NoThey arise from the combination of 26 unique facial movements. Including pursed lips, nose licking, protracted or retracted whiskers. The 276 different facial expressions cats are capable of, according to a new study, are many more than previously assumed. A fact that contributes to revolutionizing, and not a little, the fame of felines like indifferent animals. Considering that other, extremely social ones, such as chimpanzees have 357, cats are not in a bad situation at all.
Cats are “capable” of 276 facial expressions
The 276 feline facial expressions, probably evolved over 10,000 years of coexistence with man, were counted by two researchers from the University of California. They did this by analyzing the videos recorded in a CatCafèa place where patrons have the chance to interact (and even do yoga) with dozens of felines.
Cat videos recorded at the Cat Café
The study, published in the journal Behavioral Processeswas born from the idea of Lauren Scott, a medical student. For an entire academic year you filmed the facial expressions that the cats at the CatCafè Lounge in Los Angeles made to their peers in the absence of humans when the place was closed. The experiment produced 194 minutes of video recordings, which the researcher then examined with the help of evolutionary psychologist Brittany Florkiewicz trying to codify all the movements of the facial muscles of felines. All excluding functional ones, linked to breathing, chewing, yawning and other similar actions.
Each feline facial expression combines 4 of 26 unique movements
Each expression combines approximately four of 26 unique facial movements. Such as pursed lips, lowered jaw, dilated or constricted pupils, blinking and half-blinking, pulled corners of the lips, nose licking, protracted or retracted whiskers, and/or various ear positions. By comparison, humans have 44 unique facial movements, although researchers are still trying to figure out how many different expressions they combine into, Florkiewicz says. Dogs have 27 facial movements, but again the total number of expressions is not known.
Friendly or aggressive, what cats don’t say but express
The two scholars discovered that the vast majority of cats’ expressions are friendly (45%) or decidedly aggressive (37%). The remaining 18% were, like the “little witch’s smile”, so ambiguous that they fell into both categories.
What exactly the felines “say” to each other with these expressions is unclear, Florkiewicz explained. Overall it can be said that cats tend to move their ears and whiskers towards the other cat during friendly interactions. And to push them away during hostile interactions. Constricted pupils and licking lips also tend to accompany encounters with “rivals.”
Some of the friendly expressions – with the mouth turned back and the jaw open to form a kind of smile or laugh – were similar to those made (even in play) by people, dogs, monkeys and other animals.
The researchers have not yet understood exactly what the cats were trying to say to their peers with such expressions, but they hope that their study can help owners and shelter managers to better understand the relationship of these animals with their peers to take good care of it.
An app to decode cat language?
Some experts, such as behavioral biologist Georgia Mason of the University of Guelph, said they were impressed by the new study. Hypothesizing the practical implications. For example, one could arrive at design an app that helps cat owners better understand the subtle signals “sent” to them.
Fear, frustration, serenity: how they express them
This study is in any case in agreement with that of 2017 (Facial correlates of emotional behavior in the domestic cat) which correlated facial expressions with emotions. And it noted, for example, how the facial actions associated with fear include blinking and partial blinking and head and gaze orientation to the left. The facial actions associated with the frustration instead they include nose licking, lowering of the jaw, raising of the upper lip, wrinkling of the nose, depression of the lower lip, opening of the lips, elongation of the mouth, vocalization and display of the tongue. The “serenity” seemed to be associated with looking to the right and turning the head.
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