Research overview: individual recognition among cats

Maintaining social relationships requires recognising specific individuals, and this overview surveys evidence that cats discriminate familiar from unfamiliar conspecifics. It covers the cues involved, including scent profiles built through allorubbing and a shared group odour, vocal and possibly visual recognition, and how recognition underlies affiliative bonds, avoidance of rivals, and colony structure. It discusses how recognition supports the kin-based social groups of female cats and the spacing of solitary individuals. The topic illuminates the cognitive basis of feline social life, showing that even in a species often labelled asocial, the ability to tell individuals apart is fundamental to colony cohesion and conflict avoidance.