In addition to being cute, cat whiskers are amazing sensory organs that have no true parallel in humans. They’re aerodynamic and help us sense the world around us through air movement. And we use them in surprising ways! Here are just 10 of them, and I bet you didn’t know some of these fascinating facts.
- Cats have whiskers on our faces, but we also have them on the back of our front legs.
The mystacial whiskers are the most prominent, and the ones you mostly likely picture right away. There are 24 of them — 12 on each side of our face. But we also have whiskers on our upper lip, chin, above our eyes, near our ears, and behind the lower part of our front legs.
- Our leg whiskers are hunting tools.
They’re called carpal whiskers, and we use them when we’re holding prey to sense how much it’s moving. The thing is, we don’t see very well up close, so those leg whiskers are a big help. They also help when climbing trees.
- Kittens are born with whiskers.
This would make sense, since kittens can’t see at birth. Their tiny whiskers are their best way of sensing the world around them.
- Whiskers help cats “see” in the dark.
Even during the darkest night or in a pitch black room, cats can navigate their way around. Our whiskers help us sense objects around us. That’s why we rarely run into or trip over things at night, while humans flail around helplessly.
- Whiskers are also like little speedometers.
They help us gauge both speed and distance while running, and we don’t even need those dials like cars have on their dashboards.
- “Whisker fatigue” really is a thing.
When my human first started seeing wider, flatter cat food bowls advertised as a way to avoid whisker fatigue, she thought it was mostly a marketing ploy. But it’s actually real! Because our whiskers are so sensitive, as you’ve already seen, it can really bother us when our whiskers keep rubbing on the edge of a bowl. And it’s uncomfortable to keep them pulled in the whole time we’re eating.
- Want to know a cat’s mood? Check their whiskers!
Part of a cat’s facial expressions include what our whiskers are doing. Whiskers forward and ears forward? We’re alert and attentive! Whiskers forward and ears back? Frightened and aggressive. Relaxed whiskers are the sign of a happy cat, but if they’re drooping too much it could be a sign of illness.
- Whiskers can be seen under UV light.
The key thing here is that whiskers are made of keratin, which fluoresces. If you want to test it yourself, you’ll need a very dark room and a strong UV lamp because it’s not a strong effect. But it’s there.
- Cats regularly shed whiskers and grow them back.
It doesn’t happen often, and it’s only one or two at a time (unless there’s a health issue). But if you find one of your cat’s whiskers, it’s no big deal that they lost it. They grow back in about two to three months.
I hope you found these facts fun and interesting! Did any of them surprise you? Let me know in the comments.
