As attested by famous Internet cats like Grumpy Cat and Smudge who hates broccoli, our cultural stereotype of cats is that they are often aggressive, distant or, well, moody.
Now, a new study suggests that the moody behavior of cats, and particularly those with moody faces, may be related to a human-made accident. In fact, because humans raised our pet cats to look more cute and attractive to their fellow humans, these facial changes may have affected their ability to communicate with each other.
“Our research suggests that our preferences for appearance in animals may go beyond mere ‘cute’ to include animals that exhibit pain characteristics in their faces,” Lauren R. Finka, a postdoctoral research associate at Nottingham Trent University who co- authored the article, he told Salon by email. In other words, their cats’ standard fluffy expression is, for them, perhaps another expression of pain.
In the article in question, Finka and his co-authors note that domesticated cats are one of many animals whose appearance has been altered by humans due to artificial selection. Some cats have brachycephalic faces (such as Persians and exotic hair), which means they are flatter and rounder and can cause health problems, such as breathing difficulties. Others have dolichocephalic faces (like the Siamese), which means they are considered longer than average, or mesocephalic faces (like short-haired domestic cats), which means that their heads have medium proportions.
The researchers studied cats of different facial types and concluded that, while someone who analyzes a cat’s face is able to distinguish between facial expressions that indicate “pain” or “no pain” when looking at domestic shorthaired cats, people do not they can recognize the “pain” expressions on the neutral faces of other races, even those with facial structures similar to each other. Scientists also wrote that neutral expressions on a cat’s average face, which is abnormally flat and round, “suggested greater painful features” when compared to those whose faces are medium in proportion or longer than average. For example, Scottish Folds cats had faces that indicated they were in pain, even when their expressions were neutral; and several breeds of cats with longer faces, including Devon Rex cats, also had neutral faces that “indicated a greater absence of painful features, compared to the neutral reference points of several other breeds.”
As Finka a Salon wrote, these findings have important implications for people who love their cats and whose cats have faces that seem to indicate they are in pain.
“What this means for our pets is that these animals may end up receiving more attention from us than they would like, because their appearance motivates us to want to serve them,” explained Finka. “Likewise, we can also lose when they may actually be in pain, because we may not be able to tell the difference from their normal appearance. It also means that we can continue to prefer – and even encourage – the existence of breeds that many sometimes suffer from serious health problems and may find it difficult to express themselves clearly. “
Finka also explained why people tend to gravitate towards animals with characteristics that remind them of children.
“We know that humans tend to find animals with more ‘childlike’ appearance characteristics (for example, relatively large head and round face, high forehead and large, low eyes) more beautiful and attractive,” explained Finka. These types of cat faces “exploit our breeding instincts, which is potentially very advantageous for human newborns who are vulnerable and in need of a lot of care. These characteristics are more pronounced in cats with a flatter face. However, they are associated health problems and breathing difficulties and potentially also limit the ability of these cats to communicate clearly. “
In terms of the evolutionary implications, Finka was blunt: “When we heavily (artificially) select animals for certain characteristics that we find attractive, we potentially limit their ability to express themselves clearly using those characteristics.”
In an article about his study for The Conversation, Finka pointed out that the implications of the study go beyond cats.
“It is unlikely that these issues will be limited to cats only, as other domesticated species, particularly dogs, exhibit similar types of selection for extreme traits,” wrote Finka.
Finka explained to Salon that his work has not tested whether cats are limited in their ability to read each other’s pain or whether they may think that other cats are constantly in pain.
“This is not something we tested, but it is logical to assume that other cats would also find it difficult to communicate effectively with each other through their faces,” wrote Finka to Salon. “However, in general this area has received very little scientific research, so we generally don’t know much about how cats communicate with each other with their faces. When it comes to very brachycephalic breeds, it is probably more likely that, instead of other cats thinking that these cats are in pain, they may simply not be able to extract much useful information from their faces. “