Professor Robert Eklund, PhD, MA, BA

http://roberteklund.info

This site aims at summarizing what is currently known about (mostly) felid purring, i.e. the “trademark” sound produced by most species of cats, only excluding four or five of the biggest cats, the so-called “roaring” cats (lion, tiger, jaguar and leopard).

Purring.org (mirrored at Purring.info) is maintained by the computational linguist—phonetician—speech technologist—musician (and more) Robert Eklund and additional and related information and sound files can also be found at his other site http://ingressive.info or by clicking on the Wildlife button on his homepage.

Index

1 – A purring primer

The following text is basically lifted from Eklund, Peters & Duthie (2010), i.e. the paper presented at the Swedish Phonetics Conference at Lund University, 2–4 June, 2010, and is consequently co-written with Gustav Peters and Elizabeth D. Duthie, i.e.

Eklund, Robert, Gustav Peters & Elizabeth D. Duthie. 2010.
An acoustic analysis of purring in the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and in the domestic cat (Felis catus).
In: Proceedings of Fonetik 2010, Lund University, 2–4 June 2010, Lund, Sweden, pp. 17–22.
[pdf]

The term ‘purring’ has been used liberally in the mammal vocalization literature, and an exhaustive review is given in Peters (2002). Using a definition of purring that continuous sound production must alternate between pulmonic egressive and ingressive airstream (and usually go on for minutes), Peters (2002) reached the conclusion that until then only ‘purring cats’ (Felidae) and two species of genets (Viverridae sensu stricto), Genetta tigrina, and most likely also Genetta genetta, had been documented to purr.

The subdivision of the Felidae, the cat family, into ‘purring cats’ on the one hand, and ‘roaring cats ’ (i.e. non-purring) on the other, originally goes back to Owen (1834/1835) and was definitely introduced by Pocock (1916), based on a difference in hyoid anatomy. The ‘roaring cats’ (lion, Panthera leo; tiger, P. tigris; jaguar, P. onca; leopard, P. pardus) have an incompletely ossified hyoid, which, according to this conception, enables them to roar but not to purr. On the other hand, the snow leopard (Uncia uncia, or P. uncia), as the fifth felid species with an incompletely ossified hyoid, purrs (Hemmer, 1972). All remaining species of the family Felidae (‘purring cats’) have a completely ossified hyoid which enables them to purr but not to roar.

However, there is no well-founded and unequivocal basis for a classification of the species in the family Felidae according to the absence/presence of purring and roaring, respectively, and differences in hyoid anatomy. Weissengruber et al. (2002) decidedly argued that the ability of a cat species to purr is not affected by the anatomy of its hyoid, i.e. whether it is fully ossified or has a ligamentous epihyoid, and that, based on a technical acoustic definition of roaring, the presence of this vocalization type depends on specific characteristics of the vocal folds and an elongated vocal tract, the latter rendered possible by an incompletely ossified hyoid.

It is still unknown exactly how purring is produced. Several theories have been proposed over the years, some of which having received widespread attention, despite either having been proven wrong (e.g. McCuiston, 1966) or not proven right (e.g. Muggenthaler, 2001). In my view, the most promising hypothesis proposed so far is found in Herbst et al. (2023).

The current classification of the Felidae is based on molecular characteristics (Johnson et al., 2006; O’Brien & Johnson, 2007) and groups the clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa and N. diardi) – with completely ossified hyoids – together with the five cat species in which it is incompletely ossified.

2 – Scientific papers

This section serves as a companion to the scientific papers that I and my co-authors have published on felid purring. Besides the papers proper, data files – sounds and video –  are found, as well as additional material.

2.1 – Fonetik 2024

Below you find the paper that should have been presented at the Swedish Phonetics conference in Stockholm on 3 June 2024, but actually was not since I was indisposed.

Eklund, Robert. 2015.
Does purring “ronron” in the family? A longitudinal and intra-family study of purring in a female cheetah as a cub and as an adult and purring in her father as an adult and brother as a cub.
In: Mattias Heldner, Martin Wlodarczak, Christine Ericsdotter Nordgren & Carla Wikse Barrow (eds.): Proceedings from FONETIK 2024, Proceedings from FONETIK 2024, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, 3–5 June 2024, pp. 39-44.
[pdf]

Plates 1 and 2 from the Fonetik 2024 paper. Cheetah breeder Estelle Kemp and Robert Eklund recording the female cheetah Mufasa at the Dell Cheetah Centre, Parys, South Africa, 2019.

Plate 3 from the Fonetik 2024 paper. Jade, purring waveform with egressive and ingressive phases labelled.

YouTube clip from the data recording session, at 22 June 2019, Dell Cheetah Centre, Parys, South Africa.

2.2 – Fonetik 2015

Below you find the paper presented at the Swedish Phonetics conference in Lund on 8 June 2015. Nota bene! This paper is very much tongue-in-cheek, and should not be taken seriously but rather as entertainment.

Eklund, Robert. 2015.
Grimaldi’s “Discovery of the Cat Language”: A theory in need of revival (or perhaps not?) In: Proceedings from Fonetik 2015. Working Papers 55/2015, 8–10 June 2015, Centre for Languages and Literature, General Linguistics/Phonetics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, ISSN 0280-526X, pp. 27–30.
[pdf]

2.3 – Fonetik 2013

Below you find the paper presented at the Swedish Phonetics conference in Linköping on 12 June 2013.

Eklund, Robert & Gustav Peters. 2013.
A comparative acoustic analysis of purring in juvenile, subadult and adult cheetahs.
In: Robert Eklund (ed.), Proceedings of Fonetik 2013, the XXVIth Swedish Phonetics Conference, Studies in Language and Culture, no. 21, ISBN 978-91-7519-582-7, eISBN 978-91-7519-579-7, ISSN 1403-2570, pp. 25–28.
[pdf]

Plate 1 from the Fonetik 2013 paper. Cheetah breeder Pieter Kemp and Robert Eklund recording the male cheetah Mufasa at the Dell Cheetah Centre, Parys, South Africa.

Figure 1 from the Fonetik 2013 paper. Adult male cheetah Mufasa purring; Egressive and ingressive phases.

Film clip corresponding to Figure 1. The film clip shows egressive (breathing out) and ingressive (breathing in) purring phases produced by the male adult cheetah Mufasa. The voice-over during the first two phases is Robert Eklund saying out aloud the words “ut” (out) and “in” (in) with his hand on the cheetah’s chest in order to get an audio synchronization of egressive and ingressive breathing on the recording.

Figure 2 from the Fonetik 2013 paper. Subadult female cheetah Tippi purring; Egressive and ingressive phases.

2.4 – Fonetik 2012

Below you find the paper presented at the Swedish Phonetics conference in Gothenburg (Göteborg) on the 30 May, 2012. The film clip is not identical to Figure in the paper, but instead includes six (instead of four) breathing phases.

Eklund, Robert, Gustav Peters, Florian Weise & Stuart Munro. 2012.
A comparative acoustic analysis of purring in four cheetahs.
In: Proceedings from FONETIK 2012.
Gothenburg, Sweden, May 30–June 1, 2012, pp. 37–40.
[pdf]

Film clip illustrating the relative amplitude between pulmonic egressive (exhalation) and pulmonic ingressive (inhalation) phases in cheetah purring. Six phases are shown:
egressive–ingressive–egressive–ingressive–egressive–ingressive

2.5 – Fonetik 2011

The following video clips and sound files served as the basis for the Schötz & Eklund (2011) paper presented at the Swedish Phonetics Conference held at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, 8–10 June, 2011. The paper can be downloaded below.

Observe that all film clips are available in high-definition, full-screen format.

Schötz, Susanne & Robert Eklund. 2011.
A comparative acoustic analysis of purring in four cats.
In: Quarterly Progress and Status Report TMH-QPSR, Volume 51, 2011. Proceedings from Fonetik 2011.
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, 8–10 June 2010, pp. 9–12.
[pdf]

Domestic cat recording sessions

Short excerpts from the recording sessions with the four domestic cats Donna, Rocky, Turbo and Vincent. Recorded by Susanne Schötz in her home (in Sweden). The recording dates are given in the film clips.

Please observe that all four film clips can be expanded to high-definition full-screen viewing.

Domestic cat sound files

Below you find sound files of purring produced by the four domestic cats Donna, Rocky, Turbo and Vincent (as shown in the videos above).

2.6 – Fonetik 2010

The following film clips and images were presented at the Swedish Phonetics Conference at Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2 4 June, 2010. They are also partly included in Eklund, Peters & Duthie (2010), i.e. the paper published in the Conference Proceedings.

Below you find streaming film clips and high-resolution images of the figures in the paper, which can be downloaded below. Observe that all film clips are available in high-definition, full-screen format.

Eklund, Robert, Gustav Peters & Elizabeth D. Duthie. 2010.
An acoustic analysis of purring in the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)
and in the domestic cat (Felis catus).
In: Proceedings of Fonetik 2010, Lund University, 2–4 June 2010, Lund, Sweden, pp. 17–22.
[pdf]

Cheetah recording session

Short excerpt from the recording session with the (constantly) purring cheetah Caine. Recorded by camera operator Elizabeth D. Duthie and microphone operator, linguist Robert Eklund. Recording date: 5 December, 2009, at the Dell Cheetah Centre, Parys, South Africa.

Waveform and spectrogram analysis of a purring cheetah

A short film clip showing four phases of cheetah purring, clearly showing the difference between egressive (out-breathing) and ingressive (in-breathing) phases from an acoustic point of view. The phases shown are (in order): egressive–ingressive–egressive–ingressive.

Waveform and spectrogram analysis of a purring domestic cat

A short film clip showing six phases of domestic cat purring, clearly showing the similarity between egressive (out-breathing) and ingressive (in-breathing) phases from an acoustic point of view (especially compared to the cheetah). The phases shown are (in order): egressive–ingressive–egressive–ingressive–egressive–ingressive.

Waveform transitions egressive–ingressive phases in purring cheetah and domestic cat

A short film clip of waveforms showing phase transitions from egressive (out-breathing) to ingressive (in-breathing) phases in a purring cheetah (top window) and a purring domestic cat purring (bottom window). Not ‘stereo effect’ at the end of the clip.

Image files of waveform and spectrogram analyses

Below you find high-resolution image files corresponding to some of the film clips above. Click on the files, and high-definition images will open in new tab or window. Please observe that the spectrogram images below also include the first four formants, unlike the figures presented in Eklund, Peters & Duthie (2010).

Frequency ranges of purring in a cheetah and a domestic cat

Below you find the observed frequency ranges of the purring cheetah and the purring domestic cat described in Eklund, Peters & Duthie (2010), mapped onto an extended piano keyboard (the greyish octave to the left does not exist on modern pianos, but is added to the keyboard). The green colour indicates the frequency range of the purring, and the completely coloured key represents the mean value of the purring.

3 – Media interviews

Below you will find a listing of (most of) the media interviews I have done about wildlife in general and purring in particular. Some of the media files are available for download. Enjoy!

3.1 – Press

On 5 April 2014 I was interviewed in Östgöta Correspondenten (web name Corren.se on the mystery of purring. The link below will take you there. (Note that it is in Swedish.)

Vill lösa mysteriet med spinnande kattdjur
[Translation: Wants to solve the mystery of purring cats.]

The print version can be downloaded here (1.2 MB): [pdf]

Journalist John Nyzell and editor Tatjana Kontio interviewed me about purring and other felid vocalizations for an article which appeared in Våra Rovdjur, the official organ of the Swedish Carnivore Association (Svenska Rovdjursföreningen. The interview appeared in the no. 1 issue in March 2014 and can be downloaded below, by kind permission of everyone involved. Note that it is in Swedish.

Katten vad det låter! (8.7 MB)

[pdf]

Below is a list of my press appearances that discuss felid purring. Note that many of these are in Swedish.

Inside Your Cat’s Mind (September 2023; pages 54–61)
“What Does a Purr Mean. It Depends” by Mark Teich
Interviewed as a specialist on felid purring.

The Atlantic (7 September 2022; online)
“Purring Is a Love Language No Human Can Speak” av Katherine J. Wu
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/09/why-cats-purr-vocalization-science/671358/

Kattliv (2021, no. 6, pages 38–40)
“Kattutbildningar” [Cat education/courses] (Therese Lilliesköld);
Description of my course “Cat personality and communication”; see 08.01 Courses (selected).

Birkabladet (2019, no. 1, June, pages 12–14)
“Möt Robert Eklund – lingvist (språkforskare), musiker och kattälskare”
[Meet Robert Eklund – linguist (language researcher); musician and cat lover]
Researcher profile, cheetah studies, Meowsic.

Universitetsläraren (2018, no. 7, front cover and pages 14–18)
“Katter är ju bara bäst, snyggast och gulligast”
[Cats are just the best, the most beautiful and the cutest!];
Main article, researcher profile; my research in general, including music/musicology, speech technology, brain research, cats; also referred back to in the final issue Editorial, no. 8, 2018, page 2, when summarizing what that year’s articles have covered; Universitetsläraren [The University Teacher] is the union publication for Swedish academics.

Kattliv (2018, no. 5, pages 20–23 and 24–27)
“Flera har försökt knäcka språkkoderna” [Many have tried to crack the language codes] (Anette Rimönt);
“Kattens språkmelodier" [The language melodies of cats] (Lars Bergström);
Descriptions of Meowsic.

Svanslöst (2018, no. 1, page 2)
Meddelande om kommande föreläsning på Föreningen Pelle Svanslös Vänner
[Notification about coming lecture for the Friends of Pelle Svanslös Society] ("Peter Tail-less"; famous Swedish literary cat).

Aftonbladet Katt Special (14 November – 4 December 2017, pages 24–26)
“Jau seåg en rälig gnagarjävel” [In Scanian dialect: I saw an abonimable rodent bastard];
Description of Meowsic as well as my studies of cheetahs

Katzenmagazin (2017, no. 3, pages 28–29)
“Das Geheimnis des Schnurrens"[The secret of cat purring];
Interview on cat purring in general; photo of me with a caracal in Namibia.

Doktorn (2 December 2016)
“Forskare: Katter kan ha dialekt” [Researchers: Cat Might Have Dialects];
Description of Meowsic, cheetah and lion vocalisations.

Hela Gotland (17 November 2016)
“MJAU! Kan katter jama på gotländska?” [MEOW! Can cats meow in Gotlandish?]
Description of Meowsic, through TT.

Folkbladet (17 November 2016)
“Katter kan jama på dialekt” [Cats can meow in dialect];
Description of Meowsic, through TT.

Blekinge Läns Tidning (17 November 2016)
“Katter kan jama på dialekt” [Cats can meow in dialect];
Description of Meowsic, through TT.

Land (18 november 2016)
“Vilken dialekt jamar din katt på? Det undersöker forskare!”
[Which dialect does your cat meow in? Researcher are investigating this!]
Meowsic, cat vocalisations.

Västerbottens-Kuriren (18 November 2016)
“Katter kan jama på dialekt” [Cats can meow in dialect];
Meowsic, cat vocalisations.

Västervikstidningen (18 November 2016)
“Katter kan jama på dialekt” [Cats can meow in dialect];
Meowsic, cat vocalisations.

Värmlands Folkblad (18 November 2016)
“Katter kan jama på dialekt” [Cats can meow in dialect];
Meowsic, cat vocalisations.

Språktidningen (November 2016, no. 8, page 23)
“Spinnandets ursprung är ännu en gåta” [Purring origins still a mystery];
I explain cat purring. Part of a larger article “Pussy-cats meow exclusively to us” (pp. 18–24), on Meowsic.

Norrköpings Tidningar (8 maj 2016)
“Vad snackar din katt om?” [What is your cat talking about?];
Meowsic, cat vocalisations.

Motala Vadstena Tidningar (8 maj 2016)
“Vad snackar din katt om?” [What is your cat talking about?];
Meowsic, cat vocalisations.

Corren (3 May 2016, page 20)
“Vad snackar din katt om?” [What is your cat talking about?];
Meowsic, cat vocalisations.

Expressen (13 April 2016)
“Forskare ska reda ut: Pratar katter med dialekt?”
[Researchers are going to find out: do cats talk in dialects?];
Description of Meowsic.

Östgöta Correspondenten (5 april 2014, sidan 20)
“Han vill lösa mysteriet med spinnande kattdjur" [He wants to solve the mystery of purring felids];
Cat purring and general vocalisations, cheetah purring.

Våra Rovdjur (March 2014, no. 1, pages 18–21)
“Katten vad det låter!” [I'll be darned (Swe: "the cat!") how much it sounds!];
Cheetah purring and other vocalisations, wildlife conservation.

3.2 – Radio

I appeared on the Swedish public broadcasting program P4 Morgon (“P4 Morning”) on Thursday, 14 March 2014, where the program hostess Cia Sivertsdotter interviewed me about felid purring and similar vocalizations in other mammals, including alleged purring in both tigers (a non-purring felid) and other mammals. The interview can be downloaded below.

P1 Morgon, 13 March 2014. (8.7 MB, 18:30 minutes.)

[mp3]

I appeared on the Swedish public broadcasting program Naturmorgon (“Nature Morning”) on Saturday, 26 March 2011, where the program hostess Lena Näslund interviewed me about felid purring and similar vocalizations in other mammals, including alleged purring in both tigers (a non-purring felid) and other mammals. The interview can be downloaded below. The beep sound indicates where a cut-edit has been made (in the original version I appeared twice, once in the first hour of the program, and a second time in the second hour of the program).

Naturmorgon, 26 March 2011. (6.5 MB, 13:55 minutes.)

[mp3]

I appeared on the Swedish public broadcasting program Språket (“The Language”) on Tuesday, 1 June 2010, where the program hostess Anna Lena Ringarp interviewed me about felid purring. The interview can be downloaded below. The beep sound indicates where a cut-edit has been made.

Språket, 1 June 2010. (3.5 MB, 3:43 minutes.)

[mp3]

Below you find a list of selected radio appearances that cover felid vocalization in general, most of the mentioning purring. The titles are taken from web versions (pod radio) that I have identified, something which has not always been successful.

Science Friday (28 October 2022)
On cat vocalisations in general and purring in particular.
https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/why-do-cats-purr/

Central Time, Wisconsin Public Radio, WPR (30 September 2022)
On cat vocalisations and Meowsic; part of a live broadcast pledge drive.
https://www.wpr.org/programs/central-time

SR P4 Östergötland (19 June 2018)
On cat vocalisations and Meowsic.

Radio24 Malmö (2 December 2016)
On cat vocalisations and Meowsic.

Eftermiddag i P4 Väst (17 November 2016)
On cat vocalisations and Meowsic.

SR P4 Extra (17 November 2016) [Not entirely sure about the date]
On cat vocalisations and Meowsic.

Radio24 Kalmar (17 November 2016)
On cat vocalisations and Meowsic.

SR P4 Extra (16 October 2016)
“Har katter olika dialekter?” [Do cats have different dialects);
on Meowsic and cat vocalisations in general.

SR P4 Göteborg Extra med Erik Blix (1 October 2016)
On cat vocalisations and Meowsic.

SR P5 STHLM (30 August 2016)
“Så pratar katterna med oss” [How cats talk with us]; on Meowsic.

SR Radio Sweden (25 August 2016)
“What is your cat really saying to you?”; on Meowsic.

SR P1 Vetenskapsradion Forum (23 August 2016)
Urban Björstadius interviewed me about felid vocalisations in general. According to Björstadius this edition one of the most popular and listened-to in the history of this science program and it was rebroadcast several times.

SR P4 Östergötland (Norrköping) Extra (17 March 2016)
“Kan vi prata med våra katter?” [Can we talk with our cats?]; on Meowsic, interviewed with Susanne Schötz.

NRK Ekko (16 March 2016)
On cat vocalisations and Meowsic.

SR P4 Västerbotten (Umeå) Morgon (13 March 2014)
“Norrländskt ‘schuu’ inte unikt” [Norrlandish ‘jo’ not unique]; on speech on inhalation.

SR P4 Östergötland (Norrköping) Morgon (13 March 2014)
I was interviewed about purring in cats and other mammals

SR P1 Naturmorgon (26 March 2011)
I was interviewed on purring in cats and other mammals.

SR P1 Språket (1 June 2010)
I was interviewed about disfluency and felid purring.

3.3 – TV

Interview by Henrik Lindberg, 24Corren

On 26 Mars 2014 I was interviewed by journalist Henrik Lindberg from 24Corren, in (and outside) my office at Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. Made available by kind permission. (Note that the interview is in Swedish. Also note that I hadn’t slept for days and look awful!)

Below you find a listing of my TV appearances I. The order is “newest first”. In some cases I don’t know whether the interview was actually broadcast, e.g. the ZDF/Bayerischer Rundfunk below. Again the hidden number with regards to mentions (as opposed to direct interviews with me personally) is surely considerable.

ARTE (28 November 2020)
“Comment le chat a conquis le monde”; documentary on the history of cats; both Susanne Schötz (initial comments) and myself (concluding comments) appear frequently (many researchers are interviewed), where our Meowsic work is described.

SVT UR Språknyheterna (7 November 2017)
“Språket om maktfaktor, meänkieli och mjau”; [Language as a tool of power, meänkieli and meow];
a film team follows me during data collections for Meowsic.

SVT Nyheter (17 November 2016); broadcast in SVT Östergötland, SVT1 Rapport and SVT2 Aktuellt
“Katter har sannolikt dialekt” [Cats have, in all likelihood, dialects]; on Meowsic.

SVT Nyheter (4 March 2016)
“Forskare ska lära oss prata med katter” [Researchers will teach us to talk with cats]; on Meowsic.

Aftonbladet TV (TV4) Morgon (2 May 2016) “Forskaren kan tala med katter” [This researcher can talk with cats]; on Meowsic, purring etc.

24Corren (26 March 2014)
I was interviewed by Henrik Lindberg about my research of big cat vocalisations and purring.

3.4 – Web

In February 2014 I was interviewed by Sofia Ström Bernad for the research and internal web pages at http://www.liu.se Linköing University. This resulted in two articles that can be accessed by clicking the links below. (Note that one of the pages is available in both Swedish and English.

Han kan lösa spinnandets gåta
(He may solve the riddle of purring)

Han ska lösa spinnandets gåta
in Swedish, or
Solving the mystery of purring
in English.

Please note that I don’t expect to solve the riddle of purring. I just enjoy studying it.

I am easily found on the web, but to provide a listing of mentions would be a both a futile exercise as well as a Sisyphus undertaking, for several reasons; for starters, almost all interviews in both press, radio and TV are mirrored on the web. What is listed below are interviews with and articles about me (e.g. Researcher Profiles) and the YouTube clip that was part of how my/our felid vocalisations studies (Meowsic) started.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-do-cats-purr-scientists-may-now-have-an-answer-180983044/
  How Do Cats Purr? Scientists May Now Have an Answer. (11 October 2023);
  review by Sarah Kuta of the same study as Live Science below; cited.

https://www.livescience.com/animals/cats/why-cats-purr-is-a-surprisingly-long-standing-mystery-now-were-one-step-closer-to-solving-it
  Why cats purr is a surprisingly long-standing mystery. Now we're one step closer to solving it.
  (11 October 2023); interview by Ethan Freedman.

https://radiopublic.com/tumble-science-podcast-for-kids-G4wko8/s1!66a2c
  Why Do Cats Purr? (4 March 2022); Tumble Science Podcast for Kids; interview by Lindsay Patterson.

https://liu.se/nyhet/humorpris-till-liu-s-kattforskning
  Linköping University (14 September 2021); Meowsic, Ig Nobel prize winner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLIT-UWGru4
  Linköping University (10 July 2018); From computers to cats –
  Linguist Robert Eklund wants to understand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR4ToTT1FCU
  Vetenskapsfestivalen (2 March 2017); Karin Gyllenklev meets the 100 coolest researchers in Sweden
   (I was no. 5).

http://liu.se/artikel/kattprat-blev-global-mediahit
  Linköping University (7 December 2016); Meowsic, cat purring and other vocalisations.

http://liu.se/artikel/talar-din-katt-dialekt-
  Linköping University (6 April 2016); Meowsic, cat purring and other vocalisations.

http://liu.se/artikel/han-ska-losa-spinnandets-gata
  Linköping University (8 January 2016); researcher profile, ingressive speech, cat purring.

http://old.liu.se/insidan/reportage/han-kan-losa-spinnandets-gata/?l=en
  Linköping University (28 February 2014); researcher profile, speech technology, music, ingressive speech, cat purring.

http://www.neatorama.com/pet/2015/08/26/Comparative-Meows/
  Article on our cat research, based on Annals of Improbable Research (see Press above) (26 August 2015).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFvULxbN3NM
  Robert Eklund records the purring cheetah Caine at the Dell Cheetah Centre, Parys, South Africa
  (29 May 2010); the YouTube clip that “started it all”, and resulted in Meowsic.

4 – Purring animals

Below you find additional sounds files of purring animals, including another cheetah, a purring serval and also a purring genet.

4.1 – Cheetah

The following recording of a purring cheetah also appears on Robert Eklund’s websites devoted to ingressive speech and phonation, i.e. http://ingressivespeech.info/, and (actually the same exact site) http://ingressive.info/. Additional information on wildlife-related issues, as well as wildlife pictures can also be found in the Wildlife section (click on the ‘Wildlife’ button) on Robert Eklund’s homepage: http://roberteklund.info/.

4.2 – Serval

The following recording of a purring serval also appears on Robert Eklund’s websites devoted to ingressive speech and phonation, i.e. http://ingressivespeech.info/, and (actually the same exact site) http://ingressive.info/. Additional information on wildlife-related issues, as well as wildlife pictures can also be found in the Wildlife section (click on the ‘Wildlife’ button) on Robert Eklund’s homepage: http://roberteklund.info/.

4.3 – Genet

Since the only know example of a non-felid purring is the genet, a sound files is provided below. As is the case with the purring cheetah and the purring serval above, the following recording of a purring genet also appears on Robert Eklund’s websites devoted to ingressive speech and phonation, i.e. http://ingressivespeech.info/, and (actually the same exact site) http://ingressive.info/. Additional information on wildlife-related issues, as well as wildlife pictures can also be found in the Wildlife section (click on the ‘Wildlife’ button) on Robert Eklund’s homepage: http://roberteklund.info/.

5 – Bibliography

Depending on the approach, the literature on purring is either surprisingly meager, or replete with scientific mentions. While several papers on various species of felids do include mentions of “purring” among the various vocalizations pertaining to a particular species of cat, very few papers are devoted to purring proper. Below I will try to list works that belong to the latter category, while other papers that simply mention purring “in passing” will be added intermittently.

Note that this bibliography only includes scientific publications that has been published in journals on conference proceedings. This means that several sources are not included, e.g. articles in newspapers and similar. Also note that some of the papers below argue in favor of theories that have either been proven wrong (e.g. McCuiston, 1966) or have yet not been supported in any direct way by direct data or analysis (e.g. von Muggenthaler, 2001).

There are several books on felids/wild cats available, ranging from very introductory ones (aimed at children) to extremely exhaustive, scientific surveys (e.g. Sunquist & Sunquist (2002), as well as books devoted to e.g. cheetahs. I have included several of these in the listing below.

06 – Contact

Emails can be sent to:

7 – Robert Eklund’s homepage