Amazing senses
Amazing senses...
Cats are remarkable creatures. They have aroused both fascination and anxiety for centuries. People believed they possessed supernatural powers, which led them to think that cats were divine or came from another world. Nowadays we already know that those ideas developed because of the extraordinary feline senses, which are in no way comparable with our ones. Despite our knowledge, however, cats remain very mysterious and obscure animals, and their behaviour is sometimes unclear to us.
It’s amazing…
Cats are probably the best hunters in the animal world. Do we know why? Our fascination with cats has a long history, but even today scientists have many questions to answer. What do we know? It is remarkable how cats perceive the world with their senses, feline eyes being particularly interesting. It is not true that cats are able to see in total darkness. All animals need at least some light to be able to see. Surprisingly, however, cats need six times less light than humans, and what is more, their field of vision is much bigger – 285 degrees compared with 180 degrees of humans. Cats’ vision may be poorer in the daytime (they do not distinguish details that well), but when the night comes, they really know how to use the best of their senses. Owing to the extraordinary structure of eyes and the ability to contract and dilate pupils considerably, cats can use even the smallest beam of light in order to see.
Not many people know that cat’s whiskers can be compared to extra pairs of eyes. Eyes and whiskers complement each other effectively, the latter communicating what the cat is not able to see. The scientific term for whiskers is ‘vibrissae’, and although they make cats look graceful, they are much more than an attractive feature.
Vibrissae are not only the hairs that grow on both sides of the nose, but also above eyes, on cheeks, chin and even on the back of the front paws. Thanks to this amazing sensory hair, cats are able to feel the surrounding area and move around in total darkness. Able to detect even the smallest air currents around objects and other animals, vibrissae are a highly effective tool for locating the potential prey. But not only prey, female cats use their vibrissae to spot, or rather feel, the kittens when they have wandered off.
The way vibrissae work can be best observed in a sunny day, when cats’ vision is somewhat worse. When our kitty sets eyes on something interesting and walks towards it, we will see his beautiful whiskers moving in different directions, as if following his sight. Interestingly, the upper rows of vibrissae move independently of the lower rows. Vibrissae are one of cat’s most specialised sensory organs, and that is why they are so important, especially in wild cats, who survive only because they can depend on their senses.
Ears are another important sense organ. Cats are able to hear sounds which humans will never be able to 
hear. The audibility limit for the human ear is app. 20 kHz, whereas cats can hear sounds up to 60 kHz, so the difference is huge. Not only are they able to hear ultrasounds inaudible to the human ear and sounds two octaves higher, but also detect exactly where they are coming from. What is more they can hear and locate several sounds coming from different directions at the same time. Cats can move their ears much faster than dogs (also their hearing is much more acute than in dogs) using as many as 30 muscles (compared to just 6 muscles in the human ear).
Few people know that it is the cat’s ears, or more specifically, the inner ear, that are responsible for its extraordinary flexibility, excellent sense of balance and hence the famous ability to land on its feet. The inner ear contains fluid, and when cats rotate or turn, it flows, activating some specific stimuli. Cats react to the stimuli immediately, twisting their body so that they can land on their feet.
Dogs, on the other hand, have a more acute sense of smell than cats. But still, it cannot be considered poor. The membrane inside the cat’s nose has 19 million special nerve endings, whereas a dog has as many as 147 million, compared to just 5 million in humans!
Cats are particularly sensitive to the smell of various chemicals, especially nitrogen, which helps them to avoid meat that has gone off or is no longer fresh. They also react very strongly to catmint. This is because the plant contains essential oils with composition similar to the substance in females’ urine. It is particularly stimulating for males. Cats love the smell of catmint and when exposed to fresh plants, they rub and roll on them.
The sense of smell is also important for reproduction. Males are able to smell the coming heat in females two days before it actually begins.
To sum up, feline senses are by far more acute that human ones, and we can only admire them observing these unusual animals in action.