Furry Racism At The Pound: Why Is It Harder For Black Cats To Find Homes?

Thursday, October 25, 2012 - 12:30 in Psychology & Sociology

It's Not Easy Being Black Wikimedia CommonsA Berkeley study searches for the link between cat color and cat personality. Are people spooked by black cats? Darker felines sure seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to adoption. Black cats stay in shelters longer and are more likely to be euthanized than their lighter-colored counterparts. Researchers at University of California at Berkeley conducted a study to find a link between cat color and people's perception of cat personality. The findings were surprising: People do judge feline personalities by color, but don't assess black cats negatively relative to other cats. Researchers conducted an online survey consisting of 49 statements pairing five cat colorings (black, white, orange, bi-colored, and tri-colored) with 10 personality traits (active, aloof, bold, calm, friendly, intolerant, shy, stubborn, tolerant, and trainable.) Survey respondents assessed statements like, "Tri-colored cats are friendly," on a seven-point scale. Orange...

Read the whole article on PopSci

More from PopSci

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net