Mary Allen
According to a Japanese research team, domestic cats are quite capable of separating different noises or voices from one another. But that’s not all: the scientists also discovered that cats recognize their own names.
The research team from Japan played different Japanese words that sounded similar to the cats’ names to 78 cats as part of their study. After some time, the cats lost interest in the words. But as soon as their own name was played, the cats reacted. They turned their heads or moved their ears.
It was amazing that this also happened when a stranger called the cat’s name. This disproves that the cat only reacts to the voice of the owners. So cats will jump at their name no matter who says it. Whether they then obey, however, is another question.