
Asking you, our followers, whether you prefer dogs or cats, it seems as though our tail-wagging ‘man’s-best-friend’ canines won the day.
But just barely!
Out of 1.2K respondents, over 640 people chose dogs, whereas 549 chose cats.
This follows the publication of a study from Tokyo University which found that domestic cats are able to distinguish between the scent of their owner and that of an unfamiliar person.
The research involved presenting 30 cats with plastic tubes containing one of three scent samples: their owner’s odour, the scent of a stranger of the same sex, or a clean swab.
The swabs had been rubbed under the armpit, behind the ear, and between the toes of the subjects.
The results showed that cats spent significantly more time sniffing the tubes containing the stranger’s scent than either their owner’s or the clean swab.
This indicates that cats can detect and react to unfamiliar human odours. However, the study could not confirm whether cats can identify specific individuals purely by scent.
#MaltaDaily