Why do cats purr?

Rest your hand on a purring cat and you’ll feel about twenty-five tiny beats a second, on the in-breath and the out-breath. That’s lower than the lowest key on a piano. And cats don’t only purr when they’re content: they also purr when they’re injured, while giving birth, and on the table at the vet. We follow the air to the larynx and the vocal folds, then look at the old “metronome in the brain” theory and the 2023 experiment in which cat larynxes vibrated at purring rates without a single nerve. You’ll see the soft pads inside a cat’s vocal folds, why lions roar instead of purring, why cheetahs purr, how kittens and their mothers use the purr, the cry hidden in the purr cats use to ask for food, and what we do (and don’t) know about purring “healing” bones. Cross-sections, graphs and purring sounds in this video are illustrations (synthesized audio). Part of the “why” is still being researched. Chapters 0:00 The purring cat 0:42 A sound below the piano 1:27 Follow the air 2:01 A metronome in the brain 2:48 A voice that vibrates by itself 3:28 The experiment in Vienna 4:05 Soft pads in the vocal folds 4:47 A swing and a metronome 5:35 Why lions roar instead 6:28 The exceptions 7:14 Kittens and their mother 7:55 The cry hidden in the purr 8:38 Purring in trouble 9:21 Does purring heal bones? 10:04 The answer What does your cat do while it purrs? Tell us in the comments, and subscribe for more everyday science. #Exploriny #Cats #Science