By: Aazdak Alisimo
Cats are oh so cute, but there is a definite dark side to your little fur ball. This dark side also explains how its senses have evolved over time. Simply put, your kitten is a predator. Its senses are all tailored to help it catch its prey.
Vision is the first and foremost sense for your predatory fur ball. Simply put, it has excellent night vision to support its ability to hunt mice, rodents and elephants at night. During the day, that same vision is a hinderance as their vision is worse than ours.
To pull this increased vision off during the night, cats have an organic element of their eyes that reflects more light to the iris. This is known as the tapetum lucidum and you have seen it. It is the colored reflection you see in photographs of cats.
Ah, but what about hearing. Cats have absolutely tremendous hearing, right? Yes and no. They can hear much better than us when it comes to high pitches, but about the same as us on the lower pitches.
Once area where there is no disputing our feline friends have superior senses is smell. We might as well not have noses when discussing any comparison. A cat can smell 14 times as well as we can.
Whiskers are the key to the sense of touch for a cat. Everyone knows they have them on their face, but they also have them on the bottom of their chin, the back of their ankles and the elbows of their legs.
Whisker use depends on the breed, but all are used to sense touch and provide input to the brain. Brain activity studies show that the sensation sent by the whiskers are processed much like sight, meaning cats can be said to visualize images with their whiskers.
Turning to taste, we find something very odd about cats. They have problems tasting sugars for genetic reasons. Scientists believe this is why most cat breeds ignore potential plant food and prefer meat that they can taste.
As you can see, your cat not only thinks it is smarter than you, but it definitely has enhanced senses. Whether that leads to greater intelligence is hard to say, but it certainly food for thought. Just not sugary food.
Article Source: http://www.articleselections.com
Aazdak Alisimo provides cat information along with other pet info at PetStoreYeti.com.
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