News - Cats remember their owners for long time, researchers believe

A research by scientists at the University of Tokyo has provided surprising information about the abilities of domestic cats. Their long-term memory capacity was previously thought to be limited, but recent research suggests otherwise. It turns out that cats can remember people and places for many years, Springer Link reported. Their memory works in a special way. They remember what is important to them or what evokes strong emotions. For example, they better remember those who played, fed, and watched them, reports Planeta Today. The publication shows that domestic cats have a long history of coexistence with humans, dating back 10,000 years. And while the ability of cats to connect with people hasn't been well studied, recent research is shedding light on the matter. Researchers studied 20 domestic cats to see if they could recognize their owners' voices. Using the habit-removal method, they reproduced the voices of different people and then the voice of the owner himself, recording the animals' responses. Interestingly, the cats responded to human voices not with active communicative behavior, but rather with indicative behavior: they moved their ears and heads. This was observed even when their owners called the animals. These results suggest that cats can use vocal cues to distinguish between humans, especially their owners. This opens up new opportunities for studying cats' ability to communicate with humans and understand human vocal characteristics.