Ears flattened, constricted pupils, a lick of the lips. If you’ve ever wondered if your feline friends’ furry faces were saying something whenever they got together, chances are they were.

In a study published in the journal Behavioural Processes last month, two US scientists counted 276 different facial expressions when domesticated cats interacted with one another.

“Our study demonstrates that cat communication is more complex than previously assumed,” study co-author Brittany Florkiewicz, an evolutionary psychologist at Lyon College in Arkansas, told CNN Wednesday, adding that their findings suggest that domestication has a significant impact on the development of facial signaling.

  • @DredPyr8Roberts
    link
    341 year ago

    Who knew there were so many ways to express contempt?

  • @jordanlund
    link
    231 year ago

    CAN make 276 facial expressions. Keanu has 4.

    • ArtieShaw
      link
      fedilink
      31 year ago

      Let me guess:

      Hungry
      Asleep
      Almost asleep
      Revolted by whatever it is you seem think you’re doing

      Or maybe that’s just mine.

      For my other cat I would also add: Cat Mode Has Been Deactivated

      • @jordanlund
        link
        31 year ago

        Keanu doesn’t do revolted, he is pure love.

      • UFO
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        Pretty close to one of my cats. The other also has “violence”.

        Here’s the fat one calming the violent one.

  • @SpaceNoodle
    link
    201 year ago

    cat Facial Action Coding System

    Cat FACS, you say?

  • speck
    link
    fedilink
    51 year ago

    Dang it went down by 24 in one day. What is happening to our nation’s cats??

  • Franzia
    link
    fedilink
    41 year ago

    And we’re only making memes about like 5 of them? What the fuck