I had long been convinced that cats are extraordinary animals. And this is also true if we look at their physical abilities. Some, compared to ours, are absolutely “superhuman”. In many areas, our feline companions far surpass us.
Here are 5 things cats do perfectly… And scratching the furniture is not one of them!
SEE IN THE DARK
In terms of vision, cats perceive colors less well than we do (their world has pastel tones) and their eyesight is not as sharp. On the other hand, they have a much wider field of vision: 260° (200° plus 30° of peripheral vision on each side) against 220° for humans (180° plus twice 20°). Cats also surpass us especially in terms of night vision: they see 6 to 8 times better in the dark! Are you curious to know how your cat sees? The artist Nickolay Lamm has made a series of photos recreating feline vision. Surprising !
JUMP (VERY) HIGH
Agile and light, the cat easily leaps up to 1m50 or 5 to 6 times its height! His abilities are just as impressive in long jump. In addition to its powerful muscles, it has a series of “equipment” particularly useful for this exercise: a tail used as a pendulum, soft pads to cushion the landing and a very effective inner ear that allows it to restore its balance in a fraction of a second.
PERCEIVE ODORS
If the cat perceives tastes less well than we do, its sense of smell is on the other hand much more developed than that of the best perfumers. No wonder: it has more than 20 million olfactory terminals, compared to “only” 5 million olfactory cells in humans, which allows it to perceive smells 50 to 70 times better than we do. Thanks to a special organ (the flehmen or Jacobson’s organ), located in the roof of the palate, it can also “taste” smells and identify the pheromones present in the air.
PERCEIVE SOUNDS
Cats may not necessarily have a musical ear, but their hearing is much more acute than ours. They perceive a much wider range of sounds, especially at low intensity. While the human ear is limited to frequencies of 20,000 Hz, the cat’s ear can hear up to 50,000 Hz. An additional advantage of cats: their horn ears that they can rotate independently of each other to precisely locate the source of the sounds and their distance.
RUN (VERY) FAST
Your cat is able to perform a 100 meter run in 9 seconds! He is indeed a very good sprinter, who runs on average at 40 km/h and can perform peaks up to 50 km/h (among men, the world record held by Usain Bolt is 44Km/h…). However, he is not an endurance runner, being able to keep up the effort over long distances, because he gets tired quickly.
That’s all for the moment! I hope you enjoyed this article, and above all, that it has entertained you! See you soon!
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