- All dogs can be traced back 40 million years ago to a weasel-like animal called the Miacis which dwelled in trees and dens. The Miacis later evolved into the Tomarctus, a direct forbear of the genus Canis, which includes the wolf and jackal as well as the dog.
- Ancient Egyptians revered their dogs. When a pet dog would die, the owners shaved off their eyebrows, smeared mud in their hair, and mourned aloud for days.
- Small quantities of grapes and raisins can cause renal failure in dogs. Chocolate, macadamia nuts, cooked onions, or anything with caffeine can also be harmful.
- Apple and pear seeds contain arsenic, which may be deadly to dogs.
- Rock star Ozzy Osborne saved his wife Sharon's Pomeranian from a coyote by tackling and wresting the coyote until it released the dog.
- Dogs have sweat glands in between their their paws
- Dogs have sweat glands in between their paws.
- In 2003, Dr. Roger Mugford invented the "wagometer," a device that claims to interpret a dog's exact mood by measuring the wag of its tail.
- Dogs have three eyelids. The third lid, called a nictitating membrane or "haw," keeps the eye lubricated and protected.
- A dog's shoulder blades are unattached to the rest of the skeleton to allow greater flexibility for running.
- Puppies are sometimes rejected by their mother if they are born by cesarean and cleaned up before being given back to her.
- The phrase "raining cats and dogs" originated in seventeenth-century England. During heavy rainstorms, many homeless animals would drown and float down the streets, giving the appearance that it had actually rained cats and dogs.
- During the Middle Ages, Great Danes and Mastiffs were sometimes suited with armor and spiked collars to enter a battle or to defend supply caravans.
- Pekingese and Japanese Chins were so important in the ancient Far East that they had their own servants and were carried around trade routes as gifts for kings and emperors. Pekingese were even worshipped in the temples of China for centuries.
- The shape of a dog's face can help predict how long a dog will live
- The shape of a dog's face suggests how long it will live. Dogs with sharp, pointed faces that look more like wolves typically live longer. Dogs with very flat faces, such as bulldogs, often have shorter lives.
- After the fall of Rome, human survival often became more important than breeding and training dogs. Legends of werewolves emerged during this time as abandoned dogs traveling in packs commonly roamed streets and terrified villagers.
- During the Middle Ages, mixed breeds of peasants' dogs were required to wear blocks around their necks to keep them from breeding with noble hunting dogs. Purebred dogs were very expensive and hunting became the province of the rich.
- The most dogs ever owned by one person were 5,000 Mastiffs owned by Kubla Khan.
- The American Kennel Club, the most influential dog club in the United States, was founded in 1884.
- The most popular male dog names are Max and Jake. The most popular female dog names are Maggie and Molly.
- Some scholars speculate that Dorothy's dog, Toto, may represent the Egyptian god of death, Anubis
- Scholars have argued over the metaphysical interpretation of Dorothy's pooch, Toto, in the Wizard of Oz. One theory postulates that Toto represents Anubis, the dog-headed Egyptian god of death, because Toto consistently keeps Dorothy from safely returning home.
- Weird dog laws include allowing police offers in Palding, Ohio, to bite a dog to quiet it. In Ventura County, California, cats and dogs are not allowed to have sex without a permit.
- The first dog chapel was established in 2001. It was built in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, by Stephan Huneck, a children's book author whose five dogs helped him recuperate from a serious illness.
- Those born under the sign of the dog in Chinese astrology are considered to be loyal and discreet, though slightly temperamental.
- In Iran, it is against the law to own a dog as a pet. However, if an owner can prove the dog is a guard or hunting dog, this restriction doesn't apply. Muslim reticence concerning dogs is perhaps due to the fact that rabies has always been endemic in the Middle East.
- The Mayans and Aztecs symbolized every tenth day with the dog, and those born under this sign were believed to have outstanding leadership skills.
- The ancient Mbaya Indians of the Gran Chaco in South America believed that humans originally lived underground until dogs dug them up.
- Plato once said that "a dog has the soul of a philosopher."
- French poodles did not originate in France but in Germany ("poodle" comes from the German pudel or pudelhund, meaning "splashing dog"). Some scholars speculate the poodle's puffs of hair evolved when hunters shaved the poodle for more efficient swimming, while leaving the pom-poms around the major joints to keep them warm.
- The name of the dog on the Cracker Jacks box is Bingo. The Taco Bell Chihuahua is a rescued dog named Gidget.
- The first dogs were self-domesticated wolves which, at least 12,000 years ago, became attracted to the first sites of permanent human habitation
- Dachshunds were bred to fight badgers in their dens.
- Laiki, a Russian stray, was the first living mammal to orbit the Earth, in the Soviet Sputnik spacecraft in 1957. Though she died in space, her daughter Pushnika had four puppies with President John F. Kennedy's terrier, Charlie.
- Dalmatians are completely white at birth.
- The term "dog days of summer" was coined by the ancient Greeks and Romans to describe the hottest days of summer that coincided with the rising of the Dog Star, Sirius.
- Alexander the Great is said to have founded and named a city Peritas, in memory of his dog.
- In ancient Greece, kennels of dogs were kept at the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus. Dogs were frequently sacrificed there because they were plentiful, inexpensive, and easy to control. During the July 25 celebration of the kunophontis ("the massacre of dogs"), dog sacrifices were performed to appease the ancestors of Apollo's son, Linos, who was devoured by dogs..
- Dog trainers in ancient China were held in high esteem. A great deal of dog domestication also took place in China, especially dwarfing and miniaturization.
- The ancient religion Zoroastrianism includes in its religious text titled the Zend Avesta a section devoted to the care and breeding of dogs.
- The earliest European images of dogs are found in cave paintings dating back 12,000 years ago in Spain.
- The dog was frequently depicted in Greek art, including Cerberus, the three-headed hound guarding the entrance to the underworld, and the hunting dogs which accompanied the virgin goddess of the chase, Diana.
- During the Renaissance, detailed portraits of the dog as a symbol of fidelity and loyalty appeared in mythological, allegorical, and religious art throughout Europe, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Diego Velázquez, Jan van Eyck, and Albrecht Durer.
- A puppy is born blind, deaf, and toothless.
- The Basenji is the world's only barkless dog.
- A dog most likely interprets a smiling person as baring their teeth, which is an act of aggression.
- The origin of amputating a dog's tail may go back to the Roman writer Lucius Columella's (A.D. 4-70) assertion that tail docking prevented rabies.
- One of Shakespeare's most mischievous characters is Crab, the dog belonging to Launce in the Two Gentlemen of Verona. The word "watchdog" is first found in The Tempest.
- President Franklin Roosevelt created a minor international incident when he claimed he sent a destroyer to the Aleutian Islands just to pick up his Scottish Terrier, Fala, who had been left behind.
- Within hours of the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, specially trained dogs were on the scene, including German Shepherds, Labs, and even a few little Dachshunds.
- It costs approximately $10,000 to train a federally certified search and rescue dog.
- The smallest dog on record was a matchbox-size Yorkshire Terrier. It was 2.5" tall at the shoulder, 3.5" from nose tip to tail, and weighed only 4 ounces.
- Hollywood's first and arguably best canine superstar was Rin Tin Tin, a five-day-old German Shepherd found wounded in battle in WWI France and adopted by an American soldier, Lee Duncan. He would sign his own contracts with his paw print.
- At the end of WWI, the German government trained the first guide dogs for war-blinded soldiers.
- A dog can locate the source of a sound in 1/600 of a second and can hear sounds four times farther away than a human can.
- 54.Touch is the first sense the dog develops. The entire body, including the paws, is covered with touch-sensitive nerve endings.
- Eighteen muscles or more can move a dog's ear.
- The names of 77 ancient Egyptian dogs have been recorded. The names refer to color and character, such as Blackie, Ebony, Good Herdsman, Reliable, and Brave One.
- In Egypt, a person bitten by a rabid dog was encouraged to eat the roasted liver of a dog infected with rabies to avoid contracting the disease. The tooth of a dog infected with rabies would also be put in a band tied to the arm of the person bitten. The menstrual blood of a female dog was used for hair removal, while dog genitals were used for preventing the whitening of hair.
- In early Christian tradition, Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, is sometimes depicted with a dog's head.
- The oldest known dog bones were found in Asia and date as far back as 10,000 B.C. The first identifiable dog breed appeared about 9000 B.C. and was probably a type of Greyhound dog used for hunting.
- There are an estimated 400 million dogs in the world.
- The U.S. has the highest dog population in the world. France has the second highest.
- Dog nose prints are as unique as human fingerprints
- Dog nose prints are as unique as human finger prints and can be used to identify them.
- Bloodhound dogs have a keen sense of smell and have been used since the Middle Ages to track criminals.
- It is much easier for dogs to learn spoken commands if they are given in conjunction with hand signals or gestures.
- Dogs in a pack are more likely to chase and hunt than a single dog on its own. Two dogs are enough to form a pack.
- Dogs can see in color, though they most likely see colors similar to a color-blind human. They can see better when the light is low.
- Petting dogs is proven to lower blood pressure of dog owners.
- Dogs have lived with humans for over 14,000 years. Cats have lived with people for only 7,000 years.
- Zorba, an English mastiff, is the biggest dog ever recorded. He weighed 343 pounds and measured 8' 3" from his nose to his tail.
- The average dog can run about 19 mph. Greyhounds are the fastest dogs on Earth and can run at speeds of 45 mph.
- One female dog and her female children could produce 4,372 puppies in seven years.
- The most popular dog breed in Canada, U.S., and Great Britain is the Labrador retriever.
- Greyhounds appear to be the most ancient dog breed. "Greyhound" comes from a mistake in translating the early German name Greishund, which means "old (or ancient) dog," not from the color gray.
- The oldest dog on record was an Australian cattle dog named Bluey who lived 29 years and 5 months. In human years, that is more than 160 years old.
- Most experts believe humans domesticated dogs before donkeys, horses, sheep, goats, cattle, cats, or chickens.
- A person standing still 300 yards away is almost invisible to a dog. But a dog can easily identify its owner standing a mile away if the owner is waving his arms.
- Dogs with big, square heads and large ears (like the Saint Bernard) are the best at hearing subsonic sounds.
- Dogs can smell about 1,000 times better than humans. While humans have 5 million smell-detecting cells, dogs have more than 220 million. The part of the brain that interprets smell is also four times larger in dogs than in humans.
- Studies show that some dogs can detect cancer by smelling a person's breath
- Some dogs can smell dead bodies under water, where termites are hiding, and natural gas buried under 40 feet of dirt. They can even detect cancer that is too small to be detected by a doctor and can find lung cancer by sniffing a person's breath.
- Dogs have a wet nose to collect more of the tiny droplets of smelling chemicals in the air.
- Dogs like sweets a lot more than cats do. While cats have around only 473 taste buds, dogs have about 1,700 taste buds. Humans have approximately 9,000.
- Different smells in the a dog's urine can tell other dogs whether the dog leaving the message is female or male, old or young, sick or healthy, happy or angry.
- Male dogs will raise their legs while urinating to aim higher on a tree or lamppost because they want to leave a message that they are tall and intimidating. Some wild dogs in Africa try to run up tree trunks while they are urinating to appear to be very large.
- In Croatia, scientists discovered that lampposts were falling down because a chemical in the urine of male dogs was rotting the metal.
- Dogs are about as smart as a two- or three-year-old child. This means they can understand about 150-200 words, including signals and hand movements with the same meaning as words.
- Countess Karlotta Libenstein of Germany left approximately $106 million to her Alsatin, Gunther III, when she died in 1992.
- A lost Dachshund was found swallowed whole in the stomach of a giant catfish in Berlin on July 2003.
- In Australia, a man who was arrested for drug possession argued his civil rights were violated when the drug-sniffing dog nuzzled his crotch. While the judge dismissed the charges, they were later reinstated when a prosecutor pointed out that in the animal kingdom, crotch nuzzling was a friendly gesture.
- The Beagle came into prominence in the 1300s and 1400s during the days of King Henry VII of England. Elizabeth I was fond of Pocket Beagles, which were only 9" high.
- The best dog to reportedly attract a date is the Golden Retriever. The worst is the Pit Bull.
- The Akita is one of the most challenging dogs to own. Some insurance companies have even characterized it as the #1 "bad dog" and may even raise an Akita owner's homeowner insurance costs.
- The Beagle and Collie are the nosiest dogs, while the Akbash Dog and the Basenji are the quietest.
- One survey reports that 33% of dog owners admit they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages on answering machines while they are away..
- Thirty percent of all Dalmatians are deaf in one or both ears. Because bulldogs have extremely short muzzles, many spend their lives fighting suffocation. Because Chihuahuas have such small skulls, the flow of spinal fluid can be restricted, causing hydrocephalus, a swelling of the brain.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
90+ Cool and interesting Facts about Dogs
50+ More facts about cats( Amazing and Interesting)
Two members of the cat family are distinct from all others: the clouded leopard and the cheetah. The clouded leopard does not roar like other big cats, nor does it groom or rest like small cats. The cheetah is unique because it is a running cat; all others are leaping cats. They are leaping cats because they slowly stalk their prey and then leap on it.
- A cat lover is called an Ailurophile (Greek: Ailurophile = cat lover).
- In Japan, cats are thought to have the power to turn into super spirits when they die. This may be because according to the Buddhist religion, the body of the cat is the temporary resting place of very spiritual people.
- Most cats had short hair until about 100 years ago, when it became fashionable to own cats and experiment with breeding.
- Cats have 32 muscles that control the outer ear (humans have only 6). A cat can independently rotate its ears 180 degrees.
- During the nearly 18 hours a day that kittens sleep, an important growth hormone is released One reason that kittens sleep so much is because a growth hormone is released only during sleep.
- Cats have about 130,000 hairs per square inch (20,155 hairs per square centimetre).
- The heaviest cat on record is Himmy, a Tabby from Queensland, Australia. He weighed nearly 47 pounds (21 kg). He died at the age of 10.
The oldest cat on record was Crème Puff from Austin, Texas, who lived from 1967 to August 6, 2005, three days after her 38th birthday. A cat typically can live up to 20 years, which is equivalent to about 96 human years.
- The lightest cat on record is a blue point Himalayan called Tinker Toy, who weighed 1 pound, 6 ounces (616 g). Tinker Toy was 2.75 inches (7 cm) tall and 7.5 inches (19 cm) long.
- The tiniest cat on record is Mr. Pebbles, a 2-year-old cat that weighed 3 lbs (1.3 k) and was 6.1 inches (15.5 cm) high.
- A commemorative tower was built in Scotland for a cat named Towser, who caught nearly 30,000 mice in her lifetime.
- In the 1750s, Europeans introduced cats into the Americas to control pests.
- The first cat show was organized in 1871 in London. Cat shows later became a worldwide craze.
- The first cartoon cat was Felix the Cat in 1919. In 1940, Tom and Jerry starred in the first theatrical cartoon "Puss Gets the Boot." In 1981 Andrew Lloyd Weber created the musical Cats, based on T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.
- The normal body temperature of a cat is between 100.5 ° and 102.5 °F. A cat is sick if its temperature goes below 100 ° or above 103 °F.
- A cat has 230 bones in its body. A human has 206. A cat has no collarbone, so it can fit through any opening the size of its head.
- A cat's nose pad is ridged with a unique pattern, just like the fingerprint of a human.
- If they have ample water, cats can tolerate temperatures up to 133 °F.
- Foods that should not be given to cats include onions, garlic, green tomatoes, raw potatoes, chocolate, grapes, and raisins. Though milk is not toxic, it can cause an upset stomach and gas. Tylenol and aspirin are extremely toxic to cats, as are many common houseplants. Feeding cats dog food or canned tuna that's for human consumption can cause malnutrition.
- A 2007 Gallup poll revealed that both men and women were equally likely to own a cat.
- A cat's heart beats nearly twice as fast as a human heart, at 110 to 140 beats a minute.
- Cat's sweat only through their paws Cats don't have sweat glands over their bodies like humans do. Instead, they sweat only through their paws.
- In just seven years, a single pair of cats and their offspring could produce a staggering total of 420,000 kittens.
- Relative to its body size, the clouded leopard has the biggest canines of all animals' canines. Its dagger-like teeth can be as long as 1.8 inches (4.5 cm).
- Cats spend nearly 1/3 of their waking hours cleaning themselves.
- Grown cats have 30 teeth. Kittens have about 26 temporary teeth, which they lose when they are about 6 months old.
- A cat called Dusty has the known record for the most kittens. She had more than 420 kittens in her lifetime.
- The largest cat breed is the Ragdoll. Male Ragdolls weigh between 12 and 20 lbs (5.4-9.0 k). Females weigh between 10 and 15 lbs (4.5-6.8 k).
- Cats are extremely sensitive to vibrations. Cats are said to detect earthquake tremors 10 or 15 minutes before humans can.
- In contrast to dogs, cats have not undergone major changes during their domestication process.
- A female cat is called a queen or a molly.
- In the 1930s, two Russian biologists discovered that color change in Siamese kittens depend on their body temperature. Siamese cats carry albino genes that work only when the body temperature is above 98° F. If these kittens are left in a very warm room, their points won't darken and they will stay a creamy white.
- There are up to 60 million feral cats in the United States alone.
- The oldest cat to give birth was Kitty who, at the age of 30, gave birth to two kittens. During her life, she gave birth to 218 kittens.
- The most traveled cat is Hamlet, who escaped from his carrier while on a flight. He hid for seven weeks behind a pane. By the time he was discovered, he had traveled nearly 373,000 miles (600,000 km).
- The most expensive cat was an Asian Leopard cat (ALC)-Domestic Shorthair (DSH) hybrid named Zeus. Zeus, who is 90% ALC and 10% DSH, has an asking price of £100,000 ($154,000).
- The cat who holds the record for the longest non-fatal fall is Andy. He fell from the 16th floor of an apartment building (about 200 ft/.06 km) and survived.
The richest cat is Blackie who was left £15 million by his owner, Ben Rea.
- The claws on the cat's back paws aren't as sharp as the claws on the front paws because the claws in the back don't retract and, consequently, become worn.
- Cats can reach great heights. In 1963, France sent the first cat in to space. Known as Felicette, she was also dubbed "Astrocat" by the press. Via implanted electrodes, Felicette's vitals were constantly monitored and she successfully returned to Earth. Granted, shooting your cat into the cosmos via rocket is probably not the best of ideas, but it does attest to their durability. Rest assured a fall from a high shelf, the top of a refrigerator or a tree branch is probably very little threat to their well-being.
- Felines sleep two thirds of the day. On average, the facts about cats confirm they generally sleep about two thirds of every day. If you do the math, it means your nine-year-old kitty has pretty much slept away about six years of life. Chances are, they'll find a particular place they enjoy and it becomes their favorite napping spot.Keep it clean for your feline friend and free of a build-up of fur and pet dander. It's also a good idea to make sure it's safe and stable. Although injuries in falls for most cats are rare, they are more likely to occur in very short distance slips. When combined with the sleeping state, some cats don't always have the time to right themselves and land on all fours.
- Cats have human-like emotions. A cat's grey matter shares some remarkable similarities to a human brain. Although experts disagree on the depth and range, all confirm that kitties feel emotions not that dissimilar from people. Happiness, excitability, playfulness, depression and anger. Any cat lover will agree -- they've witnessed all that and more in their quadruped BFF. Watch out for that last emotion - an unhappy cat can leave you with a urine soaked chair, shredded rolls of toilet paper strewn about or even broken dishes.
- Cat bites are dangerous. It's true - the bite from a cat can be toxic and dangerous. According to the existing facts about cats and their owners, approximately 40,000 individuals are bitten by cats in the United States every year. "It is a serious danger," says Peter Muller, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and the owner of Briarcliff Animal Hospital in Atlanta. "A cat bite can result in a serious bacterial infection of Pasteurella multocida," Muller explains. "It can be treated very easily with penicillin, but left unchecked, especially in the elderly or those with compromised immune systems, it can potentially grow underneath your skin, spread throughout your lymph system, and, in some rare cases, lead to death. That's why it's always a good idea to see a doctor right away after a cat bite."
- Cats can jump high. Did you know that some cats can jump up to five times their own height in just one leap? It's true. What does that mean for a cat owner? Make sure fragile breakables are stored out of harm's way: opt for china cabinets with closing doors or enclosed display cases to protect heirlooms and collectables from an acrobatic cat.
- Cats can be cloned. Have a favorite cat with the best personality ever and a lot of extra money to spend? Have 'em cloned! Yes, the technology exists and is accessible if you have the dough to fork out. "Little Nicky" was born in 2004 and was the first commercially cloned feline. Reportedly produced from the DNA of a deceased Maine Coon, the owner doled out $50,000 to replicate a new version of an old friend and claims the personalities of the two cats are strikingly similar.
- Cats have internal GPS systems. Lost cats really can find their way home. Various experts point to sunlight angles, the earth's magnetic fields and another capability referred to as PSI Traveling. Whatever the case, recorded facts about cats confirm their often long and arduous journeys to reach home and a favored human companion.
- Cats can use pet doors. For families that maintain indoor-outdoor cats, nothing's more convenient than a pet door. Know who came up with the idea? Gravity King Sir Isaac Newton! According to various tales passed down over the years, Newton was experimenting with light in a darkened room and one of his most prized cats (reportedly named "Spithead") kept opening the door and disrupting the experiment. To keep his work intact and allow the cat free roam, he cut a small hole in the door and covered it with cloth. That evolved into what is today known as a pet door, suitable for both cats and dogs.
- Cats have a lot of hair. A cat's body is covered with approximately 130,000 hairs for each square inch. Everybody knows what that means for your house or apartment: hair, hair, everywhere! Let's be honest - there is nothing you can do that will ever get rid of all of those feline follicles. However, you can minimize the impact with daily brushings, and, of course, regular vacuuming. For clothing, try a lint brush and a pair of tweezers.
- Cats can use the toilet...and they can flush. I interviewed cat-training experts and they claim that there's no need for kitty litter. You can definitely train your cat to use the toilet.
Amazing and Interesting Facts about All Breed of Cats
- Every year, nearly four million cats are eaten in Asia.
- On average, cats spend 2/3 of every day sleeping. That means a nine-year-old cat has been awake for only three years of its life.
- Unlike dogs, cats do not have a sweet tooth. Scientists believe this is due to a mutation in a key taste receptor.
- When a cat chases its prey, it keeps its head level. Dogs and humans bob their heads up and down.
- The technical term for a cat's hairball is a "bezoar."
- A group of cats is called a "clowder."
- Female cats tend to be right pawed, while male cats are more often left pawed. Interestingly, while 90% of humans are right handed, the remaining 10% of lefties also tend to be male.
- A cat cannot climb head first down a tree because its claws are curved the wrong way A cat can't climb head first down a tree because every claw on a cat's paw points the same way. To get down from a tree, a cat must back down.
- Cats make about 100 different sounds. Dogs make only about 10.
- A cat's brain is biologically more similar to a human brain than it is to a dog's. Both humans and cats have identical regions in their brains that are responsible for emotions.
- There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, with approximately 40 recognized breeds.
- Approximately 24 cat skins can make a coat.
While it is commonly thought that the ancient Egyptians were the first to domesticate cats, the oldest known pet cat was recently found in a 9,500-year-old grave on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This grave predates early Egyptian art depicting cats by 4,000 years or more.
- During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Innocent VIII condemned cats as evil and thousands of cats were burned. Unfortunately, the widespread killing of cats led to an explosion of the rat population, which exacerbated the effects of the Black Death.
- During the Middle Ages, cats were associated with withcraft, and on St. John's Day, people all over Europe would stuff them into sacks and toss the cats into bonfires. On holy days, people celebrated by tossing cats from church towers.
- Cats are the most popular pet in North American Cats are North America's most popular pets: there are 73 million cats compared to 63 million dogs. Over 30% of households in North America own a cat.
- The first cat in space was a French cat named Felicette (a.k.a. "Astrocat") In 1963, France blasted the cat into outer space. Electrodes implanted in her brains sent neurological signals back to Earth. She survived the trip.
- The group of words associated with cat (catt, cath, chat, katze) stem from the Latin catus, meaning domestic cat, as opposed to feles, or wild cat.
- The term "puss" is the root of the principal word for "cat" in the Romanian term pisica and the root of secondary words in Lithuanian (puz) and Low German puus. Some scholars suggest that "puss" could be imitative of the hissing sound used to get a cat's attention. As a slang word for the female pudenda, it could be associated with the connotation of a cat being soft, warm, and fuzzy.
- Approximately 40,000 people are bitten by cats in the U.S. annually.
- According to Hebrew legend, Noah prayed to God for help protecting all the food he stored on the ark from being eaten by rats. In reply, God made the lion sneeze, and out popped a cat.
- A cat's hearing is better than a dog's. And a cat can hear high-frequency sounds up to two octaves higher than a human.
- A cat can travel at a top speed of approximately 31 mph (49 km) over a short distance.
- A cat can jump up to five times its own height in a single bound.
- Some cats have survived falls of over 65 feet (20 meters), due largely to their "righting reflex." The eyes and balance organs in the inner ear tell it where it is in space so the cat can land on its feet. Even cats without a tail have this ability.
- A cat rubs against people to mark them as their territory A cat rubs against people not only to be affectionate but also to mark out its territory with scent glands around its face. The tail area and paws also carry the cat's scent.
- Researchers are unsure exactly how a cat purrs. Most veterinarians believe that a cat purrs by vibrating vocal folds deep in the throat. To do this, a muscle in the larynx opens and closes the air passage about 25 times per second.
- When a family cat died in ancient Egypt, family members would mourn by shaving off their eyebrows. They also held elaborate funerals during which they drank wine and beat their breasts. The cat was embalmed with a sculpted wooden mask and the tiny mummy was placed in the family tomb or in a pet cemetery with tiny mummies of mice.
- In 1888, more than 300,000 mummified cats were found an Egyptian cemetery. They were stripped of their wrappings and carted off to be used by farmers in England and the U.S. for fertilizer.
- Most cats give birth to a litter of between one and nine kittens. The largest known litter ever produced was 19 kittens, of which 15 survived.
- Smuggling a cat out of ancient Egypt was punishable by death. Phoenician traders eventually succeeded in smuggling felines, which they sold to rich people in Athens and other important cities.
- The earliest ancestor of the modern cat lived about 30 million years ago. Scientists called it the Proailurus, which means "first cat" in Greek. The group of animals that pet cats belong to emerged around 12 million years ago.
- The biggest wildcat today is the Siberian Tiger. It can be more than 12 feet (3.6 m) long (about the size of a small car) and weigh up to 700 pounds (317 kg).
- The smallest wildcat today is the Black-footed cat. The females are less than 20 inches (50 cm) long and can weigh as little as 2.5 lbs (1.2 kg).
- Many Egyptians worshipped the goddess Bast, who had a woman's body and a cat's head.
- Mohammed loved cats and reportedly his favorite cat, Muezza, was a tabby. Legend says that tabby cats have an "M" for Mohammed on top of their heads because Mohammad would often rest his hand on the cat's head.
- While many parts of Europe and North America consider the black cat a sign of bad luck, in Britain and Australia, black cats are considered lucky.
- The most popular pedigreed cat is the Persian cat, followed by the Main Coon cat and the Siamese cat.
- The smallest pedigreed cat is a Singapura, which can weigh just 4 lbs (1.8 kg), or about five large cans of cat food. The largest pedigreed cats are Maine Coon cats, which can weigh 25 lbs (11.3 kg), or nearly twice as much as an average cat weighs.
- Some Siamese cats are cross-eyed to compensate for abnormal optic wiring Some Siamese cats appear cross-eyed because the nerves from the left side of the brain go to mostly the right eye and the nerves from the right side of the brain go mostly to the left eye. This causes some double vision, which the cat tries to correct by "crossing" its eyes.
- Researchers believe the word "tabby" comes from Attabiyah, a neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq. Tabbies got their name because their striped coats resembled the famous wavy patterns in the silk produced in this city.
- Cats hate the water because their fur does not insulate well when it's wet. The Turkish Van, however, is one cat that likes swimming. Bred in central Asia, its coat has a unique texture that makes it water resistant.
- The Egyptian Mau is probably the oldest breed of cat. In fact, the breed is so ancient that its name is the Egyptian word for "cat."
- The costliest cat ever is named Little Nicky, who cost his owner $50,000. He is a clone of an older cat.
- A cat usually has about 12 whiskers on each side of its face.
- A cat's eyesight is both better and worse than humans. It is better because cats can see in much dimmer light and they have a wider peripheral view. It's worse because they don't see color as well as humans do. Scientists believe grass appears red to cats.
- Spanish-Jewish folklore recounts that Adam's first wife, Lilith, became a black vampire cat, sucking the blood from sleeping babies. This may be the root of the superstition that a cat will smother a sleeping baby or suck out the child's breath.
- Perhaps the most famous comic cat is the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. With the ability to disappear, this mysterious character embodies the magic and sorcery historically associated with cats.
- In the original Italian version of Cinderella, the benevolent fairy godmother figure was a cat.
- Two Siamese cats discovered microphones hidden by Russian spies in Holland's embassy in Moscow In Holland's embassy in Moscow, Russia, the staff noticed that the two Siamese cats kept meowing and clawing at the walls of the building. Their owners finally investigated, thinking they would find mice. Instead, they discovered microphones hidden by Russian spies. The cats heard the microphones when they turned on.
- The little tufts of hair in a cat's ear that help keep out dirt direct sounds into the ear, and insulate the ears are called "ear furnishings."
- The ability of a cat to find its way home is called "psi-traveling." Experts think cats either use the angle of the sunlight to find their way or that cats have magnetized cells in their brains that act as compasses.
- Isaac Newton invented the cat flap. Newton was experimenting in a pitch-black room. Spithead, one of his cats, kept opening the door and wrecking his experiment. The cat flap kept both Newton and Spithead happy.
- The world's rarest coffee, Kopi Luwak, comes from Indonesia where a wildcat known as the luwak lives. The cat eats coffee berries and the coffee beans inside pass through the stomach. The beans are harvested from the cat's dung heaps and then cleaned and roasted. Kopi Luwak sells for about $500 for a 450 g (1 lb) bag.
- A cat's jaw can't move sideways, so a cat can't chew large chunks of food.
- A cat almost never meows at another cat, mostly just humans. Cats typically will spit, purr, and hiss at other cats.
- A cat's back is extremely flexible because it has up to 53 loosely fitting vertebrae. Humans only have 34.
- Many cat owners think their cats can read their minds Approximately 1/3 of cat owners think their pets are able to read their minds.
- All cats have claws, and all except the cheetah sheath them when at rest.
50+ More facts about cats
Most Expensive Cat Breeds
New More 50+ Interesting and Cool Facts
· In 2000, there were 1,579,566 drug arrests in the United States
· Just like fingerprints, every cats nose pad is different
· Popeye is 34 years old, weighs 158 lbs, and is 5 feet 6 inches tall
· Researchers have shot footage of Orcas (killer whales) attacking and killing great white sharks
· The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca Cola, and Budweiser, in that order
· One bushel of wheat can make enough sandwiches that you could eat three sandwiches a day for over six months
· In the movie "Babe", the piglet was played by over 30 different piglets they outgrew the part so quickly during the production of the film
· Research indicates that people prefer the colour blue for their casual clothing
· The leading cause of deaths for children between the ages of 1 and 4 are motor vehicle crashes
· The first toilet being flushed in a motion picture was in the movie "Psycho."
· The human brain has about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) neurons
· One acre of wheat can produce enough bread to feed a family of four people for about ten years
· Queen Victoria
· On a ship a toilet is called a head
· About 1 in 5,000 North Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue
· Approximately 10.5 gallons of water is used in a dishwasher. Washing the dishes by hand can use up to 20 gallons of water
· The thing that hangs from the top of the beak of a turkey is called the snood
· Ticks can be as small as a grain of rice and grow to be as big as a marble
· An American chews an average of 300 sticks of gum in a year
· Most cows give more milk when they listen to music
· Giant flying foxes, which are a type of bat, that live in Indonesia
· Heavier lemons contain more and tastier juice
· Since 1950, over 230 million eggs of Silly Putty have been sold
· Oral-B is a combination of oral hygiene and the letter B, which stands for the word better
· Frank Wathernam was the last prisoner to leave Alcatraz prison on March 21, 1963
· A blink lasts approximately 0.3 seconds
· In 1903 Mary Anderson invented the windshield wipers
· Both Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter, U.S.
· A cow releases about 125 gallons of gas per day
· The Apollo 17 crew were the last men on the moon
· Spartacus led the revolt of the Roman slaves and gladiators in 73 B.C
· The Mexican version of the Tooth Fairy is known as the Tooth Mouse, which takes the tooth and leaves treasures in its place
· In a day the blue whale calf drinks approximately 130 gallons of milk
· Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do
· All racehorses in the U.S.
· A person would have to drink more than 12 cups of hot cocoa to equal the amount of caffeine found in one cup of coffee
· The oldest documented footwear found was a 8,000 year-old sandal found in a cave located in Missouri USA
· Broccoli was first introduced into France France
· By federal law, for a noodle to actually be a noodle it must have 5.5 percent egg solids in it, otherwise it cannot be called a noodle
· The first female guest host of Saturday Night Live was actress Candace Bergen
· The human heart beast roughly 35 million times a year
· People that use mobile phones are 2.5 time more likely to develop cancer in areas of the brain that are adjacent to the ear they use to talk on the mobile phone
· Turkeys
· The act of sneezing is referred to as sternutation
· The average medium size piano has about 230 strings
· A study revealed that men that were born with a low birth weight were less likely to get married
· It takes about 63,000 trees to make the newsprint for the average Sunday edition of The New York Times
· On average, you would need 12.5 gallons of milk to make one gallon of ice cream
· A leech can gorge itself up to a maximum of five times its body weight
· There are places in Saskatchewan
· A butterfly has to have a body temperature greater than 86 degrees to be able to fly
· The beeswax that is produced by Honey bees comes from eight paired glands that are located on the underside of their stomach
· People in low-income homes spend 50% more time playing video games than people in high-income homes
· Lighthouse keepers were nicknamed "wickies" because they tended the lamps wick
· Taco Bell USA
· During the Roman times, people used urine, called lotium in Latin, as a hair product
· There are approximately 90 people that have been frozen after their death.
· The smallest will ever written was 3.8 cm in diameter. It had 40 words written on it and was signed by two witnesses
· The length of a human esophagus is 25 centimeters
· In 1942 the Jello company introduced Cola flavored jello, which only lasted a year
· Males account for 60% of toy injuries that occur in the U.S
· The company "Sony" was originally called "Totsuken." They felt the name "Sony" would be easier to pronounce. The name was invented by a cross between the name "sonus" and "sonny." The name sound and sonic are derived. Sonny was used to represent a young man or boy, which would show a energetic young company
· The Red Cross is called the Red Crescent in Arab countries
· The Olympics were originally held for the Greek god Zeus
· The oldest inhabited house in Scotland Traquair Castle
· Four billion pounds of watermelon were grown in the United States
· Wham-O manufactured twenty-thousand hula-hoops a day at the peak of hula-hoop
· JELL-O was declared The "Official State Snack" of Utah
· Elvis Presley was obsessed with brushing his teeth
· When the Statue of Liberty was moved from France United States
· There are approximately 2000 thunderstorms that are active at the same time which results in 100 lightning flashes a second.
· In-vitro babies are born in Australia
· Uranus? winter and summer seasons last the equivalent of 21 Earth years
· More people die from eating sharks then from being eaten by them. This is due to a poison in shark meat
· The murder rate in the United States Japan Japan
· The rarest chocolate bar in the world is the Porcelana bar. There are only 20,000 of these bars produced a year, and they sell for $90 per pound
· The reason why locusts swarm are because when they are in groups, a "hot-spot" behind their hind legs is stimulated, which in turn causes their destructive nature. A large swarm of locusts can eat eighty thousand tons of corn in a day
· There are an equivalent number of cows and people in Friesland , Netherlands
· Centipedes always have an uneven pairs of walking legs
· A chicken once had its head cut off and survived for over eighteen months, headless
· The largest diamond found in the United States
· Following directions off the Internet and chemicals obtained from a mail order company, a team of U.S.
· Every day, the Hubble telescope transmits enough data to fit 10,000 standard computer disks
· The average number of people that go to a party for the Super Bowl is 17
· The amount of Kit Kat chocolate bars that are made at the York Eiffel Tower
· The skin of a shark is made up of "tiny teeth" which are called dermal denticles
· The strongest gust of wind was recorded at the Mount Washington Observatory on April 12th, 1934 , and measured 231 miles per hour.
· The company Chanel claims that every 30 seconds, somewhere in the world, a bottle of Chanel No 5 is sold
· In their lifetime, house cats spend approximately 10,950 hours purring
· The reason why bubbles are round is because this is the most efficient shape that the soap film can take for the amount of air trapped inside
· It is very common for babies in New Zealand
· From 1526 to 1707, the first six Mogul emperors of India
· A one kilogram packet of sugar will have about 5 million grains of sugar
· Bats emit ultrasonic sounds to communicate with each other
· Rats can survive up to 14 days without any food
· Canola oil is actually rapeseed oil but the name was changed in Canada
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