Whether you’re a dog or cat person, there’s no denying that cats are seriously cool animals! We bet that there are more than a few kiddies in your class who just love these amazing creatures and love to find out everything they can about them. Luckily for you, we’ve compiled a list of 50 amazing facts about cats to satisfy their curiosity! You’d better read on because you know what they say about curiosity and cats!
1. Cats are members of the Felidae family, which also includes lions, tigers, and leopards.
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2. Domestic cats have been companions to humans for about 4,000 years.
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3. Cats use their whiskers to detect if they can fit through a space.
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4. A cat can jump up to five times its own height in one impressive leap!
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5. Cats have a special reflective layer behind their retinas, which boosts their night vision.
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6. A cat’s nose pad is completely unique, just like a human’s fingerprint.
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7. The world’s largest cat breed is the Maine Coon.
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8. While dogs have about ten vocal sounds, cats can make around 100 different sounds.
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9. The world’s smallest cat breed is the Singapura.
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10. Cats have five toes on their front paws and four toes on their back paws.
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11. A group of cats is called a clowder.
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12. Cats have a third eyelid called a “nictitating membrane” that helps protect their eyes.
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13. A study found that when cats are trying to communicate hunger, the frequency of their purr often matches that of a baby’s cry!
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14. Cats sweat through their paws.
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15. A cat’s brain is about 90% similar to a human’s brain.
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16. Domestic cats can run up to 30 miles per hour!
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17. Cats spend 70% of their lives sleeping. That’s around 16 hours a day!
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18. A cat and their owner were found buried together in a 9,500-year-old grave on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, showing that the bond between humans and cats stretches back centuries!
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19. Cats have a strong territorial instinct, and they’ll often rub against objects to mark their territory with the scent glands that are located around their face.
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20. The Egyptian word for cat was “mau.”
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21. Cats can’t taste sweets; they lack taste buds for sweet flavors.
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22. A cat’s whiskers are not just on the sides of its nose; they also have whiskers above their eyes, on their chin, and even on the backs of their front legs.
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23. The oldest recorded domestic cat was called Lucy and she lived for 39 years!
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24. The largest recorded litter of kittens is 19!
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25. Cats have a unique “righting reflex,” which allows them to twist their bodies in mid-air if they fall to land on their feet.
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26. Cats have been shown to have positive effects on human health, reducing stress and lowering blood pressure.
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27. The ability of a cat to find its way home is called “psi trailing”. Experts hypothesize that cats either use the angle of sunlight or Earth’s magnetism to find their way.
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28. There are over 500 million domestic cats in the world.
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29. In ancient Egypt, cats were considered sacred and were often associated with the goddess Bastet.
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30. Cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees and move them separately.
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31. A cat’s tail can tell you about its mood. A raised tail usually means a happy, confident cat, while a lowered tail indicates a cat is in a defensive or submissive mood.
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32. The technical term for a cat’s hairball is “trichobezoar”.
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33. Cats and humans have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotions.
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34. A cat’s heart beats almost twice as fast as a human heart, at 110 to 140 beats per minute.
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35. The world record for the largest number of mice caught by a cat is 28,899!
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36. The richest cat in the world had $13 million after her owner passed away.
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37. A cat’s eyesight is both better and worse than ours. They enjoy better night vision and a wider peripheral view but don’t see colors as vibrantly as humans do.
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38. A cat’s back is extremely flexible because they have 53 loosely fitting vertebrae. Humans only have 34!
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39. Cats have been domesticated for fewer years than dogs.
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40. Cats have more bones in their bodies than humans.
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41. Cats’ bodies are built for hunting, with sharp retractable claws and powerful back legs.
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42. Every year, the United States celebrates National Cat Day on October 29.
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43. In total, cats have 32 muscles in each ear.
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44. Cats usually have 12 whiskers on each side of their face.
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45. The first official cat show was held in London in 1871.
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46. Some cats are actually allergic to humans!
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47. Cats have been to space! In 1963, a French cat named Felicette was sent into space for a suborbital flight.
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48. Cats can drink seawater if needed, as their kidneys can filter out the salt.
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49. A cat named Stubbs was once “mayor” of Talkeetna, a town in Alaska, for 20 years.
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50. Most cats have no eyelashes.
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