The Truth About Frodo (A Quiet Place: Day One)
You can't have a cat in here
Contains spoilers for A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place: Day one
Despite spending most of my life watching people getting horrifically murdered in every crime procedural I could get my hands on, I can’t cope if a cat or dog doesn’t make it. I have even been known to throw books across the room when they killed off an animal. After spotting a cat in the trailer of A Quiet Place: Day One I admit I decided not to watch it.
Luckily, I discovered an online database of TV and movies for just such an occasion (www.doesthedogdie.com), and spoiler: Frodo the cat survives! Lots of humans get killed but, as I mentioned, that’s just fine. However, this got me thinking, would a cat really be able to survive against a horde of aliens with super hearing on a murderous rampage?
In order to make this assessment, we need to evaluate four questions:
Question 1: What are the chances that Frodo would make no noise?
The filmmakers apparently chose a cat because dogs would be too loud (truth). They mentioned in an interview that cats only meow to humans, and that in a world where there are no humans they would therefore revert to the silent predator of their ancestors. Let’s test this theory:
There are four distinguishable types of meows (mew, squeak, moan and the stereotypical meow) and generally it is correct that adult cats only tend to meow to humans when:
They want something (food).
As a greeting (hello, where is my food).
To let us know that something is wrong (there is no food).
My cats would all be given away the moment that tin of food came out.
Even if we ignore the fact that there are actually plenty of humans in this movie to meow at, cats aren’t otherwise silent. In fact there are 12 identified cat noises in addition to meowing, including trilling, chirping, chirruping and chatter. In one study, several of these noises were only observed when cats were in a positive situation, so I guess as long as the cat is unhappy they’ll be safe. Cats prone to yowling and mating calls might not be so lucky: another great reason to spay and neuter perhaps?
A cat’s response to a threat, such as large weird-looking scary aliens, might include what I call the crab: ears flat, arched back, flicking tail and sideways walking. This can also lead to hissing, growling, spitting and snarling. See Jonesy in Alien as an example of these noises. But all cats are individual, so it is completely possible that Frodo would react by chilling out in the death angel nest, although I think pretty unlikely.
Question 2: Is cat noise in the frequency range that the Death Angels can hear?
Although purring in cats often seen as a sign of content, it can also indicate a cat is stressed or unwell. Cats purr at a frequency of 25–150 Hertz, but as far as I can tell we don’t know what frequency of sounds the death angels can hear. Perhaps a purr might be too low for them. All we know is that high frequency sounds seem to hurt them, although this isn’t that clear either, would squeaking mice cause them damage or does it also have to be a certain volume?
Question 3: Could Frodo outrun a Death Angel?
The Quiet Place wiki tells me that death angels can travel up to 300 miles per hour, which according to the internet is the same as a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport. Cats can clock in at about 30 miles per hour so would have little hope of outrunning the aliens, although they would give Jurassic Park’s T-rex a run for her money. The braking speed of a Death Angel is not clear – 300mph takes a lot of decelerating, and if a Death Angel hit something hard (like one of the many buildings in New York City) at that speed, it’s likely that it would pancake itself.
Question 4: Could Frodo dodge or otherwise outwit/ escape the Death Angel?
Cats have an incredibly quick reaction time of 20–70 milliseconds, compared to humans’ 250 milliseconds. Someone cleverer than me would need to work out the reaction time of the death angels to see if cats could avoid getting speared in the same way they can avoid snake bites (average snake reaction time 40-70ms). Even if the Death Angels have a high reaction time, given the high speeds at which they travel, it is unlikely that they could react as quickly as a cat.
Cats also have extremely effective hearing and eyesight, so would be more acutely aware of any nearby aliens than the poor humans in this movie. They are also most active at dawn and dusk (crepuscular); although I didn’t go back to see what times of day the Death Angels attack I do seem to remember day and night attacks in the first movie (RIP kid with the rocket ship, rethinking whether that new squeaking mouse toy is a good idea).
Overall:
Frodo is very likely to make noise.
This is likely to be audible to the Death Angels.
Frodo could not outrun them in an open space.
The main chance of survival is for Frodo to hide from the Death Angels, stay in small spaces as much as possible and outmanoeuvre them when needed.
A Quiet Place: Day One Cat facts score= 3 out of 10 cats (lost an additional cat point for that underwater scene)
References:
Fermo, J. L., Schnaider, M. A., Silva, A. H. P., & Molento, C. F. M. (2019). Only when it feels good: Specific cat vocalizations other than meowing. Animals, 9(11), 878.
Lyons (2006) Why do cats purr? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-cats-purr/
Schötz, S., van de Weijer, J., & Eklund, R. (2017). Phonetic characteristics of domestic cat vocalisations. In The 1st International Workshop on Vocal Interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots, VIHAR 2017, 25–26 August 2017, University of Skövde, Sweden (pp. 5-6).
I'm so relieved Frodo survives!! This is such a cool premise for a newsletter, looking forward to reading and learning. Please do Jonesy in Alien, my hero (-ine?)