Whiskers!
Each side of a cat's face has about 12 whiskers.
I don't talk much about whiskers in my stories but whiskers are very important cat assets.
Whiskers help us see in the dark and stay clear of predators because they are a well-honed sensory tool.
We don't just have them on our face but in other places, too, like ears, jaw and forelegs.
Whiskers are very fancy sensory organs with extremely sensitive sensors at the tips. I think whiskers are why some people think cat's have ESP (extrasensory perception). Ha! We are gifted with whiskers.
I don't talk much about whiskers in my stories but whiskers are very important cat assets.
Whiskers help us see in the dark and stay clear of predators because they are a well-honed sensory tool.
We don't just have them on our face but in other places, too, like ears, jaw and forelegs.
Whiskers are very fancy sensory organs with extremely sensitive sensors at the tips. I think whiskers are why some people think cat's have ESP (extrasensory perception). Ha! We are gifted with whiskers.
Here's what Pet MD says:
Whiskers, unlike human hair, are actually touch receptors. These longer, stiffer hairs -- also called vibrissae -- are embedded more deeply in the cat’s body than the shorter top-fur coat. The vibrissae are connected securely to the sensitive muscular and nervous systems, sending information about the surroundings directly to the cat’s sensory nerves, giving it a heightened sense of feeling and helping the cat to detect and respond to changes in its surroundings - sort of like kitty radar.
A cat’s tactile hairs may be the most prominent on either side of its nose and upper facial lip. You may be also able to see shorter whiskers above each of the eyes (kind of like eyebrows). But did you know that cats also have whiskers on their jaw line and on the back of their front legs?
Cats use their whiskers in the same way that we use the touch receptors in our finger tips to feel our way around in the darkness, and to alert us to potentially painful situations.
Cats have a sensory organ at the end of their whiskers called a proprioceptor, which sends tactile signals to the brain and nervous system. The proprioceptor is related to the position of the body and limbs, an important part of knowing where every part of the body is so that decisions can be made for the next immediate movement. This organ makes the cat’s whiskers very sensitive to even the smallest change in the cat’s environment. A cat’s whiskers not only help it to gauge whether it can fit into a tight space (without even being able to see it), they can even respond to vibrations in the air, such as when the cat is chasing prey.
Whiskers also serve as a way for cats to visually measure distance, which is why they are able to leap so quickly and gracefully onto a narrow ledge or out of harm’s way.
#cats
#catwhiskers
No comments:
Post a Comment