It is said that cats only hear when they feel like it and respond to their owner’s calls only when it’s in their interest. Cat owners know that they often behave like true divas. The behavior of cats is carefully studied by scientists, who have gone so far as to observe whether cats understand human speech and recognize their names.
Two Japanese scientists, Atsuko Saito and Kazutaka Shinozuk, after « conversing » with 78 cats, concluded that the majority recognize their names, react when they hear them in a conversation, and respond in various ways. The study was conducted on both owned cats and strays.
Les chats comprennent-ils le langage humain et reconnaissent-ils leurs noms ?
The fact that a cat understands its name and responds when it hears it can also be confirmed by many cat owners. If there are 3 cats in a house, it will be noticed that each cat « responds » when it hears its name. Furthermore, the other cats know which one of them was « called ».
Cats also understand tone very well. They understand when we imperatively call them to behave or not to do something forbidden, they understand from the tone when we call them for food or affection. Simply using different tones for the cat’s name is enough for them to understand what we want to say.
Les chats savent quand nous parlons d'eux avec d'autres membres de la famille, quand nous mentionnons leurs noms dans une conversation. Des études ont montré qu'environ 50 % des chats réagissent lorsqu'ils entendent leur nom dans une conversation.
But it’s not just their names that cats understand. They also understand other words, which they associate with well-defined actions and/or activities. For example, we know cats that when they hear the word « food, » they know that a meal will be served soon or that they might receive some food, reacting accordingly.
A lire aussi : Pourquoi les chats apportent-ils des souris ou des oiseaux, des lézards vivants ou des jouets à leurs propriétaires ?
Ainsi, la conclusion est que les chats comprennent la parole humaine et réagissent de différentes manières lorsqu’ils entendent des mots appris ou lorsqu’ils entendent leurs noms.
