Your cat can recognize your voice. Yes, really.
Filling a long-standing gap in feline research, a small study shows that cats can distinguish their owners' voices from those of strangers.
Like many who share their homes with a cat, I often talk to the miniature predator who sleeps on my pillow. Mostly, I ask Ophelia whether she wants food or snuggles. I know she hears me—her oversize ears rotate like furry satellite dishes in my direction as soon as I open my mouth. What’s less clear is whether she's aware I am addressing her.
A new study in Animal Cognition shows that she probably is.
De Mouzon, who works for the pet service company EthoCat in Bordeaux, France, designed a series of experiments to test how pet cats of various breeds responded to hearing recordings of their owners and of strangers talking to them. (What do
