Overview
- Published in Ethology, the study recorded the first 100 seconds after owners returned home and found cats averaged 4.3 meows for men versus 1.8 for women.
- Researchers analyzed footage from chest-mounted cameras in 31 homes, coding 22 behaviors to quantify how cats greet caregivers.
- The authors propose that cats may increase vocalizations to elicit attention from men, who on average speak less to their pets, framing this as a hypothesis rather than a conclusion.
- Findings are limited by the small, Turkey-only sample, and the researchers call for larger, cross-cultural replications to test generalizability.
- Media reports differ on study leadership attribution, with The Times naming Kaan Kerman and Phys.org citing Yasemin Salgırlı Demirbaş.