A psychology professor who also happens to love dogs had always thought of cats as being somewhat "aloof," and so when she embarked on a nearly yearlong study of felines to figure out how they communicate, she didn't expect her findings to reveal anything much different about cats than what she already believed. Instead, Brittany Florkiewicz of Arkansas' Lyon College found her research to be most "enlightening," she tells the Washington Post, with one surprising discovery in particular: Cats have nearly 300 unique facial expressions, and don't appear to be as distant and dismissive toward humans as she'd thought.
Florkiewicz had already delved into facial expressions in chimps and other primates, and she initially hadn't figured cats would be a worthwhile subject for this same topic. But she and colleague Lauren Scott dove into that research anyway, the results of which were published last month in the Behavioural Processes journal. Beginning in August 2021, the two researchers recorded the behavior of more than 50 cats about once a week at a Los Angeles cat cafe, spending a few hours each time documenting the animals' feeding, sleeping, bathroom, and socialization habits.
By June of 2022, they'd gathered more than 150 hours of footage, with 194 minutes of it showing nearly 200 "communicative events," or facial expressions. They analyzed those expressions and split them into "friendly" or "unfriendly" categories. All together, the scientists observed at least 276 expressions, 46% of which were deemed "friendly," while 37% appeared aggressive, or "unfriendly." It was hard to tell which way the cats were leaning with about 17% of the expressions. The "friendly" expressions—which often included closed eyes and forward-facing ears and whiskers—usually emerged when cats were lying next to each other, grooming each other, and playing.
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The "unfriendly" expressions—including flat, backward-facing ears and constricted pupils—were observed when the cats were growling or hissing, swatting at each other, and running away, among other situations. "Many people still consider cats—erroneously—to be a largely nonsocial species," University of Lincoln veterinary behaviorist Daniel Mills, who wasn't involved in the study, tells Science. "There is clearly a lot going on that we are not aware of." The researchers hope an app based on their work that can read how cats are feeling might be possible. Florkiewicz, meanwhile, has also made a big change personally: She has adopted two cats, Char and Darth Vader, per the Post. (More cats stories.)
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