2023-10-10 21:40:48
A mystery is now solved: scientists have discovered where purring in cats comes from, a sign that your companion is happy, and how these little felines produce it.
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Purring is produced by “pads” of fibrous tissue embedded in the vocal cords of cats, which vibrate and produce this sound reminiscent of the rumble of an engine, we can read in a study published in early October in the scientific journal Current Biology.
“This could explain how such a small animal, weighing only a few kilograms, can regularly produce sounds at these incredibly low frequencies (20-30 Hz, or cycles per second) – well below even the lowest bass sounds produced by human voices,” said Christian Herbst, lead author of the study carried out at the University of Vienna, in an interview with The Guardian.
A theory from the 70s debunked
Since the 1970s, the scientific community has instead believed that purring occurs through the contraction and relaxation of the laryngeal muscles approximately 30 times per second. This would therefore imply a constant contribution from the brain, a theory that this new study challenges.
In fact, what would occur in the larynx of cats would be similar to vocal frying (vocal fry) in humans, the researchers conclude. This is the sound the vocal cords make when compressed, causing their individual vibrations to be heard when speaking. It is a sound more common among people who speak Vietnamese, Danish and American English in particular.
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To reach their conclusions, the researchers detached the larynxes of eight domestic cats that had been euthanized following a terminal illness to study them with their owner’s consent.
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By pinching and passing warm air through the larynx, scientists achieved sounds similar to purring. Thus, they were able to see that no laryngeal muscle, nor neuronal input, was necessary, contrary to what they believed.
Uncertainties remain
In interview with the magazine Scienceanimal behavior expert from the University of Sussex, Karen McComb – who was not involved in the study – points out that the results seem “much more aligned with what we know about how Vocalizations are produced in other vertebrate animals.
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For his part, David Rice, a biomechanical engineer at Tulane University, expresses some reservations about the methodology, arguing that there is no guarantee that the detached vocal cords act the same way as when they are separated. found in the body of a living cat.
A factor that the lead author of the study, Christian Herbst, recognizes. It indicates to Science that the study of purring would be much more accurate and precise if it were possible to insert probes into the larynx of living cats. But since cats only purr when they feel safe and happy, this is unlikely to happen.
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