Fun Cat Facts for Ailurophiles

All cat lovers know that kitties are fascinating creatures, but here are some feline facts that might surprise even the savviest ailurophile.

Fun Feline Facts

Here are some fun feline facts to expand your general knowledge about your favourite pet:

• As you may have guessed, a cat lover is known as an ailurophile, which comes from the Greek ailurous.
• Conversely, if you dislike cats, or you are scared of them, you are an ailurophobe.
• The collective noun for a group of adult cats is a clowder.
• The collective noun for a group of kittens is a litter, or a kindle, which comes from Middle English when birthing was known as kindling.

Feline Facts: Agility

It is a well-known fact that felines are fleet-footed, but did you know:

• They can move at a speedy 45 kilometres per hour.
• They can spring up to five times their height in one single jump.
• Cats are excellent fallers; they have a kind of internal gyroscope that helps them to turn themselves the right way up when falling and their legs are designed to distribute impact when they land.

Feline Facts: Senses

Dogs are known for their keen hearing, but cats can pick up sound a full octave higher than dogs.

Although cats are not colour blind, they do not see colour the same way a human does.

They are good at detecting the colours blue, green and yellow, but have trouble picking up some shades of red.

Freaky Feline Facts

• Female cats are generally right-pawed, but males generally favour their left paw.
• In ancient Egypt, when the family cat died, the family would express their grief and mourn them by shaving off their eyebrows.
• Sir Isaac Newton invented the cat flap after his cat kept interrupting his experiments.

With these feline facts up your sleeve, you will be able to hold your own with the best of the ailurophiles.