Have you ever wondered what your cat's facial expressions mean? Scientists have several ideas.
A new study from the University of California, Los Angeles investigates the facial expressions cats use to communicate with each other.
They counted as many as 276 different facial expressions in the cats they studied.
By comparison, chimpanzees are thought to have 357 facial expressions.
They also found that cats and humans share several facial expressions, which are thought to have been picked up by cats over the past 10.000 years of living with humans.
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Scientist Lorin Scott visited a charity cat cafe in California this summer.
She recorded 194 minutes of video material with facial expressions of cats, especially at moments when the four-leggeds were concentrated on other cats.
She then analyzed them together with Brittany Florkevich, an evolutionary psychologist who studies animal feelings and behavior.
What did they discover about cat facial expressions?
In the videos, they counted 276 different facial expressions in cats.
Each cat expression is composed of a mixture of four of a possible 26 facial movements, such as mouth movements, pupil dilation, blinking, nose licking, whisker movements, and ear position.
By comparison, humans have about 44 facial movements and dogs have 27, but the total number is unknown.
Of the facial expressions recorded, about 45 percent were considered friendly, and 37 percent more aggressive or angry.
The remaining 18 percent is a vague mix of the two.
Friendly facial expressions in cats include a pulled mouth and an open jaw, which look like a smile.
This facial expression is similar to the "playful face" in humans, dogs, monkeys and other animals.
Researchers don't yet know exactly what the cats are trying to tell each other through these facial expressions.
They hope their research could help pet owners and animal shelters better care for cats and better understand their relationships with each other.
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