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HOW CATS SEE AND TOUCH THE INVISIBLE

 

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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