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Fun Facts About Cats

Cats are the best and don’t let a dumb, stinky dog tell you otherwise. But seriously, cats are some of the most popular animals both in our homes and in our minds, but there are so many interesting things most people simply don’t know.

From their biology to their relationship with people to their impact on culture at large, here are X fun facts about cats to brighten your day.

Biology

I See You

Anyone who has ever tried to take a picture of their cat (and let’s be real, we all have), likely ends up taking many pictures where their eyes glow like a monster’s. This glow comes from what’s called a tapetum lucidum and is responsible for the cat’s awesome night vision.

Not only is a cat able to see with as little as ⅙ the light that we need, but their vertically slit pupils also allow them to see in extremely bright settings too. However, their vision is nowhere near as good at seeing colors and not ideal for long distances.

Even more interesting, a cat’s eyes seem to be able to see some of the ultraviolet spectrum too, which might explain what they’re always staring at in the corner of the room.

Like Wolverine

One common misconception we tend to have about cats is that their claws are similar to our fingernails. As painful as it would be, removal of your fingernails will not impede your ability to use your fingers once they’ve healed.

However, the same cannot be said for declawing cats, not the least of which because their claws are technically part of their bone structure. Declawing a cat is far more akin to removing the tip of your finger than removing your fingernail.

Aside from the fact that this is incredibly painful for the cat, even with surgery, it also leaves them less agile and can lead to biting when threatened or stressed.

Measuring Antennae

Whiskers are arguably some of the most aesthetically interesting features on a cat that make them look cute or distinguished. But, a cat’s whiskers are more than just fashion statements, providing them information in a variety of situations.

For starters, cats use their whiskers to gauge how small of a space they can fit in as the whiskers are roughly as wide as their body. The stiff fibered hairs are also able to sense subtle changes in wind circulation, providing them a kind of blindsight even in total darkness.

Finally, whiskers can be used to sense the subtlest of motion, allowing them to sense prey from minute movements-- especially helpful for blind cats.

You Smell That?

We already know that many animals have an incredibly sensitive olfactory sense or sense of smell, and cats are no different. However, cats take that to a completely different level and have the ability to taste the smells in the air the same way snakes do.

Granted, cats aren’t the only animals that share this sense with snakes, but they are one of the few mammalian carnivores to do so. Their ability to “taste the air” comes from the same organ too, the Jacobson’s organ a.k.a. the vomeronasal organ, though they don’t have to stick their tongue like snakes.

While they generally use this to smell the pheromones of other cats, an astute pet owner might recognize the tell-tale curling of their lips when sniffing you.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Like other senses, a cat’s hearing is incredibly acute too, and is actually more acute than a dog’s. They can hear more than 1 ½ octaves higher than us and over 1 octave higher than a dog. As impressive as this might sound, it goes even further as cats can hear ultrasound noise like those used to in medical imaging to provide sonograms of the fetus. Of course, cats have no use for that function and instead use it to zero in on rodents and accurately gauge within 3” where their prey is from a yard away.

Music to My Ears

Purring is arguably one of the most iconic cat qualities enjoyed by fellow felines and their owners the world over. There are few things more relaxing than the rhythmic drone of a contented cat purring away while being pet.

While we tend to think of purring as a way for a cat to show that it’s happy, the sound serves other interesting purposes too. For starters, while we have a rough idea which parts of their throat cats use to generate the sound, we still don’t know exactly how they do it.

On top of that, cats purr for all sorts of reasons, one of which may be to heal themselves as purring has been shown to aid in tissue regeneration.

Playing Around

From the outside, cats might seem like sadistic little beasts the way they bat around their prey, but it serves an important function. While we might think of cats as mighty, albeit miniature, hunters, they still need to protect themselves.

Even if a cat can take down a mouse without much threat at the moment, they need to play the long game to make sure that they do so safely.

Rather than immediately go in for the kill, a cat will instead “play” with its food to tire it out so that when it does make the final strike, it doesn’t have to worry about its prey putting up a fight. This may not be as big of a deal for a house cat, but this is incredibly important for feral cats.

People

If I Feel Like It

Cats are noted for being aloof and capricious, wanting all of your love and attention one minute and completely disregarding it the next. While this may serve to increase the general popularity of dogs in comparison, it comes from the fact that humans domesticated dogs but not cats.

Part of the reason many cats often seek to escape their home, even if they might become lost in the process, is that cats domesticated themselves. Able to better fend for themselves in the wild without the aid of others, cat domestication began by hunting rodents in ancient grain storages.
This is also why it can be incredibly difficult, if not outright impossible, to train some cats.

You Don’t Want It?

More common for pet owners whose cats spend part of their time indoors and part outdoors, cats have a propensity to bring “gifts” in the form of dead animals. While it may seem gross (and can be dangerous if the kill is infected), most behaviorists agree that they do it out of love.

That said, there is still a lot of discussion about the exact reason cats do it in the first place with the anthropomorphic reasoning being that they want to make you happy or receive praise.

However, some scientists think that cats see us lowly humans as terrible hunters who need all the help we can get.

To the Last One

While it may not always be pretty, cats are famous (or infamous) for being some of the most prodigious hunters in the world. A perfect example of this is the black-footed cat which has a successful hunting rate of 60%, making them one of the most impressive non-insect hunters.

However, even the humble house cat is an efficient hunter and threatens numerous endangered animals. Granted, your housecat likely won’t make a species go extinct anytime soon, but domestic cats that live on isolated islands can drive a species from endangered to extinction.
Their killer instinct has already caused the extinction of 33 known species to date.

Itchy and Scratchy

Many people are allergic to cats and dogs, it’s not the fur that makes people allergic but the dander-- though this is further exacerbated with cats. The main reason comes from the primary allergen, a protein called Pel d1 which is secreted through the skin and saliva.

While the same protein is secreted in both animals, the molecular structure is smaller for cats which makes it more airborne. Combine that with the fact that cats lick themselves significantly more than dogs and it leads to twice as many people being allergic to cats compared to dogs.

That said, you can help prevent kids from becoming allergic by exposing them to the allergen when they’re young.

Taking the World by Storm

Bow Before Fluffy

We may fawn over our feline friends today, but that’s nothing compared to how the Egyptians and other old cultures felt about cats. However, we tend to exaggerate exactly how much Ancient Egyptians venerated cats, even if they revered them more than most.

Part of this esteem came from cats’ association with Egyptian gods and partly for the same pest-control reasons most cultures accepted them. This led to the Egyptians believing that cats were sacred, similar to how the Hindu religion has treated cows.

This exaltation supposedly led to a Persian king deploying cats as a way to stop the advance of an Egyptian army and allowed the Persians to win a decisive battle.

Witch’s Brew

Of course, not all cultures agreed with cats that they were ordained from the Heavens to act as custodians to us lowly humans/slaves. Starting in the Middle Ages, Europeans began to associate cats with witches and, thus, the Devil.

Part of this comes from the fact that cats are naturally less social, more nocturnal, and even have vertically slit pupils. It also did not help that loners tend to favor the companionship of independent and self-sufficient cats more than dogs which require far more attention and care.
Because of this, people looking for witches would often find cats living with them and conclude that the cat was their familiar.

Oh Captain, My Captain

For all of the highs and lows cats have endured throughout culture and history, few situations are as stable as ships. Since ancient times, sailors kept cats on their ships, a trend that continues to this very day.

Originally, a ship cat served the same purpose that led to their self-domestication in the first place: pest control. Ironically, this meant that ships with cats on them were less likely to suffer the plague carried to ports through the fleas on rats by ships without cats.

However, cats also provide the benefit of companionship to sailors when at sea for extended periods. Cats even served on warships during WWII.

Puss and Bootstraps

Generally, when you think of working animals, the first few that readily come to mind are the horse, dog, and the list begins to peter out after that. Given their propensity for napping all day and a general public perception of laziness, the last animal you might think of are cats.

However, cats are hard at work changing that image-- even though, as we covered, that is the reason we ended up keeping them as pets in the first place. Cats hold numerous positions from expected ones like “Chief Mouser” to less expected jobs like librarians, train station managers, and even mayor.

Totally Memeable

It’s long been a joke that the internet is little more than cats and…*ahem*, “adult content.” While we can neither confirm nor deny that latter claim, cat content drove up to 15% of all internet traffic in 2015, according to Bloomberg News.

While dogs may have a better reputation in traditional media (and even in public opinion), they fall far behind cats in social media fame. For every Doge, there are half a dozen Nyan Cats, Grumpy Cats, and now Smudges.

How many internet celebrity dogs do you know the name of? And cats? ‘Nuff said.

Conclusion

Cats are some of the most interesting animals we have the pleasure to know, and now thanks to these X fun facts about cats, you know a little bit more. Whether it’s their biology, how they interact with people, or how they’ve taken our culture by storm, cats continue to fascinate.

What interesting facts about cats that you know did we leave off our list? We’d love to hear more about these fuzzy felines in the comments below.

(P.S. Fun bonus fact: a group of cats is called a glaring which makes perfect sense if you ever stumble upon one)