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Revealed purrs are
the secret of cats' nine lives
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Source: The Sunday Telegraph
Date: 3/18/2001
Author: DAVID HARRISON Environment Correspondent
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SCIENTISTS HAVE discovered
that the purring of cats is a "natural healingmechanism" that has helped
inspire the myth that they have nine lives.
Wounded cats - wild and domestic - purr because it helps their bones and
organs to heal and grow stronger, say researchers who have analyzed the
purring of different feline species. This, they say, explains why cats
survive falls from high buildings and why they are said to have "nine
lives". Exposure to similar sound frequencies is known to improve bone
density in humans. The scientists, from the Fauna Communications Research
Institute in North Carolina, found that between 27 and 44 hertz (a measure
of the number of cycles per second) was the dominant frequency for a
housecat, and 20-50Hz for the puma, ocelot, serval, cheetah and caracal.
This
reinforces studies confirming that exposure to frequencies of
20-50Hzstrengthens human bones and helps them to grow.
Dr Elizabeth von Muggenthaler, the president of the institute, said: "Old
wives' talesusually have a grain of truth behind them and cats do heal very
quickly. The healing power of purring seems to explain their `nine lives'."
The scientists say that sound waves created at a particular frequency
trigger the healing process in feline bones.
Purring is believed to have a similar effect to ultrasound treatment on
humans. "We are starting to solve a 3,000-year-old mystery as to why cats
purr," Dr von Muggenthaler said.
"The next phase will be to explain the mechanics of the process."
Almost all cats purr, including lions and cheetahs, though not tigers. Dr
von Muggenthaler said that purring had to be advantageous to a cat to
survive natural selection, but there seemed to be no obvious advantage for a
cat merely to display contentment. A natural capacity for increasing bone
growth and strength and reducing healing time was, however, "clearly
advantageous". Cats' ability to survive and recover quickly after falling
from tall buildings is well documented.
One recent study, published in The Journal of the American Veterinary
Medical Association, found that out of 132 cats that fell an average of 5.5
storeys, 90 per cent survived, including one that fell 45 storeys. Other
scientific teams are researching whether "sound treatment" could be used to
halt osteoporosis and even renew bone growth in post- menopausal women.
Dr. David Purdie, from Hull University's centre for metabolic bone disease,
said that the human skeleton needs stimulation or it begins to leak calcium
and weaken. "Purring could be the cat's way of providing that stimulation
for its own bones." He said that it was difficult to devise physical
exercises for old people suffering from osteoporosis and speculated that it
might be possible to create a mechanism to use cats' purring to help
strengthen elderly bones. (Copyright 2001 (c) The
Telegraph plc, London)
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