Cats use 'irresistible' purr-whine to get their way
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 Source: www.chinapost.com.tw
Cats use 'irresistible' purr-whine to get their way
貓咪可發出嗚咽聲以要求餵食 National Geographic Society — Hungry house cats use an annoying but irresistible combination of sounds when they want to be fed, a new study has found. 美國國家地理學會 — 一項新的研究發現,飢餓的家貓要人餵牠們吃東西時,會發出一連串惱人但無法抗拒的聲音。 The combo may explain why cat owners seem willing to fill food dishes at all hours rather than simply ignoring or ejecting the cat, noted study leader Karen McComb, a mammal-communications expert at the University of Sussex in the UK . 英國薩塞克斯大學的哺乳類動物溝通專家麥康指出,這些聲音或許能解釋為何飼主不論何時都願意餵貓,而不是忽略或把牠們轟出去。 When they're hungry, some cats blend their normal, pleasant purrs with whines comparable in frequency to the distress cries of human infants. 當貓肚子餓的時候,會混合平常悅耳與相當於人類嬰兒不舒服時所發出的哭聲頻率相似的叫聲。 "They can sort of get away with solicitation that way rather than with just meowing, which might get them swept aside," McComb said. 麥康表示:「利用這種聲音,這些貓兒就可以得到食物,而不是只是喵喵叫然後被趕到一邊。」 The concept of cat purring is strange by itself, McComb pointed out. "Cats shouldn't really be able to produce low frequencies like that," because their vocal folds are too small. 「貓咪應該沒辦法發出那種低頻聲音,」因為貓的聲帶太小了。 Most animals make throat-based sounds using only their vocal folds. But cats can vibrate the muscles underneath their vocal folds very slowly, which produces the rumbling purr. But that action leaves the inner edges of the vocal folds free to do something else. By vibrating those inner edges while also purring, a cat can produce the higher-pitched distress call. 大多數動物只能用聲帶發出喉音,但貓兒可藉由緩緩振動聲帶下方的肌肉群,而發出低沉且持續的呼嚕聲。但這種機制能可讓聲帶內緣進行其他功能;藉由發出呼嚕聲的同時,振動聲帶內緣,貓兒可發出尖銳的求救聲。 McComb's team and several volunteer cat-owners recorded straight purrs and purr-meow combinations in 10 cats then played the recordings for 50 human listeners. People judged the purr-meow combination to be more urgent and less pleasant than normal purring ─ even those participants who had never owned a cat. 即使其中有人從未養過貓,他們都可判斷出,混合叫聲比平常貓叫更為急促且較不悅耳。 Not all cats use this special purr combo, McComb noted. The sound seems to develop more often in cats that have one-on-one relationships with their owners. That could be because the subtle sound is easier to overlook in cats living in larger households, she said. In those cases, a louder meow is more effective. 麥康指出,不是所有的貓咪都會使用這種特別的混合叫聲。這種叫聲在一位飼主只養一隻貓咪時,較常發生。這可能是因為微妙的叫聲對住在較大房子裡的貓咪來說容易被忽略。在這種情況下, 大聲的喵喵叫還比較能達到效果.
After reading: Well, I can’t say their purr-meow is pleasant to my ears all the time. Specially when they do it in the early morning. It’s the key reason I never need any alarm clock and I was flattered when they did a little bit tap dancing on me in the morning. Guess it was their way of showing their love and I’m most willing to comply with their requests. So go ahead and call me a hopelessly cat lover. – Josie Lai 
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The power of love for pets is unimaginable. I am alos a Margius lover.
Thank your for your sharing. I like it.
Brenda