How should we study social intelligence in cats?

Abstract

Compared with dogs (Canis familiaris), the social cognitive abilities of cats (Felis catus) have not received much research attention, probably because cats are not considered to be as social as dogs. However, cats have in fact developed sociality in conspecifics and, needless to say, cat-human relationships after their domestication. This paper initially considers the reasons behind the underestimation of cats’ social abilities, and then reviews social behavior among conspecifics and in the cat-human relationship. Several studies have provided evidence that cats possess social intelligence. Since their intelligence is considered to be expressed in different context from that of dogs, methods different from those used to study dogs are therefore needed for investigating their social abilities. Appropriate experiments or devices will undoubtedly unravel the high social intelligence of cats.