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Comment by RcouF1uZ4gsC | Hacker News Reader

I would argue that nursing human babies make a purring sound as they drink milk from their mother’s breast. That sound evokes a sense of attachment and bonding.

Many times the qualities that we find endearing in pets (for example big eyes) are those that remind us of human babies.

My guess would be that humans (maybe subconsciously) preferred cats that could make purring noises and thus being able to purr conferred a selective advantage to cats.

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This sounds reasonable but mountain lions and many other types of non-domesticated cats still purr (https://parks.sccgov.org/plan-your-visit/park-programs-event...). You might be right that domesticated cats have evolved behavioral traits to purr more than their undomesticated counterparts, but I doubt the trait itself is linked to domestication since it still exists in the wild.

> My guess would be that humans (maybe subconsciously) preferred cats that could make purring noises and thus being able to purr conferred a selective advantage to cats.

Of course it's all speculative, but I wouldn't even expect it to be subconscious; if you show me an adorable but silent animal, and another cute animal that can express its affection by making some sort of pleasant sound, I'm going to be more drawn to the one that makes a sound.

Purring is an adaptive trait.

Unnatural selection.

Do you have any studies that prove this statement?

I can raise the hypothesis here that, the cat being a small animal, it is also prey and the development of low frequency communication between mother and kittens can be quite beneficial in hostile environments. Of course, I can't claim this to be true.

Wild non house cats like cougars and lynx that have not been domesticated pure just the same.

I was making a joke

No I was just joking.

How do you explain the big cats doing it. There hardly is a selection pressure like that in those.

Bigger wild cats like cougars and lynx that have not been domesticated pure just the same.

And tigers snort to say hello, it seems a similar pool of low sounds had evolved in all he family to express happiness and a non-agressive stance

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