Cats News

April 26, 2024

Top Headlines

Dog Attacks on Mountain Tapirs Highlight a Growing Threat to Endangered Wildlife

Apr. 17, 2024 — Researchers who captured footage of dog attacks on endangered mountain tapirs in Colombia are calling for action to protect threatened ...

Canada Lynx Historic Range in US Likely Wider Than Previously Thought

Apr. 1, 2024 — A broader past could mean a brighter future for Canada lynx in the U.S., according to recent research. The study indicates that lynx might do well in the future in parts of Utah, central Idaho and the Yellowstone National Park region, even ...

Meow or Rooaaar: Exotic Cats' Ability to Recognize Familiar Caregivers' Voices

Feb. 15, 2024 — Biologists present compelling evidence that exotic cats possess the remarkable ability to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar human ...

Strong Connections Found Between Vaccine Hesitancy and Support for Vaccinating Pets

Dec. 22, 2023 — Study findings raise the stakes for public health efforts to improve attitudes about vaccination rates across the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:53pm EDT

A Tiny Tattoo for a Tabby

Jan. 11, 2024 — Researchers have developed an alternative labeling method called 'bio-tagging', which is a microneedle array system that can safely deliver ink in the form of unique number or letter sequences for ...

Scientist Discovers Potential Brain Link Between Stress, Emotional Eating

Nov. 27, 2023 — Scientists describe how they identified a molecule that may trigger over-consumption of comfort foods after a threatening ...

More Than Meows: How Bacteria Help Cats Communicate

Nov. 16, 2023 — Many mammals, from domestic cats and dogs to giant pandas, use scent to communicate with each other. A new study shows how domestic cats send signals to each other using odors derived from families ...

City and Highway Lights Threaten Mountain Lion Habitats

Nov. 6, 2023 — Artificial light pollution at night threatens mountain lion habitat, making it a factor to consider for wildlife crossings and land use, finds a new ...

Infection With Common Cat-Borne Parasite Associated With Frailty in Older Adults

Nov. 7, 2023 — A new study of 601 older adults found that those with higher serointensity -- or a higher concentration of antibiodies -- to the cat-borne parasite ...

New Secrets About Cat Evolution Revealed

Nov. 2, 2023 — By comparing genomes of several cat species, the project has helped researchers understand why cat genomes tend to have fewer complex genetic variations (such as rearrangements of DNA segments) than ...

What Happens When Cats Get Fat? Scientists Weigh in

Nov. 1, 2023 — Cat owners want Kitty to be happy, but providing an abundance of food and snacks can have unintended consequences. Feline obesity is on the rise, impacting the health, longevity, and wellbeing of ...

Cat-Ching Criminals With DNA from Pet Hairs

Oct. 30, 2023 — Cat hair could be the purr-fect way to catch criminals, according to ...

New Mollusk and Crustacean Species in Symbiosis With Worms in Dead Coral Rocks

Oct. 18, 2023 — The symbiotic communities of invertebrates in dead coral gravel on the shallow, warm-temperate coast of the Kii Peninsula in western Japan. New ...

New Discovery May 'Unlock' the Future of Infectious Disease and Cancer Treatment

Oct. 5, 2023 — Researchers have identified a 'guard mechanism' for a protein which attacks microbes in infected cells, opening the possibility of new treatments for ...

Fear of Humans Pervades the South African Savanna

Oct. 5, 2023 — Mammals living in South Africa's Greater Kruger National Park, home to one of the world's largest remaining lion populations, are far more afraid of hearing human voices than lion ...

Adoption of Vegan Dog and Cat Diets Could Have Environmental Benefits

Oct. 4, 2023 — A new analysis estimates a variety of potential benefits for environmental sustainability -- for instance, reduced freshwater consumption and greenhouse gas emissions -- that could result from ...

Cats Purr Differently Than Previously Thought

Oct. 4, 2023 — A recent investigation delivers novel insights into how cats produce their purring sounds. A special 'pad' embedded in the vocal folds might explain how cats can produce these low-frequency ...

Study Shows Life Near the Golf Course Isn't Easy for Alligators

Sep. 20, 2023 — Living on a golf course dramatically changes alligator feeding ...

Lions on the Brink -- New Analysis Reveals the Differing Threats to African Lion Populations

Sep. 11, 2023 — New results reveal that many of Africa's remaining lions live within small, fragmented populations at risk of disappearing. The researchers developed a new framework which integrates ecological ...

Did Sabertooth Tigers Purr or Roar?

Aug. 21, 2023 — When a sabertooth tiger called out, what noise did it make -- a mighty roar or a throaty purr? A new study examined the data behind the arguments for each vocalization and found that the answer was ...

Scientists Zero in on Timing, Causes of Ice Age Mammal Extinctions in Southern California

Aug. 18, 2023 — Radiocarbon dating on bones in the La Brea Tar Pits lead archaeologists to warn that history may be repeating ...

Managing Domestic and Wildcats Is Likely to Remain Fraught, New Research Warns

Aug. 8, 2023 — Current efforts to protect and restore native biodiversity is being threatened by difficulties in identifying wild and domestic cats, and categorization is likely to remain fraught for the ...

Why You Shouldn't Declaw Tigers or Other Big Cats

July 31, 2023 — Researchers looked at the effects of declawing on larger cat species and found that declawing disproportionately impacts their muscular capabilities as compared to their smaller ...

AI Predicts the Work Rate of Enzymes

July 24, 2023 — Enzymes play a key role in cellular metabolic processes. To enable the quantitative assessment of these processes, researchers need to know the so-called 'turnover number' (for short: kcat) ...

Paleontologists Identify Two New Species of Sabertooth Cat

July 20, 2023 — Sabertooth cats make up a diverse group of long-toothed predators that roamed Africa around 6-7 million years ago, around the time that hominins -- the group that includes modern humans -- began to ...

How to Track Animal of Legend? Look to the Poop

July 18, 2023 — Researchers applied genetic and isotopic analyses to jaguar scat to investigate the habitat needs of the big cats in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Preserve of Belize in Central America. The study ...

Ice Age Saber-Tooth Cats and Dire Wolves Suffered from Diseased Joints

July 12, 2023 — Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves experienced a high incidence of bone disease in their joints, according to new ...

Neutering Practices for Owned UK Cats Significantly Influence Feral, Stray Populations

July 12, 2023 — A new mathematical model of UK cat populations suggests that neutering of cats that belong to people not only affects the population dynamics of owned cats, but also affects feral, stray, and shelter ...

How the Cat Nose Knows What It's Smelling

June 29, 2023 — Scientists have found the secret to felines' finesse at sniffing out food, friends and foes. A complex collection of tightly coiled bony airway structures gets the credit, according to the first ...

Gene Therapy Produces Long-Term Contraception in Female Domestic Cats

June 6, 2023 — Researchers have demonstrated that a single dose of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) gene therapy can induce long-term contraception in the domestic cat, potentially providing a safe and effective ...

Cheetahs Need More Space: Reintroduction in India Must Consider Their Spatial Ecology

Apr. 20, 2023 — In autumn 2022 and winter 2023, a total of 20 cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa were introduced to Kuno National Park in India to establish a free-ranging population -- for the first time since ...

Common Infections Linked to Poorer Cognitive Performance in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Apr. 20, 2023 — A new study found that signs of common infections in a sample of middle-aged and older adults were associated with poorer performance on a test of global cognitive ...

Living With Pet Cats or Dogs Is Associated With Fewer Food Allergies in Young Children, Study Finds

Mar. 30, 2023 — In an analysis of over 65,000 infants from Japan, children exposed to pet cats or indoor dogs during fetal development or early infancy tended to have fewer food allergies compared to other ...

Sea Otters Killed by Unusual Parasite Strain

Mar. 22, 2023 — An unusually severe form of toxoplasmosis killed four sea otters and could pose a threat to other marine wildlife and humans, finds a new ...