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| World Cat Day 2021 : Six facts you didn't know about your favorite animal |
- No other pet is more common in German homes than the cat.
- And the sneak hunters also seem to be popular among researchers.
- To coincide with World Cat Day, you can read some exciting study results about the fluffy animals here.
They tap through our apartments, across the screens of our smartphones and (in some places without permission) across our sofas. Cats are the Germans' favorite pets. But the sneak hunters not only have a mind of their own, they also have their own day of honor. Every year on August 8, "meowmys" and "pawpys" - as some cat moms and dads call themselves on Instagram - celebrate their favorite pet.
And cats seem to be popular with researchers, too. In any case, studies about the fluffy roommates regularly make it into the headlines. What follows: a selection of facts from science about cats - from delightful to disgusting.
1 cats probably don't like heavy metal
Cats prefer to listen to classical music than booming heavy metal songs - at least under anesthesia. That's what researchers at the University of Lisbon found out. They put headphones on twelve cats during surgery and played them two-minute-long pieces of music from the classical, pop and heavy metal genres. Based on the breathing rate and pupil diameter of the animals, the scientists interpreted that the cats were most relaxed with classical music on their ears - and heavy metal caused stress. Well: There it might go so some humans similarly.
2 sleepless with cat
Who lives with a cat, sleeps less. This hypothesis was put forward by researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden. The associated study is published in the scientific journal "Scientific Reports". According to the study, cat owners have a significantly higher risk of getting too little sleep - unlike people with dogs or without pets.
The scientists defined seven hours as sufficient sleep duration. Among the more than 4,500 test subjects aged 50 to 65 years were also people who did not own pets. However, it cannot be ruled out that the observation of sleep-robbing house pets was a chance finding, the researchers said.
One possible reason for the sleepless nights of cat people: "Cats have a rhythm that is not adapted to humans. They are particularly active at dawn and dusk," Christian Benedict, co-author of the study, told Bild. However, the researchers also point out that pets of any kind could improve the sleep of their owners under certain circumstances. They are helpful, for example, for people with depression or anxiety.
3. make beautiful eyes
If people wink at each other, it is often a case of flirtation. But cats can also be won over with the right eye appeal. This is the result of a study conducted by the University of Sussex in the UK. Blinking slowly several times signals the animal something like: I like you! Also strange cats would approach an unknown person rather, if this blinks at them slowly. "It's great to be able to show that cats and humans can communicate in this way," said study leader Prof. Karen McComb. It is the first time a study has looked experimentally at slow blinking in cat-human communication, she said.
4. Do cats prefer humans to mice?
Do cats eat human corpses? Some apparently do: This is shown by the observations of some US scientists on a cadaver farm in Colorado. For research purposes, human corpses lie outside there, far away from any settlements, and are inspected daily. A wildlife camera records which animals feed on the bodies.
The researchers discovered that two feral house cats always ate the corpses there - they especially nibbled on the soft parts of shoulders and arms. A behavior rather unusual for the family of the cats according to the experts: Their representatives commonly preferred to hunt themselves rather than eat already dead creatures.
5 Fewer dead birds thanks to high-quality food
The cat does not let the mouse: But so some master or mistress is afraid of the brought along, killed prey. Researchers at the University of Exeter in the U.K. have therefore tested various methods of discouraging cats from hunting in a field trial involving 355 hunting cats. A colorful ruff, which is supposed to enable birds to detect cats earlier, proved to be quite effective. Animals wearing the ruff brought home 42 percent fewer birds compared to the time before the test and to the control group. A bell around the neck, on the other hand, had no measurable effect.
A change in diet also had an effect on the cats' enthusiasm for hunting. If masters and mistresses served food that mainly contained meat - and neither meat-and-bone meal nor grain - their animals brought home 33 percent fewer small mammals and 44 percent fewer birds. It could be that the cat lacks a certain amino acid or other micronutrient in plant-based or other foods, the researchers suspect, also on the basis of earlier study results. If owners played with their animals for five to ten minutes every day with a cat rod, they brought home a quarter less prey.
6. your humans are not indifferent to the cat
A prejudice against velvet paws is that their masters and mistresses are indifferent to them - at least, as long as they do not have a can opener at hand. This stereotype refutes a study of the Oregon State University. According to this study, cats would form similarly close bonds with their caregivers as dogs or young children.
Thanks for reading: World Cat Day 2021 : Six facts you didn't know about your favorite animal, Sorry, my English is bad:)