Five Surprising Cat Facts

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Ever looked at your cat and wondered if there’s more to him/her? Well, there is. Actually, there is a lot more to our furry little friends that we just don’t know about yet.Here’s a list of 5 things that you probably didn’t about your cat or cats in general.

Have you ever looked at your cat drink water? It might appear that he/she is just lapping it all up. Actually, the process is a bit more complicated than just that. A slow-motion video captured by an engineer from MIT shows a cat’s tongue breaking the water surface and pushing up some water into the mouth. This water then is caught by the cat’s tongue before it can fall down. The process is so fast that the human eye usually misses it. The unique process is now being studied to understand its implications in designing robots.

A cat’s spine comes with a particular section that is known to have more bones than what the same section in a human spine does. The bones are known as thoracic and lumbar vertebrae and a cat has 20 of them, while humans have just 17 of them.Why is this so special? Well, these extra set of bones are exactly what allow cats to be more flexible and capable in terms of leaping and acceleration. In case you didn’t know, cats can travel at speeds of 30kmph while running short distances. Of course, we all know how high they can jump. All this, thanks to those extra set of vertebrae.

Calico cats are particolored and due to the fact that coat colour determination is associated with the X chromosome, most of them tend to be female. This has led to the belief that all calico cats are female, which is true to a certain extent. However, there are exceptions. Due to a genetic oddity called “Klinefelter Syndrome”, where a male animal has an extra X chromosome, there is a 1 in 3000 chance that a calico cat can be born a male. The extra X chromosome plays a role in creating the signature calico coat pattern.

Because of male cats having barbed penises, sex isn’t a pleasurable thing for female cats. It’s also the same reason why male cats often get swiped by the females. In a way, they both experience some level of pain trying to mate. The pain helps the female cat release a hormone that helps with the ripening process of her eggs. The scenario is the same for the entire feline species.

Eye colour is determined by a substance known as melanin and kittens usually don’t have proper melanin production. Till the melanin production reaches normal levels, the eye colour in kittens remains a light blue.