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New Study: Cats Have 276 Facial Expressions

Cats have 276 distinct facial expressions, a discovery that turns on its head. A new joint study by the School of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas, and Department of Psychology, Lyon College, Arkansas, U.S.A. looks at how cats interact with each other, and with us. The joint analysis revealed 26 unique muscle movements that, in various combinations, created 276 facial expressions. The results categorized 46 percent of expressions as friendly, while 37 were unfriendly, and 17 fell into both categories. Most previous research on facial signaling in cats has focused on interactions between cats and humans or assessing when a cat is in pain. The new study takes that a step further by analyzing how cats interact with one another. A domestic cat walks along the cornice of a house next to a forest, and a Night-flowering Jasmine flower falls on the cornice from a nearby tree at Tehatta, West Bengal, India on 10/11/2023. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto)

Photo ID	#10773489
Date Taken	10 November 2023
Location	N/A
Photographer	Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto
Category	Human Interest
Copyright	© 2026 NurPhoto - Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto

Human interest NurPhoto India Cats 276 facial expressions School of Medicine University of Kansas Medical Center Department of Psychology Lyon College Arkansas U.S.A. cat interactions muscle movements facial signaling friendly expressions unfriendly expressions cat communication research cat behavior facial analysis domestic cat cornice house forest Night-flowering Jasmine Tehatta West Bengal India Soumyabrata Roy NurPhoto animal study psychology veterinary medicine nonverbal communication interspecies communication feline expressions muscle anatomy behavioral science animal behavior pet research.