by Kim Brockman

Created on: October 04, 2010

We experience the world through our five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell.  Cats do, too, but to different degrees.  Cats are closer to the wild than humans, and their senses reflect that difference.  Their senses cater to their hunting and predatory ancestry and are designed to assist them in stalking, hunting and killing their prey.

While humans have, for the most part, become especially reliant on sight, cats rely more heavily on all the other senses as well.  In general, their senses are more acute than humans.  Let’s explore some specific differences.

Sight

When compared to humans, cats have far superior night vision, but inferior sight to ours during daylight hours.  Like ours, cats’ eyes are especially attuned to movement, but do so much better than we do.  They can detect motion that is much too fast or insignificant for humans to see.  This, paired with their excellent night vision, makes them successful nocturnal hunters.

It’s unknown if cats can see the full spectrum of colors known to man, but tests have proven they do recognize some of the colors we do.  Purples, blues, and greens are noticeable to cats, but they seem to have more trouble seeing reds. 

Hearing

Cats and humans have a similar hearing capability at low frequencies with cats hearing slightly lower sounds, but cats can hear much higher tones than we can.  Their ears are shaped and sized to move toward the sound and capture sounds, drawing them into the ear canal.  Cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees. 

They are quite adept at determining tones, hearing differences a little as one-tenth of a note.  This is helpful in assessing the different sounds produced by prey and predator, as well as quickly finding kittens in distress.  Cats can also hear at distances four to five times greater than humans.

Touch

Cats have touch reception points all over their bodies, just like humans.  Their most sensitive areas are the pads of their feet, especially the front paws, and around their whiskers and face.  The whiskers are especially sensitive, as they grow fairly deep into the cat’s face.  Any slight breeze will move the whiskers, activating the touch receptors at the other end.  This provides them with an excellent detection system for nighttime hunting trips.

Taste

Cats taste sensors are a bit more specialized than ours, as they are carnivores.  Their

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