Amazing Animals and their Superpowers

I always marvel at the sight of a cat walking along the narrowest of fences as though it were a tightrope. Elegant and skillful. Perfectly balanced. It makes me wonder what other superpowers cats and other animals have.

Cats

Let’s start with an impressive fact, that a cat’s genome is 95% tiger. They share many behaviours with their jungle ancestors including scent marking by scratching, pouncing, urine marking and prey stalking. As we know cats claws all point downwards. Did you know it is for this reason that a cat cannot come down a tree forwards, and they must back down the trunk? Incredible. Each cats nose print is unique much like a humans finger print! Cats walk like giraffes and camels. They move both of their right feet first, then they move both of their left feet. No other animals walk this way. Some cats are ambidextrous, but 40% are either left or right pawed. Male cats are more likely to be left pawed, while female cats are more likely to be right pawed. In 1963 a cat went into space! We are all aware that a monkeys and dogs have been sent into space, but did you know that a cat braved the great unknown too? On 18th October 1963, ‘Astrocat’, also known as Felicette, was the first and only cat to go into space.

Dogs

Dogs can detect one drop of liquid in 20 Olympic sized swimming pools. For this reason, dogs are trained to sniff out people, drugs and even money. Remarkably, dogs are now being trained to detect diseases such as malaria, diabetes, tuberculosis, and Covid-19. It was during one of The Royal Institution Christmas lectures last December that Professor Jonathan Van-Tam demonstrated how dogs can detect the Covid-19 virus. Greyhounds can reach a top speed of 45mph within seconds of starting to run, compared to a cheetah that can reach 70mph. However, cheetahs can only keep this going for around 30 seconds meaning a greyhound would actually outrun a cheetah! Greyhounds can easily run at speeds in excess of 35mph for seven miles. Despite the cheetah’s head start, they’d soon be overtaken. Did you know that dogs have 3 eyelids? Their third eyelids is called the nictitating membrane and helps to protect and clean the eye. If you have a dog, you may have noticed that they move their ears a lot. A dog has an incredible 18 muscles that are responsible for moving their ears! Their ears are vital in helping them communicate with us and other dogs. They can hear over 4 times the distance of a human. So, next time you come across a cat or dog, stop to marvel at how amazing they are. If you need to contact our Branch (North Bedfordshire) for any reason we can be reached by the details below, or for an animal welfare issue or emergency, contact; 0300 1234 999. Lines are open 7 days a week 24/7. Email: info@rspcabedsnorth.org.uk Tel: 01234 266965 / 01234 930304