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Better knowledge of the CAT

 

Predator twilight (sunset and sunrise) originally, the cat has highly developed senses. He perceives his world differently from humans, and even lent him supernatural powers. There are so many legends of cats having predicted earthquakes or other disasters.

 

What is a cat ?

 

The domestic cat is a carnivorous mammal of the cat family.

The cat is a territorial animal. This means that the preservation of its place of life is the main driver of its interactions with other individuals. When several cats share the same apartment, it is not unusual to see everyone choose his own "way" to get from one place to another; They thus share their territory.

The cat is not a strictly solitary animal, depending on the space and resources, cats form different spatial and social structures. This will solitary cats in rural areas with large and dense urban groups. It is shown that these different spatial and social organizations trained various mating systems (matching pair, per couple) in rural areas, the system is polygynous (one male for several females), while in urban areas it is difficult for dominant males monopolize several females. Because of their strong cohesion, different cats voisinant groups tend to become distant and genetically the same research showed a significant deficit in heterozygotes (individual contains two different genes).

The "allogrooming" (action to lick each other) is reserved for cats who know and appreciate. They lick each other to exchange their smell. When they get along, happy adult cats sleeping together, pressed against each other as when they were kittens. A way to get another heat and security. Sleeping together, the cats also exchange their smell.

 

Les 5 senses

 

What are the SENSES of a cat ?
 

 

THE HEARING
 

His hearing is particularly sensitive in the high frequencies. Perceives ultrasound to 50,000 Hz while the human ear is limited to 15 000Hz his horn Horn can be rotated through twenty-seven muscles, which he lets you rotate each ear independently to pinpoint the source of a noise and distance.
Deafness of white cats being debated today. 60 to 80% of white cats with blue eyes are deaf. This deafness is linked to the white (gene "W"). Schematically, we can say that all white cats are genetically deaf in general. This anomaly, although present at the genetic level is not always expressed in all cats. Thus, whether the defect is hidden and the ear develops normally, is the tare occurs and in this case the degeneration is complete: the cat is totally deaf to the affected ear. Knowing that a cat has two ears and that the anomaly does not always affect both ears in the same way, three cases: deafness is bilateral, unilateral or absent.
It is indeed demonstrated that the W allele, originally of the color "white dominant", is directly responsible for degeneration of the inner ear, resulting deafness. The kitten is born normal but around the age of one week, his inner ear, instead of continuing to grow undergoes progressive deterioration. Degeneration is usually complete in three weeks.

   
VIEW
 

The view is its primary meaning. Its field of view is wider than human: 187 ° against 125 °, which remains far from the absolute record of the animal world.
Light intensity influences the shape of the pupil: elongated narrow slit in bright light, it expands into a perfect circle in the dark. Contrary to popular belief, he is unable to see in complete darkness. However, it is much more powerful than the human eye in the dark. At night, the bright eye appearance is due to a layer of cells in the retina called the tapetum lucidum, which acts as a mirror and returns the perceived light, which is passed a second time in the retina and thus multiplies by two his eyesight in the dark.
However, it seems (this is still debated) that the cat does not perceive the color red and that, in general, it differs very little detail. His vision is grainy on still images while a moving object appears more clearly to him (eg prey movement).
A peculiarity of the cat's eye is in addition to the lower and upper eyelids, it is protected by a third eyelid, third eyelid. It closes from the bottom edge of the inner corner of the eye outward. When she is not completely closed, it is often a sign of a health problem in cats (digestive disorders, parasites often or enteritis). Cats can have eyes of different colors like blue, green, yellow, brown ...

   
SMELL
 

The sense of smell is of great importance in the social life of the cat to mark its territory. Moreover, it is his sense of smell that enables it to detect rotten food and poison. It has two hundred million olfactory terminals, against five million to humans.

   
TASTE
 

The sense of taste is developed in cats less than men, however: in the adult cat, there are 250 taste buds with 40 to 40,000 taste buds. Unlike the dog, the gustatory sense of the chat is located at the tip of the tongue, allowing him to taste without swallowing. It is sensitive to bitter, acid and salty, not sweet.

   
TOUCH
 
His sense of touch is also well developed. His whiskers (whiskers, but there are also the legs, under the chin, eyebrows) show him the proximity of obstacles, even in total darkness, allowing it to detect air pressure changes. They also allow it to measure the width of a passage. It is important not to cut because the cat would be destabilized. The pads filling his paws are very sensitive to vibrations and his skin is studded with highly sensitive tactile cells.
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WebMaster & CatLover : jean-luc roffredo

contact : jeanluc.roffredo@feline-world.eu