Did you know that cats treat their humans as overgrown kittens? Like most animals, they use vocalizations and behavior usually restricted to their offspring, not to other adult creatures. Cats not only bring us dead animals because they question our hunting ability, while taking advantage of our ability and willingness to feed them, but they dump mostly dead animals on us in the hopes we will learn to kill them like a good growing kitten. Sadly few of us “grow up” under the cat definition.
We, on the other hand, deal with these self-domesticated creatures in our lives similar to the young of our species as well. Their vocal range matches our hearing range in the frequency most often used when tired or in need of help. When the cat speaks, we listen, because a human saying something in the same frequency needs to be heard. High and light. Like children – and we talk back to them the same way.
Geeking Science is a cat’s meow!
Bibliography
Kjorstad, Elise. “Your cat meows mostly for you.” sciencenorway.no. 2019 October 17. https://sciencenorway.no/animal-kingdom-communication/your-cat-meows-mostly-for-you/1578244 (last viewed 3/23/2022)