ears 180º? And these aren't the only surprising facts about cats you may have missed!
#1: Cats have been domesticated for about 4,000 years! Before that, they were one of the greatest hunters feared by numerous species.
#2: A cat needs to interact with humans from about 2 weeks old so it can be sociable toward people. Even after that, you still have time until a cat turns about 16 weeks old. After that, it's almost impossible to domesticate it.
#3: A group of kittens is often called a kindle; a group of adult cats is called a clowder. A female cat is referred to as a queen, and a male cat is known as a tom.
#4: Your cat's purrs and meows are only a tiny part of their vocal abilities. In fact, cats can make up to 100 different sounds!
#5: By the way, cats only meow at humans. With other animals, they hiss, spit, and purr— but never meow. They also tend to greet each other by touching noses.
#6: When it comes to a cat's development, the first year of its life is equal to the first 15 human years. When a cat turns 2, it turns 25 in human years. And after the third year of its life, it gets to a place we all know about: one cat year for every 7 human years!
#7: The problem of acne is pretty common among cats. They usually end up developing blackheads on their chins, which is widely known as feline acne.
#8: Since cats basically evolved as desert animals, they can cope with heat pretty well. Still, if they feel especially hot or frightened, they secrete sweat through their paws.
#9: Most cats tend to spend about two-thirds of their day sleeping. So the average 9-year-old cat has been fully awake for only 3 years of its life! Cats also spend about one-third of their waking hours cleaning themselves up.
#10: A cat’s sense of smell is truly superb — it's approximately 14 times greater than that of the average human!
#11: One of the reasons why cats clean themselves so often is to lick your scent off! When your cat rubs against you from nose to tail, it wants to mark you as its own. However, your furry friend still picks up your smell, which it usually removes from its fur afterward.
#12: Cats aren't really big fans of sweets, simply because they can't taste them! Scientists believe this happened because of a mutation in their key taste receptor.
#13: Cats have rather sensitive stomachs, so you should be very careful about your furry friend's menu. Never give your cat onion, garlic, green tomatoes, chocolate, grapes, or raisins. Milk is also a bad idea as it upsets your kitten's stomach.
#14: Cats have belly buttons too, but they look nothing like ours. It's pretty hard to find and is usually located about two-thirds of the way down a cat's belly.
#15: Your cat always understands when you say its name…it just chooses to ignore you! Specialists believe this happens because, historically, cats haven't been domesticated to listen to people's orders — unlike dogs. So, yup, your furry friend couldn't care less!
#16: While we subconsciously view a black cat as a sign of bad luck, in England, Asia, France, and many other countries, they're considered to bring prosperity and happiness!
#17: A cat's whiskers aren't there to make them extra cute! They’re covered in numerous nerve cells and blood vessels. This helps cats detect any changes around them and figure out whether they can fit into a certain space as their whiskers have a span of the width of their body.
#18: No matter what kind of music you love, your cat most probably can't stand the sound of it! However, there's something your friend will like: a special album that composer David Teie created with animal scientists called Music for Cats. Just play your cat something from this album and see what happens!
#19: Cats have a special reflective layer in their eyes called the tapetum lucidum. This layer easily magnifies incoming light and allows cats to see around 6 times better than we do in the dark and low light. Maybe it should've been called “a cat eye” instead of “an eagle eye”?
#20: A cat named Stubbs was mayor of the small town of Talkeetna in Alaska for 15 years. During the election, Stubbs was a cute kitten, but residents later confessed that they were perfectly happy with their choice, saying that Stubbs was probably the best mayor they've ever had!
#21: A cat's heart beats way faster than ours with about 110 to 140 beats every single minute.
#22: A tabby cat named Dusty is known as the biggest mama of them all. During her breeding life, she gave birth to 420 kittens! Obviously, you can find Dusty in one of the editions of Guinness World Records.
#23: A cat's cerebral cortex contains 300 million neurons. Just for comparison, dogs have only around 160 million.
#24: Cats can give birth to identical twin kittens. Imagine how cute they would look! Unfortunately, this happens very rarely.
#25: It's a natural instinct for a kitten to cover its poop. If your cat doesn't do that, this is its way of showing you who's the true head of the house.
#26: Some ginger tabby cats have freckles around their mouth and even on their eyelids.
#27: While we have 12 muscles in our ears, cats have 32! Of course, this triples their hearing abilities and allows them to hear you grabbing their favorite food from the fridge — even if they're 5 doors away. These same muscles also help them rotate their ears 180º!
#28: In 1963, a cat named Félicette was sent to space from France. French specialists even implanted electrodes in her brain to track all her neurological signals. Luckily, Félicette survived the trip and became the first cat to go to space!
#29: Cats usually have 5 toes on each of their front paws and 4 toes on their back paws. Still, the number of toes can vary. For example, the cat with the most toes had 8 of them on every single one of its paws, which makes 32 toes in total!
#30: Back in 2007, a calico cat named Tama became a station master and greeted passengers at Kishi Station. Needless to say, the number of passengers increased by 17% that month, and everybody adored beautiful Tama. The cat died in 2015 of heart failure when she was 16 years old.
#31: Cats can easily jump about 6 times their own length! This is all thanks to the powerful muscles in their back legs, which allow them to jump onto any surface they like.
#32: Cats have a lower social IQ than dogs, but they compensate perfectly by having better long-term memory and the ability to solve difficult cognitive problems.
#33: Biologically, a cat's brain is kinda similar to ours. We have almost identical brain regions that take care of our emotions, so there's a chance that you and your furry friend feel the same way sometimes.
#34: Researchers from the University of Lincoln found that cats love it when you touch their faces, especially around their lips, chin, and cheeks. And they absolutely hate it when you pet them at the base of their tail! It makes them feel very uncomfortable, so don't do that.
#35: The oldest recorded cat was called Creme Puff. This beauty was born in 1967 and lived for 38 years! Of course, Creme Puff made it into an edition of Guinness World Records and is still remembered among cat lovers everywhere.
#36: Cats actually purr thanks to their own special vocal cords! It's basically a small group of thin bones located between the base of a cat's skull and the root of its tongue. When a cat feels happy, these muscles contract and create the vibration of the vocal folds that we call purring.
#37: In the cat world, the concept of left- or right-handedness is a thing too! Most cats are actually left-pawed!
#38: Psychologists say that people who have cats are logical, practical, and introverted. They also say that cat lovers tell way more stories about their furry friends than dog owners.
#39: Experts confirm that living with a cat helps relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. All this lowers your blood pressure and protects your body from possible heart problems, including a stroke.
#40: According to statistics, only 24% of kittens from animal shelters get adopted. Maybe it’s time to change that figure and get yourself a furry friend of your own. You definitely won't regret having such a cute little companion! Do you know any other fascinating facts about cats?
Stay on the Bright Side!
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