20 Interesting Facts About Cats
Cats are one of the most loved pets all around the world. Known for their unique and distant behaviour, they are the perfect companions for many. Here are the top 20 interesting facts about cats which you probably didn’t know.
Fact 1 of 20
Interesting Cat Facts:
Cats have brilliant night vision enabling them to see objects in 6 times dimmer light than humans.
Tell me more
A cat's eye has a reflective layer behind the retina called the tapetum lucidum, which bounces light back through the light-sensing cells for a second pass. That is also why cat eyes flare green or gold in a photograph — you are seeing the flash come back out.
The trade-off is colour and detail: cats have far fewer cone cells than we do, so the world they see at noon is duller and blurrier than ours.
On average cats spend 2/3rd of their day sleeping.
Cat kidneys are so efficient they are able to rehydrate by drinking seawater.
Cats can’t taste sweet things.
Tell me more
Cats carry a broken copy of Tas1r2, one of the two genes needed to build a working sweet-taste receptor. Every cat species tested so far — lions and tigers included — has the same defect, which suggests it happened early in the family's history.
It makes evolutionary sense. Cats are obligate carnivores, and there is not much sugar in a mouse.
Cats can fit into any opening of the size of their head because they don’t have a collarbone.
Cats can’t chew large chunks of food because their jaws are unable to move sideways.
Cats can’t eat large chunks of food since their jaws can’t move sideways.
In China, more than 4 million cats are eaten every year.
The ‘Cat Flap’ in doors was invented by Isaac Newton.
Tell me more
The story goes that Newton, working in a darkened room on his optics experiments, kept being interrupted by a cat scratching at the door, so he had a carpenter cut a hole in it — then a second, smaller hole for her kittens.
Historians are sceptical. The tale first appears more than a century after his death, and doors with holes cut for cats were already common in England. Newton may have popularised the flap, but he almost certainly did not invent it.
Cats make around 100 different noises, while dogs only make 10.
Kittens. Photo by Jan Mallander on Pixabay. Black cats are considered to bring good luck in Japan.
A cat called “Dusty” from Texas, USA produced 420 kittens during her breeding life, a world record.
Just like each human being has a unique fingerprint, each cat has a unique nose print.
Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats.
There are more than 500 million domestic cats around the globe, from around 40 known species.
In Ancient Egypt, killing a cat, even by accident, resulted in a death penalty.
Cats can get sick or die from eating chocolate.
Cats can attain a maximum speed of about 50 km/h over a short distance.
A cat’s heart beats nearly twice as fast as a human heart, beating 110-140 times a minute.
