How Do Cats Respond to Bird Sound Recordings?

Abstract

Cats are great house pets, but as every cat observer knows, they are also instinctive hunters. This experiment provides an interesting way to learn about cat behavior. You'll play bird call recordings for pet cats, and watch to see if the cat pays attention to the sound (by turning towards it) or ignores it. Will a pet cat distinguish between the calls of local birds vs. non-local birds?

Summary

Areas of Science

Mammalian Biology

Difficulty

Method

Scientific Method

Time Required

Long (2-4 weeks)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

Specialty items

Cost

Very Low (under $20)

Safety

No issues

Credits

Andrew Olson, PhD, Science Buddies Alumni

Laura Ohl, PhD, Science Buddies Alumni

This project is based on the following 2007 California State Science fair project, a winner of the Science Buddies Clever Scientist Award:

• McGinnis, K., 2007. Domestic Cat (Felis catus) Responses to Bird Sounds. California State Science Fair Abstract. Retrieved June 8, 2007.

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Image Credit: Laura Ohl, Ph.D. / Science Buddies

Image of different local and non-local bird sounds being played to see cat's reaction.

Objective

The goal of this project is to determine whether cats respond preferentially to familiar bird sounds.

Introduction

This experiment is based on a 2007 California State Science Fair project tested by Kelly McGinnis. Kelly's mom learned to recognize birds and bird calls by watching and listening to them from audio recordings of birds in the wild. Kelly observed that her pet cat became alert by turning its head more often when it heard recordings of local birds than unfamiliar non-local bird sounds. This reaction to the stimulus of a bird calls leads to a behavioral response in cats due to their predatory behavior. She was curious to find out if her hypothesis that her cat recognized local bird calls more than non-local bird calls was correct, so she set up an experiment to test her hypothesis. 

In her experiment, she selected recordings from three different birds. Two were from local birds, and the third was from a non-local bird. With her laptop, she played each of these 3 audio recordings for each of the cats in the experiment. Each of the 32 cats in the study represents one biological replicate. A biological replicate is a type of sample that is biologically distinct. Every bird recording contained only audio. The order of each audio presented to each cat was random for each cat tested. This is called randomization. Randomization reduces repeated exposure to a stimulus, and this prevents a decreased behavioral response over time called habituation. She played the recordings for up to three minutes but stopped the recording if the cat made an orienting response to the recording. This response is seen by a cat moving its head or body toward the computer due to a predatory response to the search for the bird.

To perform this experiment, find audio recordings from bird calls using online bird callings. For each audio file, identify each bird call as native or non-native to your area. The classification and identification of birds is done in the field of ornithology. To balance the study, include an equal amount of native bird calls and non-native bird calls. We recommend at least 3 bird calls from each group. A large sample of cats would also be advised because animal behavior varies based on their individual experiences. For example, 10 cats minimum would be a reasonable sample size for this experiment, but more would be better. For each cat, make sure to play three different local bird calls and three different non-local bird calls with a break between each call to get reliable cat behavior responses.

Do you think that cats will pay more attention to bird calls that they have heard before or a novel bird call will be more interesting? Find out for yourself with this experiment!

Terms and Concepts

To do this project, you should do research that enables you to understand the following terms and concepts:

• Stimulus
• Behavioral response
• Predatory behavior (in cats)
• Biological replicate
• Randomization
• Habituation
• Orienting response
• Bird calls
• Bird identification
• Ornithology
• Animal behavior

Questions

• What bird species are native to your area? What species are not?
• What bird species pass through your area during migration, and when?
• What is an orienting response?
• What is expected after a stimulus in a behavioral experiment? 
• What factors are important to control for in an animal behavior experiment? 

Materials and Equipment

To do this experiment, you will need the following materials and equipment:

• Domestic cats to test (10 minimum, but more is better)
• Bird audio recordings from Cornell Lab Bird Guide, or others are also available from Amazon
• Laptop of phone

This project follows the Scientific Method. Review the steps before you begin.

1. Do your background research so that you are familiar with the terms, concepts, and questions above.
   1. If you use the CornellLab All About Birds resource, they provide a map of each bird's location and even include their location during migration or breeding seasons. This will allow you to choose a bird that is local to your region at the time you are performing the experiment. For your first experiment, we recommend choosing only birds that are in your region or outside of your region year-round. 
2. Identify and pick 3 local bird songs from the audio recordings.
3. Identify and pick 3 non-local bird songs from the audio recordings.
4. Before starting the experiment, make sure each cat is awake and alert.
5. Use a randomization protocol like the one below to play each recording randomly for each cat in the study. Make sure to play each sound three times each. 
   1. Assign a number for each of the audio recordings of native (3) and non-native (3) bird audio recordings.
      1. Example: Local birds: 1-Eastern Bluebird, 2-Northern Cardinal, 3-Northern Mockingbird ; Non-local birds: 4-White Ibis, 5-Scaled Quail, 6-Pacific Loon
   2. Use a random number generator (available online) with a minimum number of 1 and a maximum number of 6.  
      1. Example: For cat #1 the audio recordings order is Trial 1 (2,3,1,4,6,5 ) ; Trial 2 (2,6,4,3,5,1) ; Trial 3 (1,6,2,4,5,3)
   3. Write the order of each audio recording for each cat and record this in your data table, like Table 1 below. 
      1. Note: Create a new table for each trial.
6. Observe the cat closely, and note the responses to each recording in your lab notebook.
   1. Write down any observation of the cat's animal behavior.
   2. Record the amount of time it takes for the cat to mount an orienting response or move towards the audio sound in minutes. If the cat does not respond within 3 minutes of the sound, record a maximum time of 3 minutes. 
7. Perform two additional trials to account for animal behavior variability. Pause between each trial so that the cat does not become habituated to the audio recordings. 
8. Repeat the test for the remaining 9 different cats. 
   1. Note: For more information on sample size, see the Science Buddies How-To page, Sample Size: How Many Survey Participants Do I Need?
9. Analyze and summarize the results in your lab notebook.
   1. For each cat, count how many orienting responses were made to each different bird sound.
   2. For all of the cats, what was the average number of orienting responses to each bird sound?
   3. Calculate the standard deviation of the number of responses.

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Cat Number	Audio Recording Order	Observations	Time to Orienting Response (min:sec)
1	Trial 1 (2,3,1,4,6,5)	2:  3: 1:  4: 6: 5:	2:  3: 1:  4: 6: 5:
2	...	...
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Table 1. Example data table for cat behavioral response to local vs. non-local bird sounds.

Conclusions

1. Make bar graphs showing the average number of orienting responses to each bird sound.
   1. Did the cats respond preferentially to local birds or non-local birds? Is this what you hypothesized?
   2. What bird sound did the cats recognize the most and the least? Why do you think that is?
2. A larger standard deviation typically indicates less reliable responses.
   1. Do any sounds have larger standard deviations?
   2. Why do you think this particular sound had a large amount of response variability? 
3. Did any cat's behavior lie outside the average behavior of most of the animals tested? What variables could account for this variation in animal behavior?

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Cat Number	Number of orienting responses to each sound (for each trial)	Average number of orienting responses to each bird sound (of all trials)	Standard Deviation
1	Sound 1:  Sound 2: Sound 3: Sound 4: Sound 5: Sound 6:	Sound 1:  Sound 2: Sound 3: Sound 4: Sound 5: Sound 6:	Sound 1:  Sound 2: Sound 3: Sound 4: Sound 5: Sound 6:
2	...	...	...
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Table 2. Example summary data table for cat behavioral response to local vs. non-local bird sounds.

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Global Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) are a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.

This project explores topics key to Life on Land: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.

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