Cats 'exploit' humans by purring


	Cats 'exploit' humans by purring

EddieIsSteady

7-14-2009 7:04 PM

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tags:

cats, science

1 Comment |

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7-15-2009 2:47 PM

David Hughes

I clipped on the same subject at 1.30am yesterday!

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/bb498710-b1c3-439e-a653-026470c83b5e/DF06FC16-70E6-4517-B6EE-9BEADF4929EA/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm" style="font-size: 11px;">news.bbc.co.uk</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm">Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
				</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm"><P class="first"><B>Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans.</B></P><P>Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food. </P><P>Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a "cry", with a similar frequency to a human baby's. </P><P>The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm"><IMG width="226" vspace="0" hspace="0" height="280" border="0" alt="Cat (BBC)" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46053000/jpg/_46053673_cat_bbc_226.jpg" />
				<DIV class="cap">Impossible to resist: Cats use sounds that humans are "highly sensitive" to</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm"><P>"But cats are able to produce a low frequency purr by activating the muscles of their vocal folds - stimulating them to vibrate," explained Dr McComb. </P><P>Since each of these sounds is produced by a different mechanism, cats are able to embed a high-pitched cry in an otherwise relaxing purr. </P><P>"How urgent and unpleasant the purr is seems to depend on how much energy the cat puts into producing that cry," said Dr McComb. </P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/DF06FC16-70E6-4517-B6EE-9BEADF4929EA/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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