It’s now believed that our cute kitties have the ability to remember the names and faces of the feline friends that they live with.
The study, which was conducted by Kyoto University in Japan and published in Scientific Reports, involved showing pet cats pictures of the felines that they live with and those they have never met before in cat cafés.
The cats would then listen to either an audio recording of their owners or one of the researchers saying the name of a familiar or fake feline.
At each stage the cat’s reactions were monitored and recorded. Researchers were able to determine that these pet cats spent a longer period of time looking at the pictures of their feline friends when the incorrect name was called out.
This suggested that the animal’s became confused when the correct name was not said - something that they had expected since they were already familiar with the other feline.
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Another of their findings showed that family cats would stare at pictures of unfamiliar cats for much longer - perhaps trying to figure out who they were and if they knew them.
Café cats on the other hand did not demonstrate the same behaviors as the pet felines.
"Whereas house cats probably learn by observing the reaction of the specific cat whose name was called, café cats are more likely to hear different names called by different guests, making such learning more difficult," explained the study’s authors.
According to the researchers, it could be possible that the number of cats found living together in one home could affect the animal’s ability to remember names.
"The number of cats living together might have an influence, as more cats probably means fewer opportunities to learn specific cat name-identity relationships," the researchers explained as part of their study.
