Figure 1: Human interacting with a domesticated cat 

            Domestication of an animal occurs when it is removed from its natural environment into a human controlled environment. Eventually, due to human interactions including selective breeding, the selected animal branches off from its wild relatives and becomes its own species. While cats are only considered semi-domesticated animals and have been subject to a relatively low amount of selective breeding, they have become their own species, branching from Felis silvestris lybica, the African wildcat, and have, in some ways, coevolved with humans. An example of such evolution is evidenced through cat vocalizations (Nicastro, 2004).

Figure 2: Domesticated cat meowing

            Domesticated cats can create a large variety sounds. However, the must frequent sounds they make are in the forms of meowing and purring. Only six of the forty species in the cat family can meow, a sound characterized by its arched, vowel-focused pitch with duration of one to several seconds. When asked to compare the meows of various domesticated cats and various African wildcats in multiple contexts, humans responded by saying that they found the domesticated cat meow more pleasant. The meow of the domesticated cat is higher, softer, and shorter in duration than the meow of the African wildcat. It is hypothesized the changes in the domesticated cat’s meow have evolved in a manner that sounds less threatening to humans, and even to resemble the cry of a human infant (Nicastro, 2004).

Figure 3: Content cat purring

            Evidence suggests that the domesticates cat’s meow has not only evolved to be more pleasant to humans, but to communicate with them. Cats purr when their mothers are nursing them. Therefore, purring is associated with content and hunger. When they are older, cats purr when asking humans to feed them and when they are happy. The purr cats vocalize when they are hungry is high pitched and described by humans as less pleasant and more urgent than the purr cats resonate when they are content, which is softer and deeper. Humans can recognize the difference between the two purrs. It is suggested that the purr cats vocalize when hungry has evolved to sound like a human baby’s cry, stimulating a need in humans to for care of and nurture it (McCob et al, 2009).

            The coevolution between cat vocalizations and humans is not believed to have occurred though selective breeding, but rather natural selection. Cats who sound more pleasant and better communicate with humans are more likely to be well cared for by them and to pass on their genetic information. Cats also learn what sounds humans respond to as they grow up and become more efficient in communication (Nicastro, 2004).

Works Cited:

McCob, K, Taylor, A, Wilson, C, and Charlton, B, (2009), ‘The Cry Embedded Within the Purr,’ Current Biology, Vol. 19, 14, pp. R507-R508.

Nicastro, N, 2004, ‘Perceptual and Acoustic Evidence for Species-Level Differences in Meow Vocalization by Domesticate Cats (Felis catus) and African Wild Cats (Felis silvestris lybica), Journal of Comparative Psychology, Vol. 118, 3, pp. 287-296.

Figure 1: Available from: http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/content/images/cute-boys-with-cts.jpgFigure 1: Available from: http://www.catster.com/files/600px-meowing-cat.jpg 

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