Puppy dog eyes might exist to tug on our heartstrings, but a new study suggests cats may have also evolved quite a few facial expressions under our care.
When researchers in the US analyzed the after-hours footage of a cat cafe in Los Angeles, they counted up to 276 distinct facial expressions made by domestic shorthair cats to each other – way more than they expected to find.
Scientists have yet to tally the total number of expressions that a dog can pull off, but chimpanzees are known to make 357 different faces.
Cats, by comparison, are not considered nearly as social as primates or canines, which makes the sheer number of faces they pull during group interactions all the more fascinating.
Please feel free to include what type of cat you have in the tags. For example, the cat in question is lanky, silky black short-hair of unknown origin.