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Why do cats purr?

Cats don't purr just when they're feeling chipper--they also purr when they're frightened or badly hurt. Purring doesn't have any specific emotional connotation; rather it seems to be a kind of homing device. Cats learn the signal in the first few days of kittenhood, when they can't see, hear, or smell very well. The mother cat purrs to call the kittens to nurse--unable to hear the sound, the kitten can feel the vibrations. There are two schools of thought on exactly how a cat purrs. One theory traces the vibrations to a set of "false vocal cords," a bundle of membranes that lies above the genuine vocal chords and seems to have no other clear function. The other opinion locates the purr in the vibrations of the hyoid apparatus, a series of small bones connecting the skull and the larynx that nominally serves to support the tongue.