12 Facts Proving That Nature Worked Really Hard on the “Cat” Project

The creatures with whiskers and tails, and that are also huge fans of boxes, still remain a big mystery to their owners. Their anatomy and behavior really interest scientists, and almost every year, they discover new amazing facts about cats.

We at Bright Side adore cats and are willing to spend hours learning new things about them. And, of course, we love sharing what we’ve learned with you.

• Cats have a unique hygienic tool that nature put right onto their bodies: we’re talking about the tongue. Recently, scientists have studied this organ, using powerful video cameras. It turned out that the “spikes” on cats’ tongues can rotate and look like hooks. This is why cats are so good at grooming themselves. Scientists are convinced that learning more about cat tongues will allow us to create very advanced hairbrushes and many other useful things.

• Every cat owner has had a situation where they were petting their cat and everything seemed fine before the animal suddenly started to bite the person’s hands. Most of the time, such bites are not very strong and leave no marks on the skin, but people still don’t understand what they did wrong. This is a signal from cats that it’s time to leave them alone. If your cat does this, you should count how many times you pet the cat before you were attacked. If you did it 5 times, stop after 4 times next time. Once you recognize these limits, the number of “violent attacks” on your hands will lessen.

• Cats have 3 eyelids. In the corner of their eyes, there’s a white layer that moves around the eyes’ surface during sleeping and blinking. This eyelid is sort of a cleaner that removes things that shouldn’t be there and spreads liquid around.

• Very often, you can notice cats bending their backs when you pet them. There’s nothing dangerous about this. It’s simply their way of showing a positive reaction to what you’re doing. Most likely, you’ve touched a certain spot on their back and it feels good to them. It’s on the lower back where the tail starts. But there are some cats that hate being touched there, so it all depends on the animal.

• We use our hands when it’s hard to see where we’re going in the dark, and cats use their whiskers to do the same thing. These hairs on their faces are sensors that find out how safe a space is. The receptors on the tips quickly send a signal into the nerve system if there are any changes around them.

• Cats sometimes bite off their kittens’ whiskers when they’re still very small. Maybe it happens accidentally during grooming. But another reason for this could be because cat moms want to control their children and not let them wander off too far. Internet users even say that dominating kittens actually bite off the whiskers of their calmer friends.

• You can tell the gender of a cat by looking at which paw they are using first when going downstairs, digging, or playing. If they use the right paw, it’s most likely a girl, and if it’s the left paw, you probably have a boy.

• The legendary love story between cats and boxes can be explained by the safety and heat insulation cardboard has to offer. Also, scientists proved that boxes can have a good influence on the psyche of cats. Cats that were delivered to a shelter were divided into 2 groups, and one of them had boxes to go into. Just 3 days later, the levels of stress of the cats that had boxes were significantly lower compared to the cats that didn’t.

• Once we figured out the thing about boxes, cats posed a new task for scientists. It’s the notion that cats want to sit or lie on things that are rectangular, such as towels, a sheet of newspaper, or a keyboard. More than that, if you make a square on the floor using tape, there’s a chance the cat will try to fit into it. Experts believe that this is, again, because cats want safety. Such squares look like boxes to cats.

• Cats will never be able to appreciate sweet foods. The thing is, their DNA doesn’t have the amino acids that are responsible for tasting something sweet. So, if your cat wants your ice cream, it’s not because of the taste.

• If you see a white cat with black and ginger spots, there’s a 99.9% chance it’s a girl. Male cats of such colors are very rare and are infertile. Such colors in male cats are the result of a genetic anomaly.

• Some vets say that there’s a connection between the color of their fur and their temperament. For example, ginger cats are more communicative, and tortoiseshell-colored cats are more independent.

Do you have a cat? Is it left-handed or right-handed? What are its colors and temperament?