The caregivers were asked to use a chest-mounted camera (like a cellphone or GoPro) to film the first few minutes of returning home while behaving as naturally as possible. The team then analyzed just the first 100 seconds of each recording, tracking 22 specific behaviors. These included the number of meows, head-rubbing against the leg and stress-related behaviors like yawning.

Meowing more for men

After analyzing hundreds of clips, one thing stood out clearly: cats vocalized more frequently (meows, purrs, chirps) when greeting male caregivers than when greeting female caregivers. This increased frequency was the same across the board, regardless of the cat's age, breed, sex, or even the size of the household. `On average, cats produced 4.3 meows in the first 100 seconds of greeting men compared to just 1.8 with women’