Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff works dot com, where
Speaker 1: smart happens him Marshall Brain with today's question, why do
Speaker 1: cats have whiskers? Whiskers are also known as tactle hairs,
Speaker 1: and they are long, thick, flexible hairs on a cat's face.
Speaker 1: These hairs are located in horizontal rows on the whisker pad,
Speaker 1: the puffy area between the top corners of the cat's
Speaker 1: mouth and the outer edges of his nose. Whiskers are
Speaker 1: like normal hair and that they fall out and do
Speaker 1: get replaced. But whiskers are different from a cat's body
Speaker 1: hair in a few different ways. First, whiskers should never
Speaker 1: be cut or trimmed, and we'll see why later. Whiskers
Speaker 1: are two to three times thicker than a cat's hair.
Speaker 1: And finally, whiskers are rooted very deep in the cat's
Speaker 1: face in an area rich in nerves and blood vessels.
Speaker 1: In addition to having the long tactle hairs on their cheeks,
Speaker 1: cats also have shorter ones above their eyebrows, on their chin,
Speaker 1: and on the back of their front legs. Since we're
Speaker 1: most familiar with facial whiskers, let's look at what they're
Speaker 1: good for. First. They're good for navigation, second, they're good
Speaker 1: for mood indication, and third they're good for measuring and opening.
Speaker 1: Whiskers help the cat feel his way around a room
Speaker 1: or an area. Whiskers are so sensitive that they can
Speaker 1: detect the slightest directional change in a breeze at night.
Speaker 1: For example, this helps a cat slink its way through
Speaker 1: a room and not bump into anything. How it's because
Speaker 1: the air currents in the room change depending on where
Speaker 1: pieces of furniture are located. As the cat walks through
Speaker 1: the room and approaches a couch, he'll know which direction
Speaker 1: to turn based on the change in air current around
Speaker 1: the couch. In addition to having sensory properties, cat's whiskers
Speaker 1: are also a good indicator of his mood. When a
Speaker 1: cat is angry or feels defensive, the whiskers will be
Speaker 1: pulled back. Otherwise, when a cat is happy or curious
Speaker 1: or content, the whiskers will be more relaxed and pushed forward.
Speaker 1: But the whiskers primary use is to help a cat
Speaker 1: judge whether or not he'll fit through an opening. A
Speaker 1: cat's whiskers are roughly as wide as his body, sort
Speaker 1: of like a natural ruler. The whisker tips are sensitive
Speaker 1: to pressure. You'll notice that a cat will stick his
Speaker 1: head in and out of an opening before he puts
Speaker 1: his body in. He's judging the width of that opening
Speaker 1: and is determining if he can fit into it. An
Speaker 1: interesting note, cats don't have true collar bones like humans do.
Speaker 1: This allows them to turn and twist their way through
Speaker 1: very narrow openings compared to a human being. Be sure
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