How to find out what your cat is thinking about. There is no exact answer yet. However, a new study conducted by scientists from the Berlin Natural History Museum and the University of Naples Federico II has revealed an unexpected truth — purring is very individual. To reach this conclusion, the scientists used automatic speech recognition methods and analyzed recordings from the Animal Sound Archive of the Berlin Natural History Museum. They studied the vocalizations of both domestic and wild cats and found that domestication particularly increased the diversity of cat meows.
Why does meowing change, but purring remains the same?
People pay the most attention to meows because cats mainly use these sounds towards us. Close examination of the acoustic structure of meows has shown that a smooth, rhythmic purr is the best feature for identifying individual cats.
The research team used audio analysis tools originally developed to analyze human speech. They asked a simple question: Can a computer correctly match a vocal sound to the cat that made it using sound alone? Although both meows and purrs contained individual characteristics, purring proved to be much more reliable.
The multifaceted role of purring and meowing
Each cat, it turned out, had its own characteristic purr. It often occurs in a relaxed environment, such as during stroking or close contact with a familiar person. It is also used for communication between a mother and her kittens soon after birth. Meowing, on the other hand, is known for its versatility.
Cats use meowing in a variety of situations, especially when interacting with people. They may meow to ask for food, to get attention, or even to “complain.” This behavioral flexibility was clearly evident in the data, where meowing showed much greater variability even within the same cat.
Domestication changed the cat's voice
To better understand how evolution shaped these sounds, the researchers compared the meows of domestic cats with the meows of five species of wild cats: the African wildcat, the European wildcat, the forest cat, the cheetah and the puma. Recordings from the Natural History Museum's Animal Sound Archive were also used for these comparisons.
Domestic cats immediately caught my eye. Their meows were much more varied than those of their wild relatives, suggesting that living around people has changed the way cats use their voices.
Living with people who differ widely in their daily routines, expectations and reactions likely favored cats who were able to flexibly adapt their meows. The study's findings support the idea that meowing has evolved into a highly adaptive tool for survival in a human-dominated world.
What cat sounds tell us
Overall, the results provide a detailed understanding of how cats communicate. Purrs, which are low in frequency and highly regular, serve as reliable identity cues that help cats and humans recognize familiar individuals in close social contact. Meowing serves a different function. Rather than signaling identity, it emphasizes adaptability, allowing cats to express a wide range of needs and emotions to the people they live with.
Taken together, these results highlight how domestication has shaped the voice of the modern cat, transforming meowing into a flexible communication tool while purring remains an enduring marker of personality.
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