If you have not been living under a rock or in a vacuum (figure of speech, not applicable to astronauts), you may have heard that animals from the same species may not understand each other in different regions of the globe.
It has been shown to be true for birds, and we can now claim that this is partly true for non-human mamals.
Our cats do understand the most basic European cat sounds and body language but they have, if you will, a distinct American accent.
Much worse, though is human German cat-speak. The critters are incredibly spooked by the stereotypical German human sound that is supposed to attract a cat. That sound is something like "pssst, psssst".
As soon as our German friend utters the first "ps...", their neck hair goes up, they turn and flee.
Isn't a hissing sound a nearly universal warning by land animals large and small? The "I hate you", or the "I'll eat you if you do not leave me alone " that cuts clear across vastly different vocal systems?
Who was that German who invented the psst, psst to communicate with cats? It is tempting to call that man, it would have been a guy, no doubt, a Neanderthal.
But we have finally found out that Neanderthals were not the silent brutes without a hint of culture we once believed they were.
Maybe it all started out as a joke, and native German cats, in their wisdom, chose to accept the call.
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