Cat Meows Have Evolved Because of Humans

GuyMannDude writes: "ABCNews.com has a story on research being done at Cornell University's Psychology of Voice and Sound Laboratory on cat meows. The scientists believe that over generations, cats have learned how to meow in different ways specifically in order to hook into human perception tendencies and get what they want."

Comments

Re:Evolution of a Cat's Meow

[DietFluffy]

Our society has become so dominated by the evolutionary theories that whenever something changes over time, it doesn't change, but evolves, as if it were a change in the make-up of a cat's genetic code.

That's exactly how it's supposed to happen. All evolution by natural selection as described by neo-darwinism involves a change in a specie's genetic pool.

If you are trying to debunk evolutionary as only a "theory", something George W. Bush said recently, please note that the scientific definition of "theory" is very different from the layman's definition. An idea has to be able to withstand unrelenting scrutiny in order to earn the title "theory." Evolution through natural selection is an easily observed occurance and can be proven through statistical and mathematical analysis. Neo-Darwinist principles should be renamed "The Law of Evolution through Natural Selection" just as we currently have "The Law of Gravity."

And in other News of the Obvious...

[Nyarly]

Who hasn't noticed that housecats sound like the cries of babies? (There's some thought that this is part of the "stealing babies' breath" myth.) There's been a lot of research that suggests that humans are hardwired not to be able to ignore the cry of a baby, and it seems resonable that housecats might have hooked onto that long ago.

I've noticed several times how a cat will adapt to be more and more attention grabbing as time goes on, and how her housemates will learn particularly effective behavior quite rapidly.

Not much contradiction, really

[twilight30]

I'm not sure where I heard this tidbit exactly; I think it was a video documentary about cats. Anyway, it seems that cats by themselves do not meow to each other or to animals other than humans -- it's something that they only do with us.

It's not only a parental thing handed down the line either -- we have one cat that was separated at birth from her mother, and she is very good at indicating when she wants affection, a trip outside, or food. As to her emotional needs beyond that short list, I'm afraid I'm not evolved enough to pick those up. The other cat, being a glutton, only asks for food whenever possible, though she does trill a lot.