Why don’t cats knock things over? It turns out that cats have whiskers on their legs as well as their faces.
When I’m making a line of dominos with my daughter, it is inevitable that either she or I will knock them all over. We both seem to have no sensory perception. And yet, my cat walks over multiple lines of them as though they are not there. Why? It turns out that cats have whiskers on their legs as well as their faces. And the whiskers on their legs are the reason why they can walk over objects so easily.
Cats have two types of whiskers. The whiskers on their face and the ones on their legs. The whiskers are hairs, but they are different to all of the other hairs on the cat. They are made of keratin, the same material that makes the sheaths over cats’ claws. They are much stronger and longer than any other hair. The whiskers also have blood vessels and lots of nerves in them. They have much deeper follicles than other hair follicles and are connected to a group of muscles which allows the cat to move them independently or as a group. The nerves from the whiskers send signals to the brain, where there is an area of the brain reserved for dealing with them. Up to 40% of a cat’s brain can be devoted to dealing with whisker information.
Different species of cat have a different number of whiskers, but they generally have 24: 12 on each side of their face. The whiskers are so sensitive that they can pick up slight vibrations in the air. Cats use these sensitive whiskers for many different purposes. The first purpose is to feel out the area around the cat. Cats have very bad vision up close, and they use their whiskers to “see” the area around them. They can feel objects and they can feel the vibrations of other animals passing. The whiskers are very similar to a sonar in that they can detect air bouncing off objects and can give the cat a mental picture of the area.
Whiskers also tell cats what they can and can’t fit through. The whiskers are the width of the cat’s body. If the whiskers will fit, so will the rest of the cat. The whiskers help to protect the cat’s eyes as well. When the cat is walking through tall grass or bushes and there is something at eye height, the whiskers will alert the cat in time to close its eye.
The whiskers help with balance as well. Cats have superior balance because of proprioceptors at the end of each whisker. These can send information to the cat’s brain about the position of its limbs and body. This is one of the reasons why cats can always land on their feet.
So, why don’t cats knock things over? Cats have whiskers on their front and back legs as well. These are called carpal whiskers and they work in the same way as the whiskers on the face, but they have a slightly different purpose. Cats have very bad close up vision. If they catch a mouse or a bird, they can’t see if it is moving or if they have gripped it properly. The carpal whiskers let them feel where the prey is and if it is still or not.
The carpal whiskers also have the nerves and proprioceptors that the facial whiskers have. This allows the cat to sense when things are near just by using the whiskers. My cat appears to effortlessly walk over my dominoes, but the whiskers on each leg are actually sensing the air that is bouncing back off these objects. Like mini sonar on each leg.
Cats lose their whiskers and they grow back, the same as with all of their hair. You should never trim a cat’s whiskers. They depend on them so much to navigate that if you cut them off, the cat will be dizzy and afraid to move. It would be the same as cutting our fingers off. Cats can also get whisker fatigue. This is when they get sensory overload. If their food is in a narrow bowl and their whiskers constantly rub against the bowl, they can get this whisker fatigue.
So, they use these whiskers on their legs to feel what they are holding or standing next to. And that is how they can walk over things like dominos without knocking them over. Unless they want to. Like my cat does. Just as we’re about to finish. Because … he’s a cat … and that’s what cats do! And that is what I learned today.
Sources
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/why-do-cats-have-whiskers
https://pets.webmd.com/cats/features/why-cats-whiskers
https://www.hillspet.com/cat-care/behavior-appearance/why-do-cats-have-whiskers
https://www.treehugger.com/things-you-didnt-know-about-cat-whiskers-4864051
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/why-do-cats-have-whiskers
https://www.floppycats.com/why-do-cats-have-leg-whiskers.html