curiosities about domestic and wild Cats

Curiosities about felines

The musculoskeletal system

The skeleton of felines has a pattern similar to that of other domestic mammals. The peculiarity is that It has a very flexible clavicle and spine, and can take the form of “U”.

A feline’s tail contains almost 10% of its bones, acts as a counterweight to help them maintain balance while walking or making sharp turns. But in addition to working as a helm, A cat’s tail tells us what its mood is and provides us with certain messages.

Tongue and teeth

First, the dorsal surface of the feline’s tongue is covered with filiform papillae, which gives it that rough texture that everyone who has ever been licked by a cat will recognize. These papillae are the ones that help tear the flesh from the bones of the prey. And they also serve when grooming, collecting scales, loose hair, parasites or dirt, swallowing them so they can be dissolved by stomach acids.

 

Second, the teething of the felines responds to the typical pattern of carnivorous animals. Most species have long and conical canines that allow tearing the meat.

Curiosities about cats: do they emit sounds?

Purring is a characteristic sound of felines, made by inhaling and exhaling the air. It occurs in several ways:

• By rapid contractions of the muscles of the larynx, which dilate and compress the glottis during breathing.
• By the vibration of the vestibular folds.
• Due to the contraction of the diaphragm.

On the other hand, cats use the meow to communicate with humans mainly, and let us know what their needs are. In big cats, this is replaced by roar, a deep sound forced through the open mouth.

The senses

Sight

Felines present a special development of the organ of sight. They can perceive ultraviolet light and have night vision.

The cats can see clearly with a minimum of light because they have an iridescent lucid mat in the eyes, which is what makes them glow in the dark.

The pupil of the felines has a characteristic shape, elongated and with great capacity of expansion, thanks to the musculature of the iris. This also helps them express their eyes.

The ear

Felines can hear a much higher range of acoustic signals than humans. And its balance function is specially developed. This allows them to land properly after a fall from an elevated place.

The sense of smell

Their sense of smell is so developed that they can recognize both their enemies and their prey before seeing them.

They use it to find their own territory, previously marked with pheromones, and as a warning when another predator enters that territory. In the case of females, they spray urine surfaces to leave a sign that they are in heat and ready for mating. And the male’s nose picks up that signal quickly.

 

The touch

 

Felines have a specially developed sense of touch through vibrisas.. Commonly called mustaches, the vibrisas are tactile hairs located on the upper lip and nose, although there are also on the eyebrows and legs. They are thicker than any other hair, and settle in deeper layers of the skin, directly on a nerve end.

Finally, they are also part of their media, as they manifest their mood. If it is restless, it places them in the form of a fan; If he is angry, he directs them forward.

Recent studies have shown that they use vibrisas to determine if the prey they just hunted is alive or not. By applying the bite to said prey and keeping it tight between the jaws, the vibrisas completely surround the body of this animal to detect the minimum vibration that can be implied that it is still alive.