According to an observational study cats are found to have at least 276 different facial expressions combinations. That humans can identify and distinguish between, maybe or sort of ...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/67273692
Each of the cat's expressions was made up of a mix of four out of 26 unique facial movements - things like open mouths, wide or small pupils, blinks, nose licks, whisker movements, and ear positions. By comparison, humans have around 44 unique facial movements, and dogs have 27, but the total number of expressions isn't known. Of the recorded facial expressions, around 45% were thought to be friendly, and 37% were more aggressive or angry, with the leftover 18% an unclear mixture of the two.
https://www.science.org/content/article/cats-have-nearly-300-facial-expressions
"Many people still consider cats—erroneously—to be a largely nonsocial species," says Daniel Mills, a veterinary behaviorist at the University of Lincoln who was not involved in the study. The facial expressions described in the new study suggest otherwise, he notes. "There is clearly a lot going on that we are not aware of."
[...] Georgia Mason, a behavioral biologist at the University of Guelph, says she was "very impressed" by the new study. One day it might be used to design an app to help cat owners better understand their pets' subtle cues, she adds. "This could really help the cat-human bond."
Journal Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376635723001419
(Score: 5, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday November 07 2023, @07:24AM (2 children)
About 50 of them mean "Feed me", 10 mean "Pet me, but not too long or I'll scratch you", and 216 mean "You're not worth licking my back paws..."
(Score: 3, Touché) by driverless on Tuesday November 07 2023, @10:41AM
You can spot the cat owners here, I was just about to post more or less the same thing.
Except that I think it's more like 70 feed-me expressions.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Freeman on Tuesday November 07 2023, @03:08PM
There's also the "pet me, if you stop I will scratch you" one as well. It looks identical to the "pet me, but not too long or I'll scratch you" expression.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Snospar on Tuesday November 07 2023, @11:23AM (1 child)
How did these silly humans observe these different facial expressions? I really doubt they were able to perceive the micro-movements of muscles on the cats face. I also doubt the cats were always intentionally moving their face to make a certain expression.
We used to have a cat with mostly white fur but a few black patches. One of the black patches was above his eyes and this (apparently) made him look like he was frowning. Almost all of the silly humans who encountered him said "Why is he in such a bad mood all the time?". He was perfectly happy, it was just an unfortunate place for a black patch - could have been worse, he could have been a Kitler [wikipedia.org].
Huge thanks to all the Soylent volunteers without whom this community (and this post) would not be possible.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday November 07 2023, @08:13PM
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumpy_Cat [wikipedia.org]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Barenflimski on Tuesday November 07 2023, @12:32PM (2 children)
The only nonsocial cats I've ever meet were around people that constantly shooed them away.
The rest want to sit on you lap, face, dirty laundry basket or newly washed jacket.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Reziac on Wednesday November 08 2023, @04:05AM
You need to meet some barn cats, or ferals. Some aren't social despite your best efforts. Cats need to be "tamed" quite young, or they're likely to be decidedly unsocial with people, and even then sometimes it fails. (Have one of those among my barn cats right now. She'll tame temporarily, but it doesn't stick.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday November 12 2023, @12:56AM
When I had cats they liked nothing better than when there was a fresh, clean, fresh from the dryer warm set of laundry to pile upon. They were also particularly fond of barfing up a hairball on the bed upon which you just put a fresh set of sheets.