Scientists Discover Exotic Cats Have ‘Remarkable Ability’

Exotic cats can recognize human voices, new research has found.

In a study published in PeerJ Life & Environment, Professor Jennifer Vonk from Oakland University in Michigan discovered that such non-domesticated species have a “remarkable ability” of telling the difference between human voices they know, and humans they don’t.

Vonk, along with graduate student Taylor Crews and a team, studied 24 cats across 10 species, including cheetahs, tigers and lions. They played the cats, which had been looked after by humans, recordings of different human voices.

The researchers discovered that the cats responded “more quickly and with greater intensity” to familiar voices. These reactions included turning their heads, and moving both ears when the voice sounded.

It also appeared that they responded for a longer time when played a familiar voice, compared with the voice of someone they did not know.

“We were a little surprised by how clear the results were but not by the fact that cats would respond to familiar voices,” Vonk told Newsweek. “We were a little surprised that human-reared cats weren’t more responsive than mother-reared cats.”

These findings suggest that when a cat experiences close human contact, they are more able to distinguish between voices, regardless of their rearing history.

The study also debunks the previously held theory that species that are less social lack these kinds of socio-cognitive abilities. There have been previous studies into animals’ abilities to recognize voices, but until now there has been very little research into the entire feline family, the study reported.

“[These findings] show that the recognition of individual human vocal cues does not depend upon domestication or a history of living in social groups,” Vonk said. “At a practical level, they show that cats may not be distracted by the public speaking their names as they did not respond more to their names.”

A deeper understanding into such cats, and how they recognize familiar voices, could provide insights into improving their care. It also challenges the idea that cats are aloof to human presence and less social than other animals.

Nor does Vonk’s research end there.

“We are looking at whether cats look more to familiar humans when they cannot solve a task and we are investigating recognition of familiar humans in snakes and owls as well,” Vonk said. “I’m also interested in how rearing affects cats’ (including domestic cats) social cognition more broadly.”

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