In 2021, scientists studying animal communication discovered that some dogs associate objects with words at a similar level to babies. Then what about cats, which are commonly believed to be indifferent to human affairs?

Saho Takagi, a researcher at Azabu University, doubted cats’ seeming indifference. “Cats don’t appear to listen to people’s conversations, but in fact, they do.” According to previous research, cats understand human communication better than expected. Like dogs, they can use human pointing and stares to find food. They even can tell the difference between human facial expressions and attentional states, according to a 2016 study. However, cats can do more than that.

Another study showed that cats can discriminate their human-given name from the names of their cat friends (those that live in the same household). The researchers believed that cats learned to associate names with other cats by observing interactions between their owners and their cat friends.

In a recently published study, Takagi and her colleagues compared two groups of cats: one group consisted of household cats that lived with at least two other cats; the other consisted of cats that lived in “cat cafés”, which had up to 30 cats. They used a simple, two-phase(阶段)test. During the name phase, the study participant was softly placed in front of a laptop computer. Then the researcher played a recording of its owner saying the name of one of its kitty companions(同伴).

Immediately after the name phase came the face phase. A cat’s face appeared on the monitor. Sometimes, the cat that appeared on the screen matched the name spoken; other times the name and the image did not match. If cats knew the names of their cat friends, they would investigate by staring doubtfully at the monitor when the name and image did not match. House cats had a significantly longer stare than café cats, indicating that household cats generally expected a specific cat’s face upon hearing the cat’s name.

“This is the first evidence that household cats link human words and their social companions through daily experiences,” the researchers wrote. “However, we could not recognize the mechanism(机制)for learning. But with more and more scientists becoming interested in cats who are much smarter than we give them credit for, this question is sure to be resolved.”

More than 40 years ago, John Willams gave away all of his belongings and went off to the mountains to live the way people lived 100 years ago. For food he traps wild animals, fishes in the rivers, and plants whatever he can. John lives in a cabin he made by hand, out of trees he chopped down with an ax. Though he has no relatives he knows of, he does have a deer he raised from a fawn. The deer lives in the house in the winter and goes with John when he goes into the forest for food. Nobody lives within fifty miles of his cabin in the mountains and John has not been out of the mountains during the entire forty years. One day last year I hiked in to see how John lives. It was like going back in time. There were no roads, no stores, no noise, no pollution, not even a post office.

Most notable of all, there were no people and that's just the way John Williams wants to keep his part of the world—without people. But there is a paradox in his story. John is an educated man. He has books and nobody knows how he got them. Mostly he reads about his world, the forest, the animals, the plants, and the mountains. He has seen airplanes flying overhead but does not want to know about them. For him, electricity is lightning, not light bulbs, refrigerators, televisions, or washing machines. John Williams is 85 years old and had not had a sick day in his life. He attributes his long life to the fact that it has nothing to do with people and in order that he might enjoy many more years of health, happiness, and solitude, I will not tell you where his kingdom lies. There is no room there for you or me.

Celebrated on April 11th, National Pet Day celebrates the joy that pets bring to our lives — and, for many, it’s a psychic (心灵的) connection.

Nearly three-quarters of dog owners say they can read their pets minds. The new survey results coincide (与……相一致) with National Pet Day founded in 2006 by animal welfare advocate (动物幸福倡导者) Colleen Paige, who wanted to encourage adoptions.

Of the 2,000 dog owners surveyed (被调查), 74% are confident they understand what their pet wants at any given time. And, 71% feel their dog understands them, too. Half of the respondents (调查对象) say that it takes about six months to get to that point, after activities like taking them on walks. Communication skills begin while teaching some of the easiest commands (命令) for dogs: “sit,” “lie down” or “stay”.

Conducted by OnePoll, the survey also asked respondents to describe their dog’s funny characteristics (特点) and personalities (性格).

When it comes to personalities, owners would likely describe them as “The Guardian” (protective, attached), “The Family Dog” (easy to get along with, great with children, gentle), or “The Class Clown” (interesting).

84% of parents with Guardian dogs or Dedicated Workers (reliable, high-energy) believe they have some skills to help them know what their dog wants. Similarly, 72% of all dog owners think they know what their dog will do before they do it. And 62% of those who have “The Class Clown” say they know what action their dog has in mind next. 66% of those who have “The WatchDog” (smart, barks a lot) or “The Independent Thinker” (intelligent, likes to do things on their own) are sure they know what thoughts run through their dogs head. Half of those who have “Social Butterfly” dogs (high-energy, love attention, outgoing) see their own personality as matching their dog’s friendliness.