| Show cats cat whiskers serve as feelers feeler perfect organs there is an old belief that a cat uses its whiskers to determine whether it can squeeze through a small hole or opening according to this notion the whiskers are exactly the same width as the animals body and if they touch the sides of the hole bole the cat will not att attempt empt to enter although not strictly true there is a grain of truth in the belief notes a writer in the indianapolis news the large facial hairs known scientifically as vibrissae P serve as feelers or organs of touch and contribute materially to the cats ability to move about in the dark these hairs themselves of course are not sensitive but the roots are provided with sensitive five nerve endings john fiske in through nature to god writes as follows of these remarkable tactile organs the most perfect organs of touch are the vibrissae or whiskers of the cat which act as long levers in communicating muni cating impulses to the nerve fibers that terminate in clusters about the dermal sacs in which they are inserted these cat whiskers are merely specialized forms of such hairs as those which cover the bodies of most mammals and which remain up upon on the human skin imbed ded in minute sacs facial hairs of this type are particularly ticul arly well developed both in number and size in those predatory species which hunt chiefly in jungles and other thick undergrowth in the vegetable eating bears the whiskers are few in number small in in size size and apparently without any function there may be a relationship be tween the cats whiskers and its sense of sight A naturalist found that cats with their whiskers cut short were unable to judge distances accurately in experiments cats wi without phout whiskers would repeatedly miss miss their prey when springing for it the investigator concluded that the facial hairs aid the animal to fix its eyes on its prey and that it is undoubtedly injurious to remove the whiskers from a cat which must hunt for a living |
