The charm of cat pictures and videos is such a universal thing, it crosses all boundaries of culture, age, and social background. Our common interest in all things cat-related can be interpreted as an international language of friendship and fun.

Maria Bustillos, author of the book “Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong,” writes in her essay “Hope Is the Thing with Fur”: “they make every message to which they are appended feel softer, lighter, easier.”

In fact, “loving a cat,” writes Maria, “is a way in which a person can feel and express goodness and happiness, and cats express these things back to us in return.” Cat pictures and videos document these subtleties of human and non-human relationships in a form that’s understandable to anyone on earth.

Meanwhile, Abigail Tucker noted in an opinion piece for The New York Times that cats’ virtual success is rooted in their biology. “Cats are solitary, asocial hypercarnivores built to do one thing: get meat.” And this stalking and pouncing modus operandi is “perfect for a six-second Vine or a pithy tweet.” Just think about it—how many cat pictures and videos show them acting on something without warning? Springing like rockets without sound, they give us that rare feeling of unexpectedness.