60 curiosities about cats

 

I know it may sound biased, but I must say that we cats are intelligent animals, very loving; in one word: unique. I leave here some curiosities unraveled, so that they know us even better.

• On average a cat spends 2/3 of the day sleeping. This means that in 9 years of life he is only awake 3 years.
• Cats do not taste the candy.
• When a cat chases after prey, unlike a dog or human, it always keeps its head down.
• The hairballs we vomit are called egagropiles.
• Cats tend to be right-handed, while cats tend to be mostly left-handed.
• A cat makes about 100 different sounds, while a dog makes about 10.
• The brain of a cat is biologically more similar to that of a human than the brain of a dog. Both humans and cats have an identical region in the brain responsible for emotions.
• There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, and approximately 40 recognized breeds.
• The oldest domestic cat was found in a grave in Cyprus over 9000 years old.
• According to a Hebrew legend Noah prayed to God to help him protect the food of the mice in the ark. God made a Lion to sneeze, and from that sneeze the cat was born.
• A cat's hearing is better than a dog's. A cat can hear high frequency sounds, about 2 octaves above any human.
• A cat can run at 49 km per hour over short distances.
• A cat jumps 5 times its height in one jump.
• Some cats have already survived 20 meter falls due to the straightening reflex. Their eyes, organs and inner ear tell the cat where it is in space, so that it can land on its feet. Even cats without a tail have this ability.
• A cat grazes on a human not only to show affection, but also to mark its territory, due to the odor that the glands around its face release. The tail and paws also have the same odor as the cat.
• Scientists are not sure why a cat purrs. Many veterinarians believe that a purring cat makes its vocal cords vibrate in the deepest area of the throat. For this to be possible a muscle in the larynx opens and closes the air passage 25 times per second.
• In ancient Egypt, when a cat died, the family showed their sadness by shaving their eyebrows.
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• Each cat, on average, gives birth to between 1 and 9 cats at a time. The largest litter until today was 19 kittens, but only 15 survived.
• Nowadays, the biggest wild cat is the Siberian Tiger, which is more than 3.6 meters long and weighs more than 300 kg.
• In Australia and the United Kingdom, black cats are a sign of good luck.
• The most popular breed of cat is Persian, followed by Maine Coon and Siamese.
• The smallest breed of cats is Singapore, which weighs about 1.8 kg.
• The largest breed of cats is the Maine Coon, where a cat can weigh about 12 kg.
• Some Siamese cats look strabic due to the nerves on the right side of the brain that go mostly to their right eye, and the nerves on the right side of their brain go mostly to the left eye. This causes double vision, which the cat tries to correct by crossing the vision.
• Cats usually don't like water, because their fur doesn't isolate the heat well when it is wet. However, the Van Turco breed, a variation of the Angora from Central Asia, has a hair with a unique texture that makes it water resistant.
• A cat usually has 12 whiskers on each side of its face.
• A cat's vision is better and worse than a human's: it is better because cats can see more in more diffuse environments, and have a superior spherical vision. It is worse because they can't see the colour as well as humans. Scientists believe that cats see the grass in a red colour.
• The small tufts of hair in a cat's ears serve to keep dirt out, direct sounds into the ear and isolate the ears.
• The ability of a cat to find its home is called the "psycho-traveling". Experts believe that cats use the angle of sunlight to find their way, or that there are magnetic cells in their brain that act as a compass.
• A cat's jaw moves in both directions, so that a cat can chew larger pieces of food.
• A cat almost never meows to another cat, only to humans. Cats only spit, purr and hiss at other cats.
• The backs of cats are extremely flexible because they have more than 53 vertebrae, while humans only have 34.
• About 1 in 3 cat owners believe that their cat can read their mind.
• The passion for cats is called ailurophilia, which comes from the Greek (cat + passion).
• In Japan it is believed that cats have the power to become higher spirits when they die.
• Most cats had short hair until about 100 years ago, when it started to become fashionable to have cats and try to produce cat breeds.
• Cats have 32 muscles that control the outer ear, while humans have only 6.
• A cat can rotate its ear 180 degrees.
• The reason why kittens sleep more is due to the growth hormone, which is only activated during sleep.
• The registered cat with the most weight was called Himmy, it was a Queensland tiger cat,
• Australia and weighed 21 kg.
• A cat has about 130,000 hairs per cm2.
• On average a cat can live up to 20 years, which is equivalent to about 100 human years.
• The cat that has lived the longest to date is the Crème Puff from Austin, Texas, who died 3 days after his 38th birthday.
• The first cartoon of a cat appeared in 1919 and was called Felix the Cat.
• The normal temperature of a cat is around 38º and 39º C. A cat is sick if the temperature is below 37º and above 39º C.
• A cat has 230 bones in its body. A human has only 206.
• A cat doesn't have collarbones, so it can pass anywhere its head also passes.
• The nose pattern of a cat is unique, just like the fingerprint of a human.
• Some of the foods that should never be given to a cat are: onions, garlic, green tomatoes, raw potatoes, chocolate, grapes and sultanas. Although milk is not toxic, it can cause stomach irritation, gas and diarrhea.
• Medicines like paracetamol and aspirin are extremely toxic to cats, as are most plants in the home.
• Giving a cat human or dog food can cause malnutrition and cause disease.
• A feline heart beats almost twice as fast as a human: about 110 to 140 beats per minute.
• Cats don't have sweat glands in their body like humans do. Instead they sweat by their paws.
• In just 7 years, a pair of cats and their sprouts can give birth to over 420,000 kittens.
• A cat spends about 1/3 of its day cleaning itself.
• An adult cat has 30 teeth. A baby kitten has only 26 temporary teeth, which it loses up to 6 months of age.
• Cats are extremely sensitive to vibration. A cat detects an earthquake about 10 to 15 minutes before a human.
• In the 30's Russian biologists discovered that the colour of Siamese kittens changed depending on their body temperature. Siamese cats have the genes of albinism, which are activated only when their body temperature is above 36.6°C. If these kittens are in a warmer place, they will get a whitish colour.
• The richest cat in the world is called Blackie, which has been left 15 000 000 pounds by its owner Ben Rea.
• All cats have nails. A cat's hind paws are not as sharp as its front paws because its hind paws are not retractable, so they are worn out more.