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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."

8 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. This explains by Norsefire · · Score: 5, Funny
  3. 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

  4. 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.

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

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

  6. 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.
  7. Re:Self domesticated by nbauman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Try petting a squirrel.

    He bit me.