Just when you thought you had your cat figured out, science drops a yarn ball of truth: kitty’s got a whole facial lexicon we’re just starting to understand. When researchers Lauren Scott and Brittany N. Florkiewicz delved into feline facial expressions, they found about 300 different ones, from “feed me, human” smiles to “back off before you get clawed” scowls. Turns out, cats might just be the small, fluffy arbiters of a sophisticated sign language we’re oblivious to.
What’s more, there’s something universally heartwarming about the ‘play face’ shared across animal species—yes, that includes us, the clueless humans! So next time you attempt to decipher your cat’s mysterious mug, consider that they might just understand us better than we think. Now, if we could only teach them to emoji…
CATS MAKE NEARLY 300 DISTINCT FACIAL EXPRESSIONS — STUDY
Cats use nearly 300 distinct facial expressions to communicate with one another, according to a study published in October 2023 in the journal Behavioral Processes.
"We observed 26 distinct AUs that were used to produce a… pic.twitter.com/5jnqzVhZcg
— Daily Tribune (@tribunephl) November 12, 2023
