Did You Know?

by Barry KuKes

There are many interesting facts about dogs and cats. I did some research online and came up with this list. Share a few of these amazing facts and impress your friends and family. Internet sources include fetchpetcare.com and stpaulpet.com

The nose print of dogs, cats, and other animals is unique—much like a human fingerprint.

Dogs are not colorblind. They have dichromatic vision, which means they have limited color perception and can only see shades of blue and yellow.
House cats share 95.6 percent of their genetic makeup with tigers. They also share the same behavior habits, such as scent and urine marking, prey stalking, and pouncing.

Dogs have 1700 taste buds as compared to humans, who have 9000. They can taste sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
The whiskers on a cat aren’t just cute —they serve an essential function in assisting cats with getting around, especially at night. Whiskers allow a cat to detect and respond to changes in their surroundings – think kitty radar.

Greyhounds can beat cheetahs in a race. While cheetahs can run twice as fast as greyhounds, they can only maintain that 70 mph speed for about thirty seconds. A Greyhound can maintain a 35 mph speed for about seven miles.

Disneyland in California has feral cats who freely roam the park and help control the rodent population. Watch out, Mickey and Minnie!
The Bloodhound’s sense of smell is so accurate that its tracking results can be used as evidence in a court of law.

Cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees.

Yawning is contagious—even for dogs. Research shows that the sound of a human yawn can trigger one from your dog. It’s four times as likely to happen when it’s the yawn of a person he knows.

Your dog’s sense of smell is more than 10,000 times better than yours.

A dog can hear sounds up to four times farther than a human can.

Cats can taste the air. Your cat uses an organ located between the roof of the mouth and the nose’s septum to taste the scent of another cat in the air.
Adult cats only meow for humans. While meowing isn’t a language, per se, it is an effective way of communicating that cats only reserve for humans.

I was recently at the airport in Cincinnati, and dogs were sniffing passenger carry-on luggage in the TCI lanes. It was fascinating to watch how they quickly went from one bag to another in seconds as passengers walked two at a time down the aisle. The dogs didn’t find anything while I was watching. I am not sure what they were searching for, but I was glad they were on the job.

Remember, adopt, don’t shop.

Barry KuKes is the Community Outreach Director for the Halifax Humane Society in Daytona Beach. He can be reached at 386.274.4703, ext. 320, or at barryk@halifaxhumanesociety.org