Cats have 249 more facial expressions than dogs

And other stories from the stranger side of life

A dog and a cat
(Image credit: Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Cats have 276 facial expressions, according to a study. The repertoire, including blinks and half blinks, nose licks, nose wrinkles, whisker retractions, lip licks and various ear positions, is "far larger" than many experts had anticipated and "may have evolved as a result of them living alongside humans", said The Times. Meanwhile, dogs are said to be capable of just 27 facial movements.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.