Studies show that human beings and cats have been living together for about 9,500 years.
Dogs are domesticated, meaning they have been trained to do what people want them to do.
As cat owners know well, cats do not obey humans in the same way dogs do.
As a result, many people have come to think that maybe cats simply do not understand human language. A report in the scientific journal Nature shows that cats understand human beings well enough to recognize their own names.
The report describes a series of experiments with house cats in Japan. These tests involved having people say four words that were similar to a cat's name.
Each word had the same number of syllables as the name and some of the some sounds. The cats seemed to lose interest after the speaker said a few of the words.
The cats moved their ears or turned their head when they heard their names. They also moved their feet gr bogies very little-not a surprising result. These animals reacted just as much to their own names.
The researchers thought this was because visitors may give food to the cat or rub its back when it responds. Another finding was that a cat will react when a person who is not its owner says its name.
"I think many cat owners feel that cats know their names, or the word "food".says Saito, who is a cat owner.The researchers hope that the findings from their study will help both cats and people.
A.Then the person said the cat's name.
B.In fact, some scientists claim that cats have trained us to take care of them.
C.They added that perhaps cats can learn words to warn them of dangerous things or places.
D.Dogs have lived with humans longer than cats.
E.The study was carried out by four researchers: Atsuko Saito, Yuki Ito, and Toshikazu Hasegawa and Kazutaka Shinozuka of the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Saitama.
F.But until now, there was no scientific evidence to back that up.
G.In another part of the experiment, people said the names of the cats staying in a cat cafe
