What are the cat's senses?

cats are smart

The cat's body is made up of more than 230 bones and more than 500 muscles that allow it to do many things, such as jumping up to five times higher than its own height, listening to the sound of the mouse seven meters away , or waiting for you behind the door when you just got out of the car so you can give him the can you bought him.

His five senses have been working at full capacity since his earliest childhood.. Let's see what its particularities are.

Vista

For humans, sight is the most important sense, for the cat… not so much. The spectrum of colors that he is able to see is poorer than the one we see. In fact, to give you an idea, during the day he sees like someone who has lost his glasses, that is, blurry. What's more, hardly distinguish colors, only green, yellow and blue.

As opposed, their night vision is 8 times better than ours. This is because their eyes have what is known as Tapetum lucidum, a kind of 'crystalline' that reflects light, thus making the animal capable of distinguishing details that humans can only intuit and making its eyes shine. in the dark (as long as there is some light source, be it the moon, the flash of the camera, a flashlight, etc.).

Ear

The cat's sense of hearing is a masterpiece of nature. It is highly developed. Both of his ears sit just above his head, and he can turn them a little to his liking whenever he detects a sound that may be of interest to him, such as a bird or rodent.

His sensitivity to sound is such that what for a human is to have the music volume low (one or two points on the radio for example), for him it is as if it were much louder. Because, he doesn't need you to open the door to know you're near him: your feet stepping on the ground, the jingle of your keys, the noise your bag makes if you're carrying it... all these things give you away.

Balance

The cat is a magnificent tightrope walker. It can walk along very narrow paths without a single leg shaking. But why? The secret lies inside the ear, specifically the internal. There has five open fluid-filled tubes that are covered in hairs that are very sensitive to movement.

Therefore, when they detect that the animal turns in a strange way, it sends signals to the brain so that the body turns in the appropriate position. In this way, when the cat needs it, first it turns its head, then its back and its front legs, and finally its rear ones.

Taste

What does the cat eat? It seems like a simple answer, but in recent times many doubts have arisen about it. Actually, it is enough to ask what kind of animal it is, and look at what the other members of its family eat. In other words: being a feline, and given that cougars, panthers, lions, etc., are also felines and feed on meat, it is logical to think that the cat is also carnivorous.

By necessity, by instinct. It can eat some grains or grasses, but only if those foods have been eaten before by its prey. But if you don't eat meat you are doomed to death, because you need animal protein for your body to function, and a nutrient called taurine for healthy eyes.

Smell

Zeal in cats is very striking

The cat has a sense of smell, too, more sensitive than ours. In fact, is 14 times higher than any of us have. This is because it has 20 million receptor cells in the nose, while people have only 5 million. But in addition, its nasal organ is larger than ours.

As if this were not enough, in the upper part of the palate it has an organ known as the vomeronasal or the Jacobson's organ, which is used to 'savor' the smells. This is why it opens its mouth in a somewhat peculiar way when it detects an aroma that it wants to know, for example, who owns it and how it is.

Touch

For the animal, touch is essential so that it can lead a normal life. Since his birth, the tactile receptors that your skin has, fulfill a vital function: send the appropriate signals so that the cat can react, if necessary, and thus stay safe, either from the cold or the heat, or from the rain if it doesn't like it.

And how do you get it? Thanks to its pads and its whiskers, mainly. These are the parts of your body that you use the most when it comes to knowing (or recognizing) the environment in which you live. On the one hand, their paw pads are very sensitive to vibrations, so much so that they help you adopt the correct posture when walking or running.

In the specific case of mustaches, these are sensitive to air currents, so they are useful for detecting possible prey; Likewise, it is interesting to know that it is useful for him to know whether or not he can pass through a narrow path, since the length from the tip of a mustache on one side of his face to the tip of its opposite coincides with the width of the cat's body.

As you can see, the cat is a wonderful animal, both inside and out.


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