Dr Charlotte Goursot from the FBN's Behaviour and Animal Welfare working group was involved in the study published in the renowned journal Current Biology. Dr Goursot, who completed her doctorate at the FBN with a DFG-funded project on functional lateralisation in pigs, was able to contribute her expertise to this international research group.
All animals are particularly vulnerable during sleep. As cats prefer to sleep in an elevated position, when they wake up they can immediately see predators or prey with the left side of their visual field, which is processed by the right hemisphere of the brain. Since the right hemisphere has strong spatial abilities and can coordinate rapid escape and possibly hunting commands, sleeping on the left side would offer an evolutionary advantage as a survival strategy. The researchers analysed 408 publicly available YouTube videos in which a single cat was clearly visible in a sleeping position on one side and could be seen in its entirety for at least ten seconds, i.e. from head to hind legs. Only original videos were considered; all mirrored or otherwise altered videos were excluded. The result was clear: in two thirds of the videos, the cat was sleeping on its left side.
Original publication:
Isparta S, Ocklenburg S, Siniscalchi M, Goursot C, Ryan CL, Doucette TA, Reinhardt PR, Gosse R, Cildir ÖS, d'Ingeo S, Freund N, Güntürkün O, Salgirli Demirbas Y (2025): Lateralised sleeping positions in domestic cats. Current Biology 35, R597-R598 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.043)
Link to the article: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00507-X
