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Cat's anatomy
Night vision of cats is six times greater than human beings. Cats have more nerve cells in their brain as compared to human beings and all other mammals. Cats also have about three times more rods in their eyes as compared to human beings so they can see better than human beings in dim light. Cats have Peripheral vision and binocular vision which enables it to accurately judge large distances.
In the cat's anatomy the eyes have a additional third eyelid or nictitating membrane which is a thin fleshy membrane that is usually tucked away at the inner corner of the eye. The third eyelid helps in
cleaning and protection of the eye. Cats have highly developed sense of touch. The skin of cats is covered with highly sensitive touch spots which respond to the lightest pressure. Ear of cats can rotate up to 180 degrees in order to locate and identify even the faintest of squeaks.
Cat ears have twelve muscles. Domestic cats possess some colour vision. Cats sense of hearing is one of the highest in animal kingdom. Hearing power of cats is about three times greater than human beings. Hearing power of cats is about two times greater than dogs. Cats can hear sounds of up to 65kHz.
There are more than forty thousand nerve fibres present in the auditory nerve of
the cat's anatomy as compared to human beings having about thirty thousand. Sense of smelling in cats is highly developed. Cats have fourteen times more smelling power than human beings .The cats have additional smelling organ known as jacobson's organ besides having nose.
In the upper surface of a cat's mouth lies the jacobson's organ. The sense of taste in cats is as developed as sense of smell. The taste buds are present in tongue of cats. Cats prefer salty and sour tastes more than sweetness and bitterness. The tongue of cats is covered with hook like rough protuberances or papillae, that it uses to rasp meat from bones and to groom itself.
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Only cats have true furs. Cats have undercoat fur and outer fur. The fur of cats are warm, soft, shiny, silky and of various lengths depending upon breed of cat. The cats can have up to two hundred hairs for every square millimeter on their body. There are more than hundred breed of cats. There are about forty internationally recognized breeds of cats which differs mainly in their personality, intelligence, coat colour, coat colour pattern, body size, ear size, ear shape, nose size, eye colour, tail length, tail shape, thickness of tail, fur length, face shape and eye shape.
The Persian breed of cats have longest and thickest fur. The Russian Blue cat's
coat is blue coloured. The Manx breed of cats do not have a tail. The largest breeds of domestic cat are Rag doll and Maine Coon. The Siamese breed of cats is exceptionally more vocal. The
Maine Coon breed of cats looks somewhat like a Raccoon. The American
Curl breed of cats have ears that curl away from the face.
All cats have in their anatomy a flexible spine
which gives great elasticity. The vertebrae of the spinal column are held together by muscles rather than by ligaments, the cat can elongate or contract its back, curve it forward, or oscillate it along the vertebral line. A cat uses its tail for balancing while jumping or falling. All cats have an excellent sense of balance, which enables them to leap and pounce with ease.
a Cat's feet are covered with several spongy pads of thick skin. The pads cushion the paws and enable a cat to move quietly. Cat hunts and kills birds, rats, mice, insects, rabbits, frogs, squirrels, lizards, snakes, fishes, cockroaches and other small animals. Cats are most skillful hunters.
A cat usually hunts alone. Cats also have a keen sense of balance and can easily walk along the tops of narrow fences or along narrow ledges. All
cats are excellent fisherman. Cats can be used as catchers of fish.
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Cats run faster than any other animal. A domestic cat can run at speeds of up to thirty miles per hour.
The cheetah run faster than any animal. Cheetah can run at speeds of seventy miles per hour. Cats are also excellent swimmers. Some cats can do swim for pleasure and some cats specially the tiger swim for long distances. All cats walk on the tips of their toes, not on the soles of their feet. The Giraffe and Camel are the only known animals that walk on the tips of their toes similar to cats. Cats are sleepiest. A cat
can sleeps for sixteen to eighteen hours in a day. Whiskers are sensitive to air currents. Whiskers or vibrissae are delicate sensitive organs of touch equivalent to fingertips of human beings. Whiskers may help catch reflections of sound, thus serving somewhat the same function as antennae do in other animals. Cats have about twenty four movable whiskers, twelve on either side of their nose. Small groups of whiskers are also situated on other parts of the body as well such as on the outer edges of cheeks, above the eyes and on the back of the front legs.
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