5 ms·
I have seen my cat find a mouse in a camouflaged garden even when the mouse was not moving. Either this study is wrong or my cat is special.
by chatman 13y ago
I have seen my cat find a mouse in a camouflaged garden even when the mouse was not moving. Either this study is wrong or my cat is special.
- praptak 13y agoThose pointy ears are there for a reason - cats use more than sight to locate prey.
- TheCraiggers 13y agoI think you're missing a few possible scenarios. First and foremost, cats have exceptional olfactory senses. Second of all, the mouse was likely moving around before it noticed your cat approaching, at which point it froze. (By that time, it was of course too late.) Mice don't typically just sit in a garden, never moving.
- acqq 13y agoCats hear up to 60kHz. Those are super senses for us. Imagine what they can hear by small animals -- the movements of the very small things in and on mice, their breath...
- Zikes 13y agoTheir visual acuity isn't based on movement, like a Tyrannosaurus. If you look at a painting, you can still see it just fine even though it's not moving.
- parfe 13y agoMichael Crichton invented T-Rex movement based vision for his books (attributed to contributions from frog DNA). The T-rex likely possesed incredibly powerful vision. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus#Senses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus#Senses
- Zikes 13y agoAnd their top speed is estimated at only 25mph rather than 45mph? My whole life is a lie!
- anigbrowl 13y agoThe mouse wasn't moving that you could see. Consider that a mouse has a much higher heart rate; if you can pick one up (eg those rare occasions where you are able to rescue prey from the cat) they practically vibrate in your hand. Also, another poster makes a good point about cats' hearing. Not only do cats hear in higher frequency ranges than we do thanks to their reduced size, they can angle their ears to 'focus' on a particular sound; being a sound engineer by profession, I desperately envy them this ability. I have simulated this using cardioid microphones while wearing headphones, and I would cheerfully sacrifice a good deal of social standing for a pair of working prehensile ears.
- puetzk 13y agoMount the microphone/headphones in something like these? http://www.necomimi.com/ http://www.necomimi.com/ You might have to follow through on that "I would cheerfully sacrifice a good deal of social standing" part, though...