Julia Henning has a quiz that you can take to see how well you know your cat’s language:
While often miscast as mysterious or hard to understand, cats are actually excellent communicators. In fact, in free-ranging cat colonies, physical fights are kept to a minimum through clever use of body posturing, scent exchange and vocalisations.
Cats have also adapted their communication for humans. For instance, adult cats don’t usually meow at each other. But when around people, cats meow a lot, suggesting they have adapted this vocalisation for communicating with humans.
And it’s not just the meow. Cats have a wide vocal repertoire for conveying different meanings, even for specific people. Bonded cats and humans often develop their own communication repertoires, similar to having a unique dialect.
Cats can understand human communication too. Studies show cats know their own names and the names of their companions, and can recognise human emotions, even changing their own behaviour in response.
Despite all this, humans still routinely misunderstand cats. Our new study, published in Frontiers in Ethology, shows just how little people understand the cues cats give. Try the quiz below to see how well you speak cat.
See Julia Henning, Do you speak cat? Take this quiz to find out, The Conversation, November 4, 2025.