SCIENCE LAB SCENICS : CATS - CARE [ 2 ]

ON average, cats produced 4.3 meows in the 100-second greeting window with men, 1.8 with women [ The researchers also counted vocalisations such as trilling, chirping, growling or purring.]

The researchers suspect that the difference reflects communication styles. Earlier work has found that female caregivers tend to speak more to their cats and may be better at interpreting feline vocal cues than males.

Jonathan Losus, an evolutionary biologist at Washington University in St. Louis and author of '' The Cat's Meow '' said the hypothesis was plausible, but only if other explanations could be ruled out.

'' Is this inherently due to differences between men and women,'' he asked, '' or something about the experimental setup? Could men and women differ in how they follow instructions? ''

Mike Delgado a senior research assistant at Purdue University in Indiana, was more skeptical. '' We need to be careful about interpreting this as a clear finding that is going to translate to all cats,'' she said.

Getting the attention of a man may take more meows. And louder.

The World Students Society thanks Clarissa Brincat.