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Cats Can Recognize Their Own Names, Study Suggests (gizmodo.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the animal-behavior dept.

AmiMoJo shares a report from Gizmodo: Plenty of cat owners will happily tell you their felines are capable of responding to their own names, but the scientific jury remains ambivalent on the matter. A fascinating new experiment suggests this might actually be true for some cats, and it's a capacity very much tied to the social environment in which the cat lives. The new research, published today in Scientific Advances, doesn't mean cats understand the human conception of a name, but it does show that at least some cats can distinguish their names from other words. Prior research has shown that cats can recognize human gestures, facial expressions, and vocal cues. Slashdot reader sciencehabit adds: Give this a shot at home: Say four random words to your cat -- separated by about 15 seconds -- with the same length and intonation as its name. Then say its actual name. If it swivels its ears or perks up its head, chances are it knows what you call it. That's essentially what researchers did in a new study. The scientists saw similar responses when the cat's name came after the names of other felines he lived with, or when a stranger spoke the words. The findings are the first to experimentally show that cats have some understanding of what we are saying to them, the team concludes.

1 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. Well duh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    It's amazing how humans still, to this day, have this pre-conceived notion of being the chosen ones in the entire universe.

    We must be the center of the solar sytem.
    We must be the master "race" (a term that does not exist in science btw).
    We are a very special species, unlike all the others in every aspect, and not animals.
    Only humans can think, animals are mere automatons who can't think or feel. (My grandma still believed that one, and she was a farmer.)
    Only humans can recognize themselves.
    Only humans can solve problems.
    Only humans can make tools.
    Only humans have names.
    Only humans know concepts like trust and deception.
    Only humans have a concept of past and future and can count
    Ony humans play and enjoy entertainment.
    Only humans have sex for pleasure.
    Only humans can be homosexual etc.
    Only humans can communicate in a language. ...

    All disproven.
    Spotting a pattern here?

    It is always nice to have some scientific certainty. And that is not what my comment is about.

    But we are NOT special. And that is OK.

    I think there ought to be a time, where the default assumption we make before having scientific evidence, should not be like those I listed above.
    And that should have happened a loong time ago, like it did for nearly all observant minds.