Interesting facts about cats - the most popular short unusual articles about wild animals, stories about the Pallas's cat and photos of the Hermitage cats

A little history, interesting biographies

Today, domestic kitties have a longer lifespan than before. In the 1930s, cats lived an average of 8 years. Now this period has doubled. The longest lifespan recorded is 36 years.

Cats have their own holiday - August 8th.

Two curious diseases are associated with an indifferent attitude towards kitties: the first is called ailurophilia (pathological attachment) and the second is ailurophobia (unaccountable horror).

Worship of cats, terrible incidents, secrets. In Ancient Egypt, the death of a cat required the owner to shave his eyebrows as a sign of mourning. Animals were sacred and protected by law. Knowing this attitude, the ancient Syrians tied animals to shields during battles with the Egyptians. The Egyptians preferred to die rather than harm furry creatures.

When did they appear? The first ancestor of cats (Provilurus) lived on Earth 30 million years ago.

Cats appeared in China more than 5.3 thousand years ago and were domesticated, according to scientists who examined the remains of 2 ancient Chinese cats.

Today there are approximately 600 million domestic cats living on Earth. Australia has the most fluffies (top): there are 9 cats for every 10 Australians. Indonesia shelters 30 million cats, France - 8 million. There are countries where seals are practically never found (Peru, Gabon).

It costs Americans the most to keep pets: $4 billion annually. US residents spend $1 billion less on infants! Such expenses are increasingly leading to obesity in pets. The largest of the cats weighed more than 20 kg (a cat from Connecticut named Spice).

The smallest adult cat weighed 0.68 kg and was 7 cm high.

Each village pussy that hunts mice saves its owners 10 tons of grain annually. Residents of Austria pay valuable employees for this, so to speak, a pension in the form of enhanced nutrition.

Cats recognize odors even better than dogs. Thanks to this quality, purrs were enlisted in the British army to warn of gas attacks.

The Japanese city of Kagoshima is famous for its cat temple. The military leader who ordered the construction of the structure achieved military success thanks to seven kitties that worked instead of clocks: the furry pupils dilated or contracted depending on the time of day.

The sounds made by pussies include not only meowing and hissing, but also coughing and grunting. A biologist from France has found that a cat, in theory, can pronounce the consonants M, N, F, V, R, H, G.

The American town of Little Rock is known as the site of cat racing. The winner of the 150-meter race is awarded a cash prize of $2,000.

Tomasso the cat wouldn't run away for a measly two thousand - after the death of his owner, this pet received an inheritance of $13 million. The heiress of fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld could compete with such a rich man. This pussy Choupette of the Burmese breed came into the rights of part of the owner's inheritance, which was estimated at 200 million dollars.

Cat Choupette

Long-living Alaskan cat Stubbs has been elected mayor of his community.

Bill Clinton's favorite pet Sox received more correspondence than the owner of the White House. In Great Britain, the thunder of mice Wilberforce, who was in the civil service under the Cabinet of Ministers, enjoyed similar popularity. The furry beast, which survived four prime ministers, was a particular favorite of Margaret Thatcher. Another historical figure who loved kitties is Abraham Lincoln. This president had four furry pets living with him inside the White House.

The Argentine pussy Mincho lived for six years without leaving the tree. During this time, Mincho became a mother three times and raised kittens right on the branches.

European purrs experienced their worst times during the Inquisition, when the church declared cats to be messengers from the underworld. After the destruction of thousands of innocent animals, a plague epidemic broke out, the carriers of which were rats.

The Muslim religion places kitties above other animals and allows purrs to enter the mosque without hindrance.

The oldest of the cat breeds is called Mau. Among our contemporaries, the most popular are Persians, Siamese and representatives of the Maine Coon breed.

Twenty-five years ago, a green kitten was born in Denmark. Some researchers believe that the reason for this coloration was the high percentage of copper in home water pipes.

Egyptian Mau

The white fur of Thai cats irreversibly turns black from the cold.

Thai cats are the ancestors of the Siamese. This incredibly beautiful and energetic animal was considered sacred and for a long time lived exclusively in the temples and royal palaces of Thailand (Siam).

In addition to delightful blue eyes, these animals had another highlight - thick snow-white fur, which turns black when exposed to cold. The reason for this reincarnation has nothing to do with the miracle.

The hormone melanin is responsible for the color of hair and skin in the body of mammals; in most animals it is produced in a certain amount evenly throughout life. However, Thai cats have a certain “failure” in the system for producing this hormone.

Their skin practically does not produce it in warm conditions, but at low temperatures the production of this hormone increases. The resulting dark color remains forever and does not lighten back.

Incredible abilities, mystical stories

The process of a cat falling always occurs the same way: the animal sequentially straightens its head, then its back, legs, and finally bends its back to soften the impact on the ground.

Mysticism or unusual abilities. Many cat owners have noticed medicinal properties in their pets. There is even scientific feline therapy - an area of traditional medicine that uses contacts with representatives of the cat family for therapy and prevention. It has been noted that the average owner of furry pets suffers from heart attacks and strokes three times less often than other people. Psychics claim that purrs have the gift of harmonizing a person’s aura.

The height of a cat's jump is five times the height of the animal.

Thanks to the hunting instincts of pussies, 33 species of birds and rodents have disappeared from the face of the Earth.

The Catholic religion attributed kitties to kinship with evil spirits. In our country, a cat was considered a symbol of prosperity and a valuable gift.

The cat is the only animal that is not mentioned in the Bible. Nobody knows why.

Biologists have proven that cats react to seismic activity.

In fairy tales and legends, cats are often endowed with paranormal abilities. Every furry owner has noticed the detached gaze of a pet, looking into the distance and following something, someone invisible to humans. Part of the mystery of the cat's appearance is its habit of sleeping during the day and hunting at night. But how else can you catch a mouse?

There are sinister superstitions that cats can steal a person's breath in their sleep. Such prejudices are rooted in the Middle Ages, when people tended to see magic in any creatures and events.

The cat calmly washes itself on a sunny day, and in anticipation of bad weather, curls up to keep warm. Restless behavior of a pet means bad weather, peaceful sleep means warm days.

Thanks to their sensitivity to ultrasound, cats can hear conversations between dolphins and domestic rodents.

The famous physicist Nikola Tesla decided to study electricity after receiving an electric shock from a cat.

Apart from a cat, not a single animal can survive falling from a height of nine floors. A cat named Andy broke this record by surviving a fall from 16 floors.

According to beliefs in Britain and Australia, the black kitty brings success.

Cats have a third eyelid that becomes visible only when the pet is sick.

According to Japanese beliefs, after death a purr becomes a spirit.

If a cat makes funny ke-ke-kat noises and clatters its teeth, it’s most likely swearing.

You've probably heard in surprise more than once the funny sounds that a furry pet makes when it sees prey that is inaccessible to it. Some experts compare these sounds with... swearing.

Yes, cats can swear when they despair of the impudence of sparrows or other living creatures outside the window, which are now impossible to attack.

Typically, this behavior occurs when there is an insurmountable obstacle between potential prey, such as glass or a large distance.

Cool, funny messages about cats

The gait of furry creatures has a peculiarity: at the same time the right legs go forward, then the hind legs. This gait (amble) is characteristic only of giraffes, camels and representatives of the cat family.

Apart from seals, no other animals have mastered the art of walking on the tips of their claws.

The Turkish Van is the only breed with a love of swimming.

To transport an unruly pet, it is convenient to use the “neck effect”.

Many animals have a tendency to steal. An object that looks or smells like prey will definitely be stolen.

Pussies secrete sweat through their palms.

The milky step of kittens - stimulation of milk from the mother, if it tramples the owner - means trust. Adult cats can also calm themselves in stressful situations or when sick.

The number of sounds (according to scientific texts) made by furry cats exceeds a hundred. Compared to dogs, this is ten times more. The overwhelming majority of interjections are intended for the owners.

Wagging your tail means you need to make a choice. For example: there is a bowl of food and a dog blocking the road. As soon as the animal decides on its priority (hunger or fear), the tail will stop wobbling and the animal will begin to implement the plan.

Sumatran cat steals sweet potatoes from people

At first glance, Sumatran cats are unremarkable - camouflage color, small size. But the eyes... They are so huge, piercing to the depths of the soul, that one immediately remembers the character from the cartoon about Shrek.

However, Sumatran cats are known not so much for their big eyes as for their incredible love for yam - sweet potatoes. They often visit plantations, leaving behind dug-up, empty beds.

Sweet potato and the inhabitants of reservoirs are the most favorite diet of the Sumatrans.

Instincts of wild cats - interesting facts

The hunter kitty is capable of keeping watch in front of several rodent burrows at once. The purr's field of vision is 150% greater than that of a human and is 187°.

Domestic kitties, like their wild relatives, prefer to sleep at altitude.

In case of an unexpected fall, the inner ear helps the cat to orient itself and fall on its paws. The mechanical “rudder” at the moment of a sharp loss of altitude is the tail. A tenth of all bones are concentrated in this part of the body.

Most cats are not prone to stirring up conflicts. Having marked the territory, purrs do not attack, but protect their zone of influence. Fighting cats finish the fight very quickly, using their fangs. Wild animals bring this process to perfection by biting the opponent's neck.

Of all the cats, only the cheetah has not learned to retract its claws. But this wild kitty can accelerate to 110 km/h, which is much faster than the speed of a horse.

Among wild cats, only lions live in communities (prides).

The ability to lift the tail vertically upward is characteristic only of domestic kitties.

Albinos are rare among cats. The most famous white animals are Bengal tigers.

All members of the family love meat. The only vegetarian is a wild cat from the island of Sumatra, which prefers fruit.

Ancient lions coexisted peacefully with penguins

More than 300 thousand years ago this was the case. American lions were widespread. This is how these unusual neighbors lived on the territory of the South American continent.

In its southernmost part, huge four-hundred-kilogram predators coexisted peacefully with clumsy and funny penguins.

Of course, now it’s difficult to see this with your own eyes, although there are stories from polar explorers about giant powerful cats that are found in the extreme weather conditions of the far north and south. These animals have been little studied, but do not cause much surprise among biologists.

Manul

This wild inhabitant of the Caspian plains has been known to science since 1782. The Pallas's cat is a high-altitude cat with the densest fur (hair density is 9 thousand/cm2. Thanks to the fur coat, the Pallas's cat can withstand frosts down to -50 Celsius. The savage feeds on a variety of rodents, including hares. In terms of behavior, the animal is not aggressive and is rarely the first to get into a fight, however, it can give an answer to any offender.

Pallas' cats live in rocky crevices or burrows, adhere to a sedentary lifestyle and are perfectly camouflaged in the steppe thanks to their spotted color.

Although the manul's parameters are similar to an ordinary domestic cat, the physiology of this animal is different:

Pallas cats are more vulnerable to infections because the immune system of these animals has not experienced contact with viruses and bacteria.
The pupils of the Pallas's cat always maintain a rounded shape, without turning into slits.
Once in captivity, the Pallas's cat refuses to reproduce.
A female Pallas's cat gives birth once a year.

Cats' "madness" from the smell of catnip has helped them ward off insects in the past.

When I planted catnip to repel mosquitoes.
Catnip is a plant that drives both domestic and wild cats crazy. It was noted that the effect does not occur through the sense of smell, but through opioid receptors with the help of a pheromone - nepetalactone.

This substance is known to repel insects. Studies have shown that cats exposed to catnip have half the number of insects.

Thus, the incredible love for this plant is explained by the natural mechanism of fighting mosquitoes, fleas and other parasites.

Facts from physiology and anatomy

Cats have 24 more bones than the structure of the human skeleton and amount to 230 pieces. There are no collarbones, which allows kitties to transform their bodies and fit into narrow holes (the size of their heads).

A person should learn acrobatics from fluffies, since the animals can twist their front legs in all directions and rotate the halves of their body in different directions. The ears rotate 180°.

The front legs have 5 toes, and the hind legs have 4.

Pussies easily recognize ultrasonic vibrations. This is how these hunters “figure out” mice by eavesdropping on the rodents’ conversations.

For orientation in space, special hairs located on the head and front legs are used.

The ratio of eyes to weight in cats is the highest possible in nature. If the proportions were increased to human size, the diameter of the kitty's eyes would reach 4 cm.

The ability to night vision is achieved thanks to the reflective surface inside the eyes. Because of this, at night it seems that the animal’s eyes emit light, visible at a distance of 80 m.

With a wide view over long distances, the kitty almost cannot see close to its own nose.

There are no eyelashes on a cat's eyes, and the nose has 4 times more olfactory cells than a human. The range of smells that the animal’s brain distinguishes allows it to distinguish people from each other, identify familiar places and find a female ready for estrus.

Normal physiological characteristics:

temperature 38⁰ - 39⁰;
pulse 110-170 beats;
breathing 20-40 breaths in 60 s.

The imprint of a cat's nose has a unique pattern.

To look at the world through the eyes of a furry pet, scientists deciphered the image that appears in the animal's brain. The picture turned out blurry, but with good resolution for human faces or objects.

When pussies breathe, they saturate the air with negatively charged ions that are beneficial to humans.

Genetic analysis made it possible to identify 19 chromosome pairs and 50,000 genes. The gene that determines black or red color is sex-linked and is part of one of the X chromosomes. Therefore, a female (XX) can have black and red colors at the same time, and a male (XY) can have only one of these tones.

Photo - Egyptian cat mummy

Kittens are born with closed organs of vision and hearing. Newly opened eyes always have a blue color, which may change with age. Milk teeth erupt 10-30 days after birth and are replaced by permanent teeth before the age of 10 months. There are 30 teeth in total.

A kitten's forelimbs develop faster than their hind limbs. Because of this unevenness in childhood, the movements of a kitten’s paws are poorly connected to each other.

The number of whiskers (vibrissae) is 12 on each side. At their base, the antennae have many nerve endings, which allows them to extract maximum information about the surrounding world.

Milk does kitties more harm than good, since lactose is not absorbed in the body. They cannot taste the sweet taste of pussy; feeding the animal candy is useless.

The rough cat tongue is convenient as a comb or for cutting meat products.

The first pregnancy can occur at 4 months. A litter may have kittens from different fathers.

Cat parasites make people better businessmen

Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by single-celled parasites. They infect more than a quarter of the world's population. Most often, the parasite enters the body after a person touches cat feces. Protozoa also live in rodents.

Infected rodents have been observed to behave atypically. They boldly walk towards the cat, rather than run away from it. Further research allowed us to draw a parallel with a person’s ability to take risks.

As a result of the experiment, which involved one and a half thousand students, it was revealed that people infected with toxoplasmosis are 1.4 times more willing to open their own business, take risks more often, and therefore achieve greater success.

Useful facts you need to know

Only a third of a purr's life is awake. Half of your life is occupied by shallow sleep, the rest by deep sleep.

Licking serves animals not only for cleanliness, but also to maintain normal psyche. Vitamin B, licked from the fur, helps.

Eating a mouse is good for your cat's health and shiny fur.

Loud music depresses the animal's psyche. The low range of sound frequencies is inaccessible to cat ears.

Pussies are 14 times more sensitive to smell than humans.

Your pet's quivering ears indicate a state of nervous excitement. Ears pressed down are a signal for defense, and shifted horizontally for the start of an attack.

A mustache pointing forward is a sign of interest; a mustache pointing back is a sign of fear.

Cats are usually right-handed, and kitties are usually left-handed.

If a kitty plays with its claws, hiding and releasing, this means satisfaction and peace.

Drawings of sleeping cat poses to predict the weather

A unique gene breakdown turns a cat into a “sheep”

Rex is not a dog name at all, but a general name for unique breeds, the representatives of which are distinguished by curly wool like a sheep. The cute, soft curls are the result of a Rex mutation that breaks the gene responsible for straight hair.

In such cats, not only the coat can become curly, but also the mustache and eyebrows. Such a natural, random mutation was so popular that breeders consolidated it, creating several breeds.

German Rexes have short hair, while Czech Rexes have long hair. There are also Ural rexes bred from an ordinary yard cat.

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In Belgium, they tried to make postmen out of domestic cats

People don't just have cats as companions. Skilled mousetraps were often hired and even paid. For example, in the late 60s of the 19th century, three cats worked in the London post office.

In Belgium they decided to adopt the experience of their London colleagues and go further, using cats as postmen. An experiment was conducted in which almost 40 animals participated. Each was given a waterproof bag with correspondence and released into a field far outside the city.

The first cat came running to the specified address after 5 hours, but the rest took more than a day. Despite the fact that the experiment was successful - all the cats reached their destination, Belgian postal workers refused to develop this topic further. Cats could not replace human labor.

A study has shown that cats love to sit not only in real, but also in imaginary boxes.

You've probably noticed more than once how much your furry pet loves to sit in a cardboard box. If there is a box on the floor, the cat will definitely be inside it. Scientists still cannot explain exactly why the animal loves to be inside an empty package.

Perhaps a cramped space gives a feeling of comfort and security. However, it has been noticed that cats prefer to be even in imitation boxes.

If you put a piece of paper on the floor or mark a rectangle with lines, there is a high probability that this particular place will attract the fluffy one.

An experiment was conducted in which 500 cats took part. Each of them showed such an attachment to rectangles.