What Your Cat’s Ear Positions Are Telling You

A cat's ears are finely tuned tools—32 muscles let each ear swivel 180° independently, and they hear up to ~78 kHz, far beyond dogs and people. Ear posture is a readable mood signal. Natural-up means calm; forward and erect means focused or curious (or puffed-up before a fight); swiveling means listening, alert if locked on a direction; 'airplane ears' flattened back mean fear or surrender; and twitching while asleep means dreaming. Reading the direction of airplane ears tells you whether the cat is submitting or about to fight.