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While the concept of blinking at each other to express a message may feel like supernatural communication, Delgado explained that the action is a primal indicator to our cats that we’re “friendly.” Staring at them or holding their gaze can be read as threatening to them. Slow-blinking is vastly different — it indicates that we are, in fact, not a threat, she said. Basically, it signals to them that we come in peace.
Some scientists, including Delgado, believe that while cats may look to their human as a parental figure of sorts, they most likely do not mistake us for other cats. However, they may still engage in positively associated cat behavior — showing off an upward-pointed tail, a face nuzzle, or the infamous slow blink — with us. “You can look at how cats interact with each other and they do some looking away and closing their eyes to diffuse conflict,” Delgado said. “So it makes complete sense [that they would do this with us too]. And yes, it’s one thing that we can say has been backed by science. So slow-blink away.”
Aside from confirming that the slow blink is the way to our cats’ hearts, we also learned about where they hate being pet, how to make their litter box feel like a spa, and why they do that adorable kneading thing (biscuits, anyone?).
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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