Feline outer ear is controlled by 32 muscles, while humans have only 6 muscles for this purpose. Cats’ hearing abilities are much stronger that dog’s and humans’. Felines can rotate their ears at 180 degrees 10 times faster than a dog. In addition, cats can move their ears like radars and ca quickly detect the sound source.
Eyes
If we relate the size of the body and size of the eyes, we will see that cats are the mammals with the largest eyes. Also, most of the felines don’t have eyelashes. Their night vision is six times better than the night vision of humans. According to recent research cats can seen blue and green, but there is still an ongoing dispute if they can see red. Felines also have a wider angle of vision than humans because of their protruding eyes, and their peripheral vision is much better.
Felines have a full inner-eyelid membrane that protects their eyes from damage and dryness. When the animal is ill this inner-eyelid closes partially and becomes visible. Cats are not able to see right under their noses which explains why they can’t find treats on the floor.
Most cats have greenish-yellow to gold eyes. Deep green or brilliant copper eyes can be seen only in pedigreed cats are specially bred for their eye color. In very rare cases such eyes can be found in non-pedigreed cats, too.
White cats with blue eyes are usually deaf. If a white cat has only one blue eye, it is deaf only in the ear that is closer to the blue eye.
Body
Humans have 206 bones in their body, and felines have 250. The size of a human body is much bigger than a feline body, and the number of bones allows cats to twist and bend the way we humans can’t. 10% of all bones are in the cat’s tail which is used for balance maintenance. The only species that can hold its tail in vertical position while walking is the domestic cat.
Over 500 muscles are at use to allow cats leap, jump and sprint. These muscles are extremely powerful and if humans had such they would be able to jump from the ground to the top of a house.
Another interesting fact is that cats don’t have a collarbone and this enables them to fit through an opening as big as their head.
Paws
The front paws of cats have five toes, while the back paws have four toes. The paws are the most sensitive part of the feline body as they have extremely sensitive touch receptors. It is believed that cats can sense even tiny vibrations.
Claws
Claws are among the most important feature in the feline body, as they have multiple functions: cats use them for climbing, hunting and playing. Hunting is a natural instinct and all cats hunt even if they are well fed and well taken care of.
Nose
The feline nose has numerous smell-sensitive cells which allow cats to smell things we don’t even know exist. However, the nose is not the only olfactory organ used by cats. They can smell with the Jacobson’s organ and it is placed in the upper mouth surface.
Teeth
Cats have canine teeth which are located in beds of sensitive tissue. These teeth are very helpful because they allow the cat to bite its pray in the neck, near the skull, and kill it with just one bite.
Coat
The orange color of the feline coat is connected with the sexes and is found on the X chromosome. This gene can make the coat orange or black. For examples, female cats that have two X chromosomes may have both orange and black color in their coats. Male cats with one X chromosome can have only black or only orange coat, but not both colors together. Cases where a male cat has both orange and black color are very rare. Such cats are sterile. The coat color of Siamese cats depends on temperature – lower temperatures make the coat darker. Thus, a newborn Siamese kitten is white, because it is warm from its mother’s womb. As this kitten grows up, the hottest parts of its body, such as the stomach, will remain pale, while the other parts of its body will grow darker.
Feline breeds that are developing in cold climates have water-repellent and a bit oily coats, as well as thick and insulating undercoats. Such breeds include the Siberian, Maine Coon Cat, and Norwegian Forest Cat.
Other interesting facts
Felines, like people, have AB blood groups. This means they can donate blood to other cats.
An interesting fact about cats is that can compress or elongate their spine. This is very useful feature because it allows cats to become smaller and sleep in tiny place, or to become longer to jump across wide spaces.
The normal body temperature of cats is between 100.5 and 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
Feline’s heart beat is two times faster than human’s. The average cat’s heart beats approximately between 110 and 140 times per minute.
The cat’s purr comes from a tissue in the larynx. This tissues is called voice box and it vibrates when cats purr.
The amounts of fluid cats love through urination and using saliva for grooming are almost the same.
Feline brain is more similar to human brain than to a dog brain. Thus, cats and humans have similar brain regions that are responsible for emotions.
Cats don’t have sweat glands and they never sweat.
Freckles can appear at any areas of the cat’s skin, including in the mouth.
Feline urine glows when illuminated with black light.
Feline Physics
The Institute of Theoretical and Applied Feline Physics has defined and determined some invariable laws related to Cat Physics:
1. Law of Cat Inertia – A resting cat will remain in this condition unless some outer force acts upon it, as the opening of cat food can or a movement by a mouse nearby.
2. Law of Cat Motion – A feline will move in a straight line and not change the direction unless there is a strong reason to do so.
3. Law of Cat Magnetism – The darker the clothes are, the more cat hair they attract.
4. Law of Cat Thermodynamics – Commonly, heat flow from a warmer to a colder body. However, in the case of cats, all the heat flows to the feline.
5. Law of Cat Stretching – Cats stretch to a distance that is commensurate with the length of the nap they had just taken.
6. Law of Cat Sleeping – Cats should sleep with people every time this is possible. In addition, the position should be the most uncomfortable possible for the people involved.
7. Law of Cat Elongation – Felines can make their bodies long enough to reach to any high counter that contains interesting things.
8. Law of Cat Acceleration – Cats will accelerate at a constant speed until they decide it is time to stop.
9. Law of Dinner Table Attendance – A cat will invariable attend all meals, especially if the served food is good.
10. Law of Rug Configuration – Rugs can’t remain in their natural flat state for long periods of time when a cat is nearby.
11. Law of Obedience Resistance – Feline’s resistance and human’s desire to make it do something vary in inverse proportion.
12. First Law of Energy Conservation – As felines know energy can’t be created or destroyed, they use as little energy as possible.
13. Second Law of Energy Conservation – In addition, cats are aware that the only way to conserve energy is by napping.
14. Law of Refrigerator Observation – A cat watching a refrigerator long enough will lead to someone coming and taking out something to eat.
15. Law of Electric Blanket Attraction – If you want to attract a cat, simple turn on an electric blanket and the cat will be in the bed with the speed of light.
16. Law of Random Comfort Seeking – Cats always look for and always take over the most comfortable places in any room.
17. Law of Bag / Box Occupancy – All kinds of boxes and bags in a particular room will be occupied by a cat within the shortest possible time.
18. Law of Cat Embarrassment – The more a human laughs, the more irritated the cat gets.
19. Law of Milk Consumption – Felines can drink their weight in milk just to show their owners they can do it.
20. Law of Furniture Replacement – If your furniture is more expensive, your cat will be more attracted to scratch on it.
21. Law of Cat Landing – Felines always land in the softest places.
22. Law of Fluid Displacement – If you immerse a cat in milk, the amount of displaced milk will equal the volume of the cat minus the milk consumed.
23. Law of Cat Disinterest – The level of interest in cats is in inverse proportion to the efforts humans spend to interest them.
24. Law of Pill Rejection – All pills that are given to cats possess the potential energy to reach escape velocity.
25. Law of Cat Composition – The composition of all cats is the following: Matter + Anti-Matter + It Doesn’t Matter.
26. Law of Selective Listening – A feline is able to hear a can of tuna that is being opened a mile away. However, a feline is not able to hear commands three feet away.
27. Law of Equidistant Separation – Cats that are in a particular room will locate at points that are equidistant from each other and from the center of the room.
28. Law of Cat Invisibility – Felines believe that if they can’t see you, you can’t see them too.
29. Law of Space-Time Continuum – If a cat is provided with enough time, it will land in any space.
30. Law of Concentration of Mass – The more comfort lap a cat occupies, the more mass it will gain.
31. Law of Cat Probability – Humans can’t predict where a cat is; they can just guess where the cat might be.
32. Law of Cat Obedience – Undiscovered.
