Estimates suggest that there are about 12 million domestic cats worldwide and that they kill between100 million and 250 million animals, mostly birds, annually. The team also compared domestic cat meows with those of five wild species; African wildcat, European wildcat, jungle cat, cheetah and cougar. ‘Domestic cat meows’, the authors say, ‘showed greater acoustic dispersion than those of wild cats, reflecting increased vocal plasticity through domestication’. Since then, the researchersargue, meowing has developed into a valuable tool which domestic cats use to manipulate not only other cats but also their keepers. Meows encode less individual information than purrs and show less greater variability in domestic than in wild cats.

Source: Irish Examiner February 19, 2026 22:07 UTC