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How Cats Use Whiskers to Touch  
INFORMATIVE ListAfterList List

Tags: cat, cats, whiskers, touch, vibrissae, feline, felines

The following is a brief overview of how cats touch things using whiskers to explore and interact with their environment:

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    		• Cats generally have about a dozen whiskers in four rows on each upper lip, a few on each cheek, tufts over the eyes and bristles on the chin.
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    		• Whiskers may also be found on the cat's inner "wrists", and there are similar hairs which make up the cat's eyebrows.
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    		• The Sphynx (a nearly hairless breed) may have full length, short, or no whiskers at all.
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    		• Whiskers (technically called vibrissae) can aid with navigation and sensation.
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    		• Whiskers may detect very small shifts in air currents, enabling a cat to know it is near obstructions without actually seeing them.
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    		• The upper two rows of whiskers can move independently from the lower two rows for even more precise measuring.
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    		• It is thought that a cat may choose to rely on the whiskers in dim light where fully dilating the pupils would reduce its ability to focus on close objects.
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    		• The whiskers also spread out roughly as wide as the cat's body making it able to judge if it can fit through an opening.
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    		• Whiskers are also an indication of the cat's attitude: Whiskers point forward when the cat is inquisitive and friendly, and lie flat on the face when the cat is being defensive or aggressive.

    Lister: Sam
    Source: Wikipedia – All text in this list shared under the GNU License

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    Comments:

    you seem to be quite the cat fan buccicone.2... have to admit, I am a dog guy!
    Comment by: Pratt

    I've never seen the bristles on my cats' chins! I know a cat's tail position indicates moods, but had no idea about whiskers! Awesome list!
    Comment by: buccicone.2

    I'll take cats over dogs any day. I kinda wish I had whiskers.
    Comment by: buccicone.2

    The attitude indicator will come in handy with my cats at home. I thought whiskers were just to tell a cat if the space was too small to fit through.
    Comment by: kjdreyling

    interesting facts about cat whiskers. I use to have a cat and looking back on it he had long white wiskers and he loved to brush his wiskers over my hand in affection.
    Comment by: katslist

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