Cat's Whiskers

(vibrissae)

The whiskers of a cat are enlarged stiffened hairs more than twice the thickness of ordinary hairs, and are embedded three times deeper. They are supplied with a great many nerve-endings which transmit information to the cat's brain about any contact they make or changes in air pressure that may occur.

An average cat has 24 whiskers, 12 on each side of the nose, which are arranged in four horizontal rows. They will move forwards when the cat is inquisitive, threatening, or testing something, also backwards when being defensive or avoiding something. The two top rows can be moved independently of the bottom two, also the most strongest whiskers are in rows two and three.

The cat is predominantly a nocturnal hunter, and relies upon its whiskers to detect minute disturbances in the air-currents, this allows them to respond to solid objects without having to touch them. In a split-second they can detect the body outline of  their prey and react accordingly. A cat with damaged whiskers cannot kill cleanly at night, it tends to misjudge its killing-bite, thus plunging its teeth into the wrong part of  the prey's body.

[ 'Cat's Whisker' ]