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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.
Dr Karen McComb, the lead author of the study that was published in the journal Current Biology, said the research was inspired by her own cat, Pepo.
"He would wake me up in the morning with this insistent purr that was really rather annoying," Dr McComb told BBC News.
"After a little bit of investigation, I discovered that there are other cat owners who are similarly bombarded early in the morning."
While meowing might get a cat expelled from the bedroom, Dr McComb said that this pestering purr often convinced beleaguered pet lovers to get up and fill their cat's bowl.
To find out why, her team had to train cat owners to make recordings of their own cats' vocal tactics - recording both their "soliciting purrs" and regular, "non-soliciting" purrs.
"When we played the recordings to human volunteers, even those people with no experience of cats found the soliciting purrs more urgent and less pleasant," said Dr McComb.
Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
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Xamonas Chegwé
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Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
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Calilasseia
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Twoflower
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Millefleur
Salman Rushdie
You talk to God, you're religious. God talks to you, you're psychotic.
House MD
Who needs a meaning anyway, I'd settle anyday for a very fine view.
Sandy Denny
This is the wrong forum for bluffing
Paco
Yes, yes. But first I need to show you this venomous fish!
Calilasseia
I think we should do whatever Pawiz wants.
Twoflower
Bella squats momentarily then waddles on still peeing, like a horse
Millefleur
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
This took study? 
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Bella Fortuna
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
Yeah, ask any cat owner!
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cowiz
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
Old news!
Pussy has been manipulating man since forever.
Pussy has been manipulating man since forever.
It's a piece of piss to be cowiz, but it's not cowiz to be a piece of piss. Or something like that.
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
My purrbox has at least four different purrs. But when he wants breakfast he simply runs over me until I chase him into the kitchen, where he hands me a can opener.Bella Fortuna wrote:Yeah, ask any cat owner!
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lordpasternack
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
Prrrrrrrrrrrrr...
Can you feel anything yet?
Can you feel anything yet?
Then they for sudden joy did weep,
And I for sorrow sung,
That such a king should play bo-peep,
And go the fools among.
Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach
thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie.
And I for sorrow sung,
That such a king should play bo-peep,
And go the fools among.
Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach
thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie.
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Xamonas Chegwé
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
Do you mean, do we have the urge to feed you?lordpasternack wrote:Prrrrrrrrrrrrr...
Can you feel anything yet?
A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return.
Salman Rushdie
You talk to God, you're religious. God talks to you, you're psychotic.
House MD
Who needs a meaning anyway, I'd settle anyday for a very fine view.
Sandy Denny
This is the wrong forum for bluffing
Paco
Yes, yes. But first I need to show you this venomous fish!
Calilasseia
I think we should do whatever Pawiz wants.
Twoflower
Bella squats momentarily then waddles on still peeing, like a horse
Millefleur
Salman Rushdie
You talk to God, you're religious. God talks to you, you're psychotic.
House MD
Who needs a meaning anyway, I'd settle anyday for a very fine view.
Sandy Denny
This is the wrong forum for bluffing
Paco
Yes, yes. But first I need to show you this venomous fish!
Calilasseia
I think we should do whatever Pawiz wants.
Twoflower
Bella squats momentarily then waddles on still peeing, like a horse
Millefleur
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
It's, ahem, hard to tell.lordpasternack wrote:Prrrrrrrrrrrrr...
Can you feel anything yet?
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
Why did this take a study? Anyone who ever owned a cat could have told you that.
"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." ♥ Robert A. Heinlein
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Horwood Beer-Master
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
Cats have a whole range of tactics for making themselves hard to ignore!Xamonas Chegwé wrote:...The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore...
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lordpasternack
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
Like walking over the keyb nnwbn,bh,aaaaaaHorwood Beer-Master wrote:Cats have a whole range of tactics for making themselves hard to ignore!Xamonas Chegwé wrote:...The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore...
Then they for sudden joy did weep,
And I for sorrow sung,
That such a king should play bo-peep,
And go the fools among.
Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach
thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie.
And I for sorrow sung,
That such a king should play bo-peep,
And go the fools among.
Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach
thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie.
-
Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
lordpasternack wrote:Like walking over the keyb nnwbn,bh,aaaaaaHorwood Beer-Master wrote:Cats have a whole range of tactics for making themselves hard to ignore!Xamonas Chegwé wrote:...The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore...
Ein Ubootsoldat wrote:“Ich melde mich ab. Grüssen Sie bitte meine Kameraden.”
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