Here are 10 little known cat facts for you. I bet some of this trivia will surprise you!
- While dogs and some wild species respond to human yawning by yawning back, cats don’t! My human discovered this by trying to make me yawn, then found out it was backed by research.
- Taylor Swift’s cat Olivia Benson, has a net worth of 97 million dollars! Which is way more than the late Karl Lagerfeld’s cat, Choupette, who is only worth 13 million. But both are outmatched by Instagram influencer Nala, who is worth a cool 100 mil.
- Isaac Newton invented the cat door because he got tired of having to get up to let his cats in and out of his home. He had a carpenter at the University of Cambridge drill two holes for the cat and her kittens — which can still be seen today.
- In case you are wondering why your year-old cat is so problematic, it’s because they are developmentally equivalent to a 15-year-old human! Although mentally they pretty much stay at a 2-year-old toddler level. Consider that combo for a moment before you adopt a young cat!
- Cat shows began in London in 1871. The first one was held at the Crystal Palace and featured mostly moggies (routine domestic cats), with a couple of more exotic breeds added. This included a Manx and a pair of Siamese cats — the first to ever be seen in England.
- Speaking of Siamese cats, in 1964, a pair of them lived in the Holland Embassy in Russia. They began clawing at the walls, and when the embassy’s employees investigated, they found hidden microphones! Yep, the Russians were spying on them.
- Cats and humans have identical parts of their brains that rule emotions. So not only do cats have emotions, they are in some ways pretty similar to yours, only with a feline spin.
- Cats’ cognitive abilities are superior to dogs, and they are capable of solving much more difficult problems. They are harder to study because they aren’t as willing to please.
- As for anatomy, cats have 54 loosely fitted vertebrae, while humans have only 34. Which explains their impressive flexibility.
- Famous skateboarding cat Didga holds the Guinness World record for most tricks a cat has done in a minute. And how many is that? 24! I have some work to do — I can only perform nine (High five, shake, stay, sit up, paw wave, turn around, ring a bell, touch an object, and jump through a hoop).
Did you know many of these? Which ones? Let me know in the comments!
Other posts you’ll enjoy:
Isaac Newton was a cat lover? I respect him
THAT much more!
Very interesting facts ! It looks like Isaac Newton was a great inventor ! Purrs
Well, #8 was a bit obvious, MOL.
Incredible facts. I think I can make TW yawn even if she can’t make me.
I pretty much knew #8. I saw that in action when we had an old door
in the garage breaking apart. Our cat noticed the break, then went to
the other side of the door and looked to see how it looked there. That
showed some real thinking and investigation. That (black) cat was very
smart in many ways. That cat chose our house and kept coming back when
his original owners kept taking him home. The finally let him stay with us.
These were fun facts! We did not know about Newton inventing the cat door! Hmmmm… could his cat invention be more important than his having discovered the laws of gravity/motion and invented calculus?
Some parts of cat and human brains are similar; cognitively cats are superior to dogs…but basically the cat is = to a toddler. That may explain more about humans than about cats.
THose were really, really interesting sweet Summer!
Wow, I wasn’t aware of any of these!
Wow Summer, great blog. I knew a few like the kitty facts. The historic stuff and famous cats worth not so much. I did know about Didga. I’ve followed some of his stuff. He’s really incredible. That human has other cats that are pretty amazing too. I think that’s all that human does mol. You’re still my favorite feline ( except for mine, of course) ❤️
I did not know any of these. You are worth a 100 million in my book. 🙂
That was a cool collection of facts.
My superpower is getting mum do do my bidding and to rub my belly on demand.
Humans really are easy to train 😉
MOL!!!
Purrs, Julie
“…because they aren’t as willing to please.”
This describes cats PURRFECTLY, Summer!
Thanks for sharing these!
Those are interesting facts. I would love to have a cat worth 100 million dollars. Or even one hundred dollars. Okay, they are worth a lot to me but a little help paying for cat food would be nice. 🙂
That was a really interesting read, Summer. We especially loved the snippet about Isaac Newton inventing the cat flap!
Purrs,
Tama and Benny
Interesting facts. That is impressive that the Siamese cats let the employees know there were microphones in the wall.