this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2025
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I don't know about that human baby thing.
Babies are real dude
Source?
How is babby formed?
Well, from HS bio, I remember urine is stored in the balls. So, maybe some other way to make babby?
You know, American sexual education is so bad, I'm sure there is a couple out there who thought you make a babby by peeing in the vag.
And they domesticated themselves
Yeah that seems really far fetched. Humans are generally bad at communicating with mostly body posture and scent. We have no tail to wiggle, no easily movable ears and no chance to use cat pheromones.
So naturally the cat has the best chance to get a response by using vocalication/sounds. It is just coincidence that their kittens do also mostly respond to sounds in their first weeks.
The resemblance to baby vocalizations can be rather unsettling with some cats. I suppose it's somewhat natural since they're about the same size as a newborn human, but specifically adopting somewhat human-like (and thus baby-like, because that's the one they can imitate the best) vocalization doesn't seem that far-fetched.
I mean, I'm not sure cats are out there observing human babies and intentionally imitating them. They have pattern recognition machines in their heads just like we do. "Make noise = human pay attention" is about as complex as this gets. The fact that we're susceptible to the specific timbre of their voices seems likely to be evolutionary coincidence.
Yes and, you missed the last crucial step
“Make noise = human pay attention” "Human feeds and protects me = more kittens that probably know to pay attention" ... "Profit"
It's likely not a coincidence but something they learnt a looong time ago living among humans.
Here's a study that goes into the frequency thing:
Right, but adult cats keep making those vocalizations well past that age.
It's not that far fetched that their neoteny is an adaptation to humans.
Adult cats will meow at kittens.
IIRC, it's more that they over time figure out what sounds and actions get their owner's attention. We respond better, unconsiously or otherwise when they meow at out.
My old cat figured out before I did that if she knocks shit off the coffee table I get up and check if her bowl is empty.
Generally wild/feral adult cats are more or less mute outside of anger/mating/territory calls, but domesticated cats keep their kitten vocalizations if we respond to them.
My current cat is very vocal and we responded playfully to his meowing as he grew up.
Both of my cats came from my in-laws farm and it's been funny with the older of the two as she needed to learn from another cat how being friendly gets you pets and scritches, meanwhile the younger one who basically came inside as soon as she was on hard food hasn't had that difficulty
If meows sounded anything like human baby cries they would give me an instant headache and the desire to get rid of the cat
Just what an AI would say!
I got a cat that definitely lives with a baby at one point