Cat communication can be quite complex. Although some ways, like a cat meowing at you for food are easily understood. Other ways of communication can be more nuanced or complex. Cats use a variety of visual cues, body language, scents, and vocalizations to communicate with other cats, to people, and to other animals. The posture of the tail, the tilt of the eras, tension in the body, even the position of the fur are ways that cats communicate.
Facial expressions are more subtle, with cats using small changes in ear position, eye dilation, and whisker orientation to communicate. Lauren Scott, a medical student with the University of Kansas Medical Center, wanted to explore more in depth all the ways that cats use facial expressions to communicate to other cats. To do so, Scott visited a cat cafe in Los Angeles over the course of a year to record the interactions among cats. In total, 53 adult domestic shorthair cats and their interactions were studied.
How do cats make facial expressions?
The video of these feline interactions was then analyzed using Facial Action Coding Systems specialized for analyzing cat facial expressions. Scott collaborated with evolutionary psychologist Brittany Florkiewicz of Lyon College to categorize all the different movements of the cats’ facial muscles. The study excluded those movements that were associated with involuntary actions like breathing, chewing, yawning, and similar activities.
Cats can use a variety of combinations involving the position of the lips, eyes, ears as well as the dilation of the pupils, drooling, and tension of the jaw. In total, there are 26 different facial movements that a cat can make. With each facial expression about four out of the 26 different facial movements, the researchers calculated that cats can make 276 unique facial expressions.
The researchers were able to categorize most of the cat facial expressions as either clearly friendly or aggressive. 45 percent of the facial expressions were deemed friendly and 37 percent were considered aggressive. About 18% of the cat facial expressions were ambiguous.
The study highlighted just how complex cat facial expressions can be. The authors of the studied hypothesized that domestication has probably influenced how cats use facial expressions to communicate with each other and humans.
References
Scott, L., & Florkiewicz, B. N. (2023). Feline Faces: Unraveling the Social Function of Domestic Cat Facial Signals. Behavioural Processes, 104959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2023.104959
Lesté-Lasserre, C. (2023, October 25). Cats have nearly 300 facial expressions. Science. https://www.science.org/content/article/cats-have-nearly-300-facial-expressions
