Physical Characteristics of Cats

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Cats have 32 muscles that control the outer ear (compared to human's 6 muscles each). Cat’s hearing is much more sensitive than humans' and dogs'. They can move their ears like radar dishes, pinpoint the source, rotate them independently 180 degrees, and turn in the direction of sound 10 times faster than those of the best watchdog.

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Ears

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In relation to their body size, cats have the largest eyes of any mammal. Most cats do not have eyelashes. They see about 6 times better than a human at night and need 1/6 the amount of light that a human does due to a layer of extra reflecting cells that absorb light.

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Eyes

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A cat has 250 bones in his body, compared to 206 in our bodies. Think about how much bigger you are than your cat, and you'll understand why cats have a lot more places where they can bend and twist than we do.

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Body

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Cats have five toes on each front paw, but only four toes on each back paw. They have true fur, in that they have both an undercoat and an outer coat. Of all the parts of the body, the cat's paws have the most sensitive touch receptors.

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Paws

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Cat's claws are one of their most important features. They use the claws for climbing, playing, and of course, also for hunting. These claws have a very important role in felines' social behavior.

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Claws

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Cats have twice as many smell-sensitive cells in their noses as we do, which means they can smell things we are not even aware of. In addition to using their noses, cats can smell with Jacobson's organ, located on the upper surface of the mouth.

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Nose

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The cat's canine teeth (the long fangs) sit in beds of sensitive tissue. A cat adjusts her grip on her prey until she feels a tiny depression in the neck, just behind the skull. The canine teeth are designed to fit perfectly into this depression, so the cat can sever her prey’s spine with one quick bite.

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Teeth

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The gene in cats that causes the orange coat color is sexed linked and is on the X sex chromosome. This gene may display orange or black. Thus, a female cat with two X chromosomes may have orange and black colors in its coat.

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Coat

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They can compress or elongate their spine, making them smaller to sleep in snuggly places or longer to leap across wide-open spaces.

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Other characteristics

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Law of Cat Inertia - A cat at rest will tend to remain at rest, unless acted upon by some outside force, such as the opening of cat food, or a nearby scurrying mouse.

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Cat Physics

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