Scientists Find Cats Make Nearly 300 Different Faces, So Then Why Do They All Look Like They’re Judging Us?

Scientists have put aside things like space exploration and curing cancer to take on one of the biggest questions facing mankind: just how many faces can cats make?

Well, now we have an answer.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, University of Kansas Medical Center researcher Lauren Scott hit up a cat cafe in Los Angeles for a year and a half and collected hours and hours of footage of cats making faces.

I guess if that's the kind of data you need, a cat cafe is a great place to go. Personally, I've never understood them. Not once have I been drinking coffee at a coffee shop and thought, "Man, I wish some cat was hitting my sandwich with its tail and hovering its ass above my open mug..."

Not once.

Fortunately, Scott found a use for a cat cafe and got the data she needed to learn that cats are capable of making some 276 different facial expressions. This is apparently done through different combinations of 26 different movements. How they hold their ears or curl their whiskers. Stuff like that.

That's amazing because, with very few exceptions, just about every cat I've ever seen looked like it was judging me.

American shorthair striped cat with a dissatisfied face

Cats Must Have Hundreds Of Ways To Look Like They're Judging Us

Now, this may shock you, but I'm no professional animal behaviorist, although I do dabble. Still, I think I've only ever seen two looks from cats. One is curiosity (which I hear has killed a few of them over the years), like if you shine a laser on the ceiling or jingle your keys. The other is just outright judging.

Like if I walk through a room with a cat in it, and I feel like 95% of the time it's looking at me like "Jeez... this f---king guy..."

Maybe that's just my experience, but it's the vibe I've gotten from most felines (and back in high school, females).

So, it's incredible that I've seemingly missed out on 274 possible cat faces. Unless most of them are just different permutations of movements that all denote degrees of judginess. That sure seems possible.

Unfortunately, the study only determined that cat makes a bunch of different faces, not what they mean.

That would've been nice to know, but whatever. Maybe a few more trips to the cat cafe and we'll find out.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle