November 15, 2024
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Meow! Curly tails give cats an “accent”.
A genetic mutation causes some cats to curl their tails over their backs, giving them something like an accent when communicating with other cats.
The cat has a genetic mutation that curls its tail over its back in a spitz-like position.
Owning a cat with a trendy trait like “salty licorice” It could be the color of the coat or the flat face of a Persian feline, the cat’s meow. But some trends—including the curled tail that’s gaining popularity among owners—can inadvertently make a cat’s social life difficult. These cute but unusual tails can give a feline a kind of nonverbal “accent” to other cats (or humans), researchers say.
Cats a great repertoire body language cues. They arch their backs, lift their fur, and flatten their ears to communicate fear or stress. They squint their eyes, knead their legs and rub their heads against someone in a show of love and trust. And one of their most common signs of “content” is a simple straight tail – held vertically and sometimes slightly curved at the tip – which to other kitties is a “Hey, buddy!”
Morgane Van Belle, a feline ethologist at the University of Ghent in Belgium, was researching cat-to-cat interactions in people’s homes when she came across some surprising tails that curled up the cats’ backs. Participants were sent videos of two cats from unrelated households who could shake, shake, wag their tails, and drop their tails, but were unable to stand up. The owners said that their cats’ tails had always been this way, suggesting a genetic mutation, possibly also new breeding effort to promote curly tail. The proposed name for the breed with this trait is the American ringtail (not to be confused with the small mammal of the raccoon family).
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Curiosity How curly tails affect cats’ ability to communicateVan Belle and her colleagues watched 85 minutes of video footage of two curly-tailed felines interacting with other cats living in their respective homes. Common-tailed cats were happy to groom, play, rub their heads and sleep with odd tails, meaning the animals likely found another way to communicate friendly messages, researchers report in a new paper. Veterinary Journal.
The curled tail gives the cat “like an accent,” which would take time and effort for others to understand, says Van Bell, lead author of the paper. “Maybe they’re using other cues, like ear position or smells,” he added. “Knowing each other well probably also helps with communication. It really shows how flexible cats are when it comes to communicating with each other.’
Sandra Nicholson, an animal behavioral scientist at University College Dublin who was not involved in the new paper, agrees. “They’re still making signals through other parts of their body, their face, their ears and their body position as a whole,” he says. “So it’s not just about the tail, although it is known that (the curled tail) will reduce some of the signaling abilities.”
Unfamiliar felines—and even humans—risk misinterpreting curly-tail signals. These cats “can send mixed messages,” says Nicholson. In fact, back-curling tails don’t seem to exist in the kitty language repertoire, since most cats can’t do that movement at all.
Whether there are communication challenges among the roughly 70 breeds of curly-tailed “spitz” dogs, such as Pomeranians and Shiba Inus, remains to be studied, says one of the authors of the new study, Daniel Mills, a veterinary major at the University. Lincoln in England. “Breeds that only live within their own breed may be more limited in their ability to communicate across breeds,” he says, emphasizing the importance of socializing a dog with a variety of breeds.
On a larger scale, the cat study underscores the need to consider how trendy breeding traits can affect not only the physical health of animals, but also their social health, says evolutionary ecologist Brittany Florkiewicz of Lyon College, who was not involved in the new paper. Snub-nosed animals such as pug dogs and Persian cats they cannot produce all the normal facial expressions for their species—in addition to struggling to breathe properly.
On a more positive note, Nicholson notes that the paper highlights cats’ ability to adapt to each other’s individual variations. “These animals should be protected and included, and not be disadvantaged because of their differences,” he explained. “Here we see them living their lives normally, which I find quite inspiring.”
