Did the title surprise you? Well, don’t be, for nothing shows that cats can see spirits. In this context, the “invisible” are visible things hidden from sight because of darkness. So how do cats find their way and even hunt comfortably in the dark? The secret lies in their whiskers, or vibrissae.
Cat whiskers
are super sensitive to pressure, even air pressure. The slightest movement of
air is noticed by these whiskers. How are they so equipped?
Cat whiskers
are joined to tissues that are connected to so many sensitive threads called nerves.
These nerves connect directly to the brain of cats and act as direct messengers
to the brain. Since the connection process between the brain and the whiskers
is almost direct and involves soft sensitive tissues and cells, the brain can
easily detect even the things that pass by the whiskers.
Cat whiskers
have a lot of functions that are not even fully understood. They can sense the
movement of animals and obstacles around because of air pressure, even though
the cat cannot see these things in the dark. Also, cats can use their whiskers
to measure the size of a hole before they pass through it. How spectacular!
To help us
fully understand how sensitiveness to air pressure enables cat whiskers to
notice obstacles and animals, consider this illustration. If you close your
eyes in a dark room and try to walk around very slowly, you will often notice
you are close to the wall even before you hit it. You will be even more
sensitive to obstacles if you blindfold yourself and try to walk outside. This
sensation that makes us stop just before an obstacle is as a result of air
pressure.
You see,
even though you may not notice it, your skin relies on the movement of air
flowing past it in order to notice obstacles. So when there is something
blocking the airflow towards it or away from it, your skin takes notice of this
change and your brain interprets it as an obstacle. And if something is moving
towards you or if it passes in front of you, it pushes air according to its
overall size. That movement of air is the science of air pressure. The amount
of moving air you feel also tells you how big or how small an object close to
you is.
According to
scientists, if the whiskers of cats are cut off, the cats become unable to
function for some time. What a wonder cats are adorned with!
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