Darwin’s Cats: Using Community Science to Crack the Cat Code
PUBLISHED ON November 15, 2024
Have you watched your cat make a beeline for an empty box or zoom around the room after a nap and wondered: why do they do that?
Scientists have pondered the same questions, but there are few definitive answers. Despite being our companions for centuries, our scientific understanding of cats is surprisingly sparse. This knowledge gap inspired Elinor Karlsson—cat lover, geneticist, professor, and co-founder of the community science nonprofit Darwin’s Ark—to launch Darwin’s Cats, a research initiative that combines the expertise of cat owners with that of professional scientists to explore cat behavior, genetics, and health.
According to Karlsson, Darwin’s Cats isn’t just a pet project—it’s an ambitious community science endeavor that could help improve cat health and well-being. “If a ton of people sign up and tell us about their cats, we’ll be able to answer questions about them at a scale that nobody’s done before,” said Karlsson. “I’ve always wanted to research cats, it’s just that everybody will tell you that cats are too complicated. There’s all of this mythology around cats that makes people think they won’t work well for this kind of research.”
Much of that mythology casts cats as collectively aloof, hyper-independent, or mischievous. Some of these stereotypes stem from fruitless efforts to observe cats in traditional research settings, like the vet’s office or a behavioral research lab.
“Anybody who owns a cat knows that if you take them into a new place, they’re going to get really stressed out or they’re going to be excited and want to explore the entire place,” said Karlsson. “Their behavior just isn’t going to be normal. The only way to really know what a cat’s normal behavior is is to study it in its own home.”
Cats are most comfortable in familiar environments, making community science an ideal way to study them. That’s where Darwin’s Cats comes in. Through the project’s online platform, pet parents—the people who know cats best—can answer surveys about their cat’s physical traits, behaviors, and health, and have the option to sequence their cat’s DNA.
By collecting survey responses from thousands of cat owners and DNA data from thousands of cats, Darwin’s Cats hopes to create a powerful dataset that scientists can use to drive scientific discoveries that improve cat health and wellbeing—and also shed light on those confounding behaviors.
Cats’ Curious Behavior
Darwin’s Cats’ behavioral surveys ask a wide range of questions, from: “Does your cat bring prey animals back home as ‘gifts’?” to “Does your cat cross its paws?” to “Does your cat rest in the frog position with their legs out to the side?”
Some of these questions may seem quirky, but scientists believe these seemingly silly behaviors may be how cats communicate their needs and emotions. Michelle White, a veterinary scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, says that input from Darwin’s Cats community scientists is key to bridging the gap between understanding cat behavior and improving their healthcare and well-being.
“I think it’s our responsibility to help cats have an enriched life,” said White. “And to do that, it’s so important to figure out what’s their favorite thing, what makes them feel comfortable, what makes them feel like they’ve really played today.”
Cat Genetics: A Puzzle in Progress
Cat behavior is also a key component in understanding cat genetics. When scientists study DNA, identifying genetic variants is just the first step. The next challenge is comparing genetic data with observable data (like behavior, physical traits, and health factors) to uncover how genetics influences these traits.
As with behavior, cat genetics is surprisingly unexplored, which is why it’s central to Darwin’s Cats’ research mission. Community scientists can opt into the project’s genetics research by sequencing their cat’s DNA. (A charitable donation is required for sequencing, which helps to cover the costs of the DNA kit and analysis). As Darwin’s Cats’ genomic database grows, it will unlock insights into the genetic underpinnings of simple traits like coat color and texture, and eventually more complicated traits like genetic predispositions to disease.
White and Karlsson expect to find that cats have a complex genetic makeup, partly because humans have had less influence on their genetic diversity compared to other pets like dogs. To start to understand this genetic diversity, Darwin’s Cats plans to determine which traits are primarily shaped by a cat’s environment versus their genetics. Some traits, like coat color, are almost certainly driven by genetics, but the origins of other traits are less clear. For example, a cat’s sociability with strangers might be shaped by early life experiences, whereas behaviors like affinity for catnip are thought to be strongly influenced by genetics. If a trait is primarily influenced by the environment, we can adjust a cat’s surroundings to improve their well-being. If it’s genetic, scientists could develop treatments that target specific genes to improve cat healthcare.
The key to unraveling more complex questions—such as why some cats get cancer, kidney disease, or other health conditions—is to analyze information about thousands of cats. “People always ask me, ‘How many cats do you want in your study?’ And I’m like, ‘Ideally, all of them!’” said Karlsson. “The more cats we have information on, the more power we’re going to have to discover these genetic influences on disease.”
No matter your cat’s health status, behavior, or backstory, the Darwin’s Ark team is eager to learn all about them and help you play an important role in scientific research. “We want this to be a partnership,” Karlsson said. “That’s what I’m most excited about … opening up a more democratic sort of science project.”
Want to help CAT-alyze scientific discovery? Sign up for Darwin’s Cats! Questions? Email team@darwinsark.org.
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