Why and how do cats purr? That’s what Reid wants to know. It sounds like a simple question, but it leads us to a deep challenge: Can we ever understand cats? To find out, we launch a full-scale cat purr investigation. You’ll hear from a puzzled veterinarian, a scientist who studied her cat’s annoying purr, and the author of purring.org, the premier cat purr research website. It’s a purr-fect episode for everyone who’s curious about cats.

Learn more about cat purrs - and cat smiles - in our bonus interview episode! It’s available on our ad-free podcast feed on Patreon. It’s just $1/month to get access to all our bonus episodes. Pledge at patreon.com/tumblepodcast.

Watch the cheetah purr video mentioned in the episode and discover more cat purr research, on the blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com.

Animal audio courtesy of Dr. Karen Masters, Dr. Robert Eklund and Stoeger AS et al, under a Creative Commons license.