Meows seem aimed mainly at humans, yet no study has shown that a cat changes its meow depending on who is listening. What has been measured is subtler, and just as curious.
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Publicité
In a 2022 study, sixteen indoor cats heard recordings of human voices. When their owner spoke to them in the high, sing-song tone people use with animals, the cats reacted more strongly than to an adult-toned voice. With a stranger, that difference disappeared.
But this concerns perception only: the cats were listening, not meowing. The small sample does not allow generalisation, and no verified article shows that their meows vary from one person to another.
Other researchers found that people struggle to guess the context of a meow, although their success only slightly exceeds chance. Those who live with cats do somewhat better.
