Cats can hear weird things that are beyond our comprehension. Yet what makes their feline eyes narrow in a gesture of sublime enjoyment? Scientists have discovered the catnip track that makes cats contented. The Applied Animal Behaviour Science Journal published a paper in February 2015 which sought to “design sound for the auditory enrichment of nonhuman animals.”
Apparently they favour pitches far higher than a human’s detectable hearing range, and disjointed and spasmodic meows and warbles from unseen creatures. The result sounds like an eerie Sigur Ros track combined with the tremulous purrs of a contented cat, and a bit of ambient space music thrown in for good measure.
From the scientific analysis of the cats, it seems that the younger mogs really responded well to these esoteric sounds whereas the older ones found the music tiresome after a while. Demonstrating that young whippersnappers of all species prefer to be in with the cool kids and listen to the right kind of music and wear their fur in a particular way.
It’s no secret that I have a deep and abiding love of cats. In the past, I have profiled the charge to bring back the Eurasian Lynx to Britain, the bouncy 60’s NASA trampoline studies on cats (not as sinister as you might think); and the unique juxtaposition of Samuel Beckett’s poems and depressed felines.
Content Catnip 