Women are much better at reading a cat's facial expression than men, a study has shown.
Some have even been dubbed 'cat whisperers', able to detect subtle differences in feline faces. Researchers found that aside from vets, women were more tuned in to cats than men.
The study, published in the journal Animal Welfare, recruited more than 6,300 people from 85 countries to watch 20 short videos of cats and complete questionnaires.
The films showed the cats as either happy - such as when they were being petted or given treats - or unhappy, like when they were experiencing health problems. Each video was focused on the cat's face, its eyes, muzzle and mouth.
None of the cats showed expressions of fear, like flattened ears or bared fangs, because these are already widely understood.
Participants were asked to judge whether each cat was in a positive state, a negative one, or if they weren't sure.
Their average score was 12 out of 20, but 13 per cent of the participants performed very well, correctly scoring 15 or better - a group the researchers nicknamed 'the cat whisperers'.
These people were more likely to be women than men, and more likely to be vets or vet technicians.
The researchers from the University of Guelph in Canada said their findings suggest that recognising a cat's feelings is a skill rather than something people can be trained to do.
TWEET YOUR COMMENT