All cats, big and small, utilize their five senses to help navigate the world around them. Sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch are all integral parts of a cat’s toolkit.
Touch
Cats don’t touch or feel things in the same ways that we do. Whiskers are a key component to any cat. Whiskers are deeply embedded in a cat’s body, more than normal fur hair. They’re connected to the muscular and nervous system, which allows them to gain sensory information about the things around them. Whiskers are a cat’s main way of detecting close objects, as a cats eyesight is poor up close. Even though they see much better than us at night, the whiskers also help them sense their surroundings in the dark. Not only do they use their whiskers, but their paws, nose, and mouth are going to allow them to feel as well.
Sight
Cats can use their sense of sight to experience the world around them. They are phenomenal at detecting movements and details in low light conditions, and they actually have 6x better night vision than we humans do! This is especially important as cats are crepuscular creatures, hunting more at dawn and dusk, so they need to be able to get around at night! Cat’s eyes also have a reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum, which catches light and sends it back to the retina. This is why cats’ eyes appear to glow in the dark! Cats also have a wider field of vision than humans, allowing them to see more around them at one time than we can. This peripheral vision keeps them aware and safe when focused on an object in front of them. Their movement detection is also far better than ours. There’s a difference between the pupils of big and small cats though. You might have noticed that house cats have vertical slit pupils that expand and contract with light, but big cats have more rounded pupils like we do. Research indicates that this has to do with their distance to the ground. Slit pupils seem to be more helpful in animals that are closer to the ground. Additionally, cats don’t have the same number of color receptors as us humans, and therefore have a harder time discerning certain colors.
Sound
Cats utilize their ears as crucial sensory organs to navigate their surroundings, detect prey, and avoid threats. Cats’ ears are finely tuned to detect and localize sounds from various directions. They have the ability to rotate their ears 180 degrees and move them independently from each other, so they can find the source of a sound accurately and quickly. Cats can also detect a wide range of frequencies that we might not be able to.
Smell
Both big and small cats rely heavily on their sense of smell. Cats are territorial animals, so they use scent marking as a way to establish and maintain territory. They have scent glands located on various parts of their bodies, like the head and face, paws, and tails, which they use to deposit scent marks on objects within their territory. They leave behind pheromones to communicate information to other cats in the area, like their reproductive status and territory. Cats will then investigate these smells using a special organ in their mouths. This works kind of like a second nose, but it’s able to provide them far more sensory information. Cats will detect pheromones using something called the Flehmen response. They will make a very funny face, which involves lifting their head up, scrunching up their nose, and sticking their tongue out. This is the same in all cats and can last thirty seconds or longer. During the Flehmen response, pheromones are able to travel to the Jacobson’s organ.
Taste
Big cats aren’t really known for their sense of taste. They can certainly taste things, but they’re not even close to tasting what humans can. We have about 9,000 taste buds, whereas cats have around 500. With cats being obligate carnivores, they have to eat meat to survive, and with meat being their main dietary source, they have no need for a sweet gene. Most experts believe cats can’t taste sweetness. But they can detect bitter tastes. Bitter things in the wild are likely to be poisonous. So cats have those bitter receptors to make sure they don’t ingest something dangerous.
Come out to Turpentine Creek to observe our animals using their five senses!