The next time you catch your cat sleeping, take notice of which side they’re lying on because, more often than not, they’ll be sleeping on their left side, which researchers recently found linked to survival instincts.
An international research team, hailing from the University of Bari Aldo Moro in Italy, Ruhr University Bochum, Medical School Hamburg and partners in Germany, Canada, Switzerland and Turkey, analyzed 408 YouTube videos of cats sleeping for at least 10 seconds and discovered that cats have a “significant” leftward bias.
Sixty-five percent of videos showed felines sleeping in a leftward position versus 34.8 percent of cats leaning on their right side.
Because cats sleep between 12 and 16 hours a day, they’re often put in a vulnerable spot against predators. They might seek higher ground to protect themselves or use the coverage to stalk their prey. And with most of their days spent sleeping, this research shows how intentional cats are about their sleeping positions.
The June 23 study published in the Current Biology journal not only showed that two-thirds of cats prefer to sleep on their left side, but it also supported previous research relating to a mammal’s specialized function in the right hemisphere of the brain.
The right hemisphere of the brain is dominant for processing potential threats, spatial attention and coordination of rapid escape movements. By sleeping on the left side, a cat’s left eye and left visual field are unobstructed upon waking up. They’ll quickly perceive their surroundings and feed that information to the right hemisphere of the brain.
Then, the right hemisphere will determine whether or not a feline needs to flee. This sleeping position is a survival strategy, the researchers noted, which has been passed down through generations and is evident in domestic cats.
While this study only focused on one aspect of behavioral asymmetry in cats, one of the authors, Sevim Isparta, told Newsweek via email that it could lead to studying other important behavioral asymmetries in cats, such as which paw cats use more during different activities, how their heads turn in response to different stimuli or tail movements.
“In this way, we can better understand how cats perceive and interact with their environment,” she said. “So yes, this is certainly a starting point, and we hope it will lead to more comprehensive research on the topic. The more we learn about cats, the better and healthier communication we can establish with them.”
Plus, Isparta added that the more these studies reveal about cats, the more a human’s bond with felines will improve, which in turn can support their overall well-being.
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