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The Domestic Cat (Felis catus)
A cat preys on a mouse
Although cats are regarded as one of the cuddliest pets in the world, they are also known as one of the most vicious hunters in the carnivorous world.
And it is through its former mentioned trait that this small predatory carnivorous species of animal is distinguished from other felines.
They are very much valued by humans for their companionship and their ability to hunt vermin, snakes and scorpions. In this regard, they have been associated with humans for at least 9,500 years.
Cats’ night vision is said to be superior to humans although their vision in daylight is inferior. Cat eyes have a tapetum lucidum and cat eyes that are blue typically lack melanin and hence can show the red-eye effect.
Humans and cats have a similar range of hearing on the low end of the scale, but cats can hear much higher-pitched sounds, up to 64 kHz, which is 1.6 octaves above the range of a human, and even one octave above the range of a dog.
A domestic cat’s sense of smell is about fourteen times as strong as a human’s. Indeed they have been considered skilled predators since they are able to hunt over 1,000 species for food. And they have highly specialised teeth for the killing of prey and the tearing of meat.
The premolar and first molar together compose the carnassial pair on each side of the mouth, which efficiently functions to shear meat like a pair of scissors. While this is present in canids, it is highly developed in felines. The cat’s tongue has sharp spines, or papillae, useful for retaining and ripping flesh from a carcass.
Much like their big cat relatives, domestic and feral cats are very effective predators. Domestic felines ambush or pounce upon and immobilize vertebrate prey using tactics similar to those of leopards and tigers. Having overpowered such prey, a cat delivers a lethal neck bite with its long canine teeth that either severs the prey’s spinal cord with irreversible paralysis to prey, causes fatal bleeding by puncturing the carotid artery or the jugular vein, or asphyxiates the prey by crushing its trachea.
One poorly understood element of cat hunting behaviour is the presentation of prey to human owners.
Ethologist Paul Leyhausen proposed that cats adopt humans into their social group, and share excess kill with others in the group according to the local pecking order, in which humans are placed at or near the top. However, anthropologist and animal scientist Desmond Morris in his 1986 book, Catwatching, suggests that when cats bring home mice or birds they have caught, they are teaching their human to hunt, or helping their human as if feeding “an elderly, inept kitten.”
Another possibility is that presenting the kill might be a relic of a kitten’s behaviour of demonstrating for its mother’s approval that it has developed the necessary skill for hunting. Indoor cats will often retain their hunting instinct and deliver small household items to their owners, such as watches, pens, pencils, and other objects they can carry in their mouths.
As pets, cats can be trained to obey simple commands; however individual cats have also been known to learn on their own to manipulate simple mechanisms such as doorknobs.
It is said that cats, with their variety of vocalization and types of body language for communication, may be the most popular pet in the world with over 600 million in homes all over the world.
These intriguing creatures are also bred and shown as registered pedigree pets, a hobby which is known as the ‘cat fancy’.
They typically weigh between 2.5 and 7 kilograms (5.5 – 16 pounds). However, some breeds can exceed 11.3 kilograms (24.9 pounds) while others have been known to reach up to 23 kilograms (51 pounds) due to overfeeding.
The largest cat ever was officially reported to have weighed in at about 21.297 kilograms (46.952 pounds).
Conversely, very small cats, less than 1.8 kilograms (4 pounds), have been reported.
Another interesting characteristic displayed by these creatures is their fastidious cleanliness. They groom themselves by licking their fur, employing their hooked papillae and saliva which works as a powerful cleaning agent and deodorant. Many cats also enjoy grooming humans or other cats.
(Source: Wikipedia – the Free Online Encyclopedia)
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