Cats can tell their owners apart from strangers from the scent of their human companions, a new study reveals.
Researchers from the Tokyo University of Agriculture say cats tend to spend a longer time sniffing the odour of a stranger than that of their owner, suggesting they can recognise familiar humans quickly based on smell.
Previous studies have shown that cats use their sense of smell to identify other felines and communicate with each other.
Whether they can also use scent to distinguish between humans has been unclear, however.
The latest study, published on Wednesday in the journal PLoS, sought to find out if cats could tell familiar and unfamiliar humans apart based on smell alone.
Researchers tested 30 domestic cats by presenting them with plastic tubes containing swabs rubbed under the armpit, behind the ear, and between the toes of either their owner or a human they had never met.
They asked the cat owners to complete an online questionnaire to assess their pet’s personality and their relationship.
They observed that the study cats spent significantly longer sniffing an unknown odour than that of their owner or an empty tube.
The felines tended to sniff unknown odours with their right nostril initially before switching to the left nostril as they became more familiar with the smell.
Researchers found that male cats with seemingly neurotic personalities tended to sniff each tube repetitively. To the contrary, males with more agreeable personalities sniffed the tubes more calmly.
No such effect of personality was seen on the behaviour of female cats during the experiment, according to the study.
The findings suggest domestic cats can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar humans based on their odour. It is still unclear, however, whether they identify specific humans based on smell alone.
The research also reveals that cats have a right nostril preference for investigating new smells, indicating they may favour different hemispheres of their brain for different tasks.
This phenomenon has previously been seen in other animals such as dogs, fish and birds.
“We suggest that cats use their olfaction for the recognition of humans. Also, we record characteristic rubbing behaviour occurring after sniffing, indicating that sniffing may be an exploratory behaviour preceding the rubbing of odour in cats,” the study notes.
“This relationship warrants further investigation along with the theory of whether cats are able to recognize a specific person from olfactory cues.”
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