Cats have 276 different facial expressions, study finds

Ears flattened, constricted pupils, a lick of the lips. If you’ve ever wondered if your feline friends’ furry faces were saying something whenever they got together, chances are they were.

In a study published in the journal Behavioural Processes last month, two US scientists counted 276 different facial expressions when domesticated cats interacted with one another.

“Our study demonstrates that cat communication is more complex than previously assumed,” study co-author Brittany Florkiewicz, an evolutionary psychologist at Lyon College in Arkansas, told CNN Wednesday, adding that their findings suggest that domestication has a significant impact on the development of facial signaling.