near me. you would be experiencing what those cats do if you’re not just having a sick sense of humor or are a poor lost parasitic Chinese husk of a human being”
(Which, BTW, IMHO, is a threat to return the favor to ZeroHer0rangutang’s person; to wit: to kill him, in the same fashion/manner as he had stated he had already done and implied he’d be happy to do again; to wit: to kill and eat, or to eat and thereby kill, cats. (IMHO, Agron’s reply is perfectly appropriate.)
Next, ~27 minutes later, at 18.41.22Z Incendiary wrote: Mmmhmm, my mom's cat was eaten by Congolese immigrants who were squatting in the construction site by our house when I was a kid. A neighbour informed us a few days after it went missing, and we found the bones of her, and other cats, in the corner by the firepit. This is not a joke. It was very sad...
Which of course could NEVER be interpreted as a threat. I’d guess that ID was simply trying to find out if ZeroHer0rangutang was as malevolent as his post (and prior posts, see infra) appeared to make him be. He apparently is.
Next: about 3.75 hours after that, (at 22.21.27) I posted what has apparently upset you: “I'll let others deliver threats. My M.O. is action, bitch.”
Thereafter, I hypothesized about different scenarios, including the high likelihood that if Vietnam had lasted longer, I almost certainly would have (in my dumb state of youth) have become a USAF pilot ‘serving my country’ as I would have then thought.
Then, today, at 20.10.57Z/GMT, ZeroHer0rangutang posts this:
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo.
Now when I read that, I said to self, ‘I seem to recall that same speech by some scumbag who was thrown off by some moderator/editor. Was it Joe?’ So I looked it up, and found, MUCH to my surprise, that this same threat was written by this same poster/commenter ZeroHer0rangutang over three and a half months ago. Please check the comments at
Fail! FBI seeks to recruit 'Russian spies' with awkward, inept Facebook ads
The FBI has sought to recruit "Russian spies" in Washington, DC through a series of Facebook ads - suggesting a degree of desperation when it comes to counter-intelligence assets, but also a...There, before making the same, verbatim, threat, ZeroHer0rangutang ‘classed up the joint with such profound and pithy comments as:
To: “Lemuel Gulliver” You see, learning any language (despite what your ignorant opinions may tell you) are all equally difficult for anyone, the trouble comes in availability/quality of materials and speaking partners.”
And this piece of wisdom (sic)At that time, SOTT editor/moderator/and techie, Scott/Scottie properly replied to SOTT’s apparently somehow approved? ‘resident death threat maker’, i.e., ‘ZeroHer0rangutang’, as follows:
“46% of the high school graduates in Texas don't know that Spain is south of the Mexican border? What a bunch of dumb niggers”
Say wha? (MAYBE he meant that ‘Mexico’ is South of the Mexican border? However, even the Southermost region of Spain is situated at a latitude of 36̊00' N. Meanwhile, the Northernmost point of Mexico is at 32̊ 43' 06" N latitude at Monumento 206, near Los Algodones, Baja California, at the United States border. So I think it quite obvious that ZeroHer0rangutang knows even less about geography than the n*****s H.S. Grads in Texas even do.*
And “Maybe we will destroy the planet, what's it to you, faggot?”
Scott - zer0range Technically, threatening to kill other readers is not allowed here, regardless of the number of ways in which you are capable of killing said individual OR the number of connections you have AND even if you are the second coming of Christ.IMPORTANT POINT:
Doesn't matter.
You may also wish to keep in mind that generally speaking, most SOTT readers were not born yesterday... unlike the readers of most mainstream news sites + social media.
IF you copy the (self-proclaimed) ‘Her0'/Zer0rangutan’s now at least TWICE made, canned threats of felony stalking with deadly, violent intent, and do a verbatim google search, you will not only find that the threat is stolen, wholesale, from hundreds of sites on the internet, (not one of which has learned the lesson that experts in ‘gorilla’ warfare, might learn it at the zoo; whilst experts in ‘guerilla’ - Spanish for ‘little war’** - might learn it at a war college.) More importantly, you will likewise learn that it has even become the subject of an FCC filing due to its overt, detailed and threatening nature. Here is the FCC Filing page: [Link]
To try to keep this as short as possible: you have me, who stated that I favor action over words; while you have (self-proclaimed) ‘Her0'/Zer0rangutan’s not one, but TWO (maybe a third that you claimed re his banning, which he's still here) detailed and deadly threats of the highest order, and you’re giving me grief?
Now you likely have a guess at my occupation. When folks like me write about ‘action’, what do they mean? Those of the perfectly LEGAL kind. I’ve never threatened a soul on here; frankly, I’m not that stupid. Meanwhile, ZeroHer0rangutang has now posted no less than two different threats at directed at two different folks, spread out over a period of getting on four months.
So when he repeats his threat (this time at R.C.)who do you aim your upsettedness at? R.C./ME! Stating: ‘RC. Cut this crap out, permanently.’ WHY???? What logical reason applies?
Why don’t you please send me an email and tell me what’s really bothering you, as I find it very hard to believe that the above could, in any rational mind, result in you ordering me (with an implication of ‘the last time’, whilst I don’t even remember a ‘first time’);while you are OK with a written, detailed threat so specific and serious that it’s become a subject of some FCC ‘investigation’? WHY? What did I do? Someone tell you I’m a bad person? Well, if so, detail it in the email and I’ll reply.
Given my love of SOTT’s truthfulness, I’m going to, right now, rise above this petty BS, your personal affront to yours truly, and, given my occupation advise SOTT, that you folks should be far far greater concerned with allowing such specific and harrowing threats to be:Who’s the likely psychopath here? So why aim your words and me while you allow these ongoing psychopathic postings by ZeroHer0rangutang?
A) First made on here by ZeroHer0rangutang to DaveCarswell; which resulted in his being seriously admonished by Scott in October about 3 ½ months ago;
B) Then being ZERO being allowed to make this threat again, (AS STILL ABOVE!) and THEN,
C) To claim that his obvious threat of deadly violence (which has, as above, risen to the level of an FCC investigation), should result in R.C. being threatened,, by you, Joe; to wit: ‘RC. Cut this crap out, permanently.’ whilst ZeroHer0rangutang enjoys, YET AGAIN!!!, speaking of eating cats; to wit: “Agron yeah ok tough kitty guy, i'll think of you when i enjoy my fillet mig'meow tomorrow.”
In that capacity, I would likewise tell SOTT: I damn sure hope Dave Carswell is OK, or you could find yourself (wrongfully, but we’ve long ago lost what was a far more free society) finding someone claiming that SOTT encouraged such recklessly dangerous and SPECIFIC threats.
R.C.
*(Please! Do NOT ask ZeroHer0rangutang the meaning of the term ‘contiguous’! I state this for, despite his deadly threats against me, Mr. Carson, and whoever else, I do not desire his death, and I honestly fear that such a word might cause ZeroHer0rangutang to suffer a fatal cerebral hemorrhage when his sole brain cell explodes, and I won’t be held accountable for that.)
** Originating, as I recall, in the Napoleanic occupation of Spain in the early Nineteenth Century
(Sarcasm at points - all directed at ZeroHer0rangutang.)
RC
" Navy Seal Copypasta (also known as the “Marine Copypasta”, "Internet Tough Guy Copypasta” and “Gorilla Warfare Copypasta”) is a facetious message containing a series of ridiculous claims and grandiose threats that portray the poster as an Internet tough guy stereotype."
YouTuber Copypasta Sings uploaded a musical version of the copypasta : [Link] It's pretty ridiculous.
That shouldnt even be possible because Im not instigating or calling for any kind of conflict, in fact Im all against that kind of communication. But SOMEONE left that retarded comment of ZeroHer0rangutang be there like its ok to eat cats so I had to react in some way. And ALL I said is that he should come try that near me and see what happens
If he said something like : I like to lick goat vaginas (which it seems he does) I would certainly react in similair vain.
And we all see warnings against RC and me but no warnings for that guy? He gets to instigate a conflict but doesnt get a public warning? Weird! and it aint alone in its weirdness too
"If he said something like : I like to eat free range horses on an article about how horses are smart I would certainly react in similair vain. "
P.s. for cool history of cat lineage and names, see my reply to Oscar, infra.
R.C.
Likewise, if you take a random domestic cat - WITH its claws - and throw it into the woods, it usually will survive despite its hundreds of years of (quasi) domestication. Can do that with a dog, though.
Interesting points: All of the purring/vocal cats belong to the genus 'felis', meaning happy/content, for what's more content than a purring cat? So we have words like felicity, feline, and of course, felis catus gave us 'Felix the Cat.'
Another step/lesson. Pennsylvania means? Right: "Penn's Woods/Forest'. So the would sylvan has its name from that. More interestingly, though, is something I learned about when I learned my first cat was actually part European Forest cat (which looks like a Maine Coon.) That critter's latin name?
Felis Sylvestris (forest cat), but THAT gave us Sylvester the Cat!
RC
I once observed a cat (of two) coming in from garden. She played a long dance for the other cat. It was sneaking, hiding, attacking and such gestures. For quite a while.
Then I went out and what I saw: a big dead rat. -- The cat had caught that rat by sneaking, hiding, attacking and such maneuvers. -- When meeting the other cat she was telling her the whole story!