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Cats "Exploit" Humans By Purring

An anonymous reader notes a BBC report on research recently published in the journal Current Biology, indicating that cats manipulate humans by adding a baby-like cry to their purring. "Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans. Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a 'soliciting purr' to overpower their owners and garner attention and food. Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a 'cry,' with a similar frequency to a human baby's. The team said cats have 'tapped into' a human bias — producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore."

18 of 503 comments (clear)

  1. hardware? by Turiko · · Score: 5, Funny

    was the one who tagged this on drugs? hardware? power?

    1. Re:hardware? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, hardware is one of the effects of pussies.

  2. Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? by sqldr · · Score: 4, Funny

    You should hear the noise it makes when I mistake its arse for a pencil sharpener.

    --
    I wrote my first program at the age of six, and I still can't work out how this website works.
  3. Re:So... by spire3661 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Soylent Green Cat Food is PEOPLE!!!!!!!

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    Good-bye
  4. This explains by Norsefire · · Score: 5, Funny
  5. Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? by Stroot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Probably the same sound they make when you put them in the cat carrier: http://www.murphydog.com/cat-carrier.jpg

  6. Re:So... by jimicus · · Score: 4, Funny

    I doubt it. If you did that, you'd wind up with an animal with an amazing sense of smell but also a tendency to get distracted by expensive suits.

  7. Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The main difference between cats and dogs is dogs have owners and cats have staff.

  8. Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Close, but not quite. Dogs have family, cats have staff.

  9. Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? by Anarchduke · · Score: 4, Funny

    You haven't met my cat. Sure the humans are staff, but our dogs are part of her family. To the point of sleeping with a front paw over the chihuahua.

    More disturbing was the time she went into heat and tried to convince my Jack Russell terrier to mate with her. I am ever so glad the dog didn't respond.

    --
    who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
  10. Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, just remember not to take photos of your kids in amusing positions and photo-shop "OH HAI" onto them, and you'll have made a good start.

  11. Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? by codeButcher · · Score: 5, Funny

    cats and dogs are smarter than we give them credit for, when they look at you, they are thinking about something it's not just a vacant look.

    I'm considering all these anecdotes, about cats and dogs actually being pretty smart, surfacing more and more. One didn't hear those kind of stories when I was little. So I'm wondering: perhaps it's all relative, and it's people who are getting dumber and dumber?

    --
    Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
  12. Re:I probably shouldn't have kids... by pilsner.urquell · · Score: 4, Funny

    The more you know about cats, the more you know about women. Simply put when they want attention, they want it NOW.

  13. And If Humans Were Only Six Inches Tall by aquatone282 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... cats wouldn't be purring at all.

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    What?
  14. Re:Cat purrrs that sound like babies by Sulphur · · Score: 4, Funny

    One goat fart, and its an outdoor goat.

  15. Re:Self domesticated by nbauman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Try petting a squirrel.

    He bit me.

  16. And who do you think domesticated *who*? by whitroth · · Score: 4, Funny

    Come on - we partnered with dogs 70k years ago or so, and what happened? We sat around, scratched/licked our private parts, hunted (a little), and hung out and told stories.

    Then, maybe 12k-20k years ago, cats domesticated us, and the next thing you know, we're doing agriculture, and building civilization... so that they could live in the manner in which they intended to become accustomed.

    It's all their fault...

                        mark

    --
    The truth will out: someone got it at last:
          Dogs have masters; cats have staff.

  17. Re:No. by BitZtream · · Score: 4, Funny

    They bring dead/half-dead animals home to let you know that you're one step away from being dead if you piss them off, not to feed you or teach you.

    --
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