Do you know the facts about cat ears? Here's a multiple-choice question. Can you do it right?
Some cats have a pocket-like structure on the lower part of the outer auricle of the ear. Do you know why there is such a structure?
A. may have been injured
B. bitten by mother at birth
C. born to catch mice
D. to decorate
Read on to see if you made the right choice!
All cats have this structure. This cutaneous marginal pouch, which has a cute nickname called Henry's Pocket, is especially like a small pocket on the ear.
This special structure can change the trajectory of sound propagation, which is beneficial for cats to detect high-frequency sounds, such as those made by mice. Therefore, in the wild state, it can help cats catch mice.
In fact, the structure of cat ears is basically the same as that of humans.
Pinna The pinna is the quivering part of the ear. It acts as a parabolic antenna to collect sound in the sound direction.
The ear canal is the passage of sound. The vertical ear canal that descends vertically like a vertical hole is shaped like the letter "L".
The tympanic membrane is the membrane that produces sound. Vibrates like a drum and transmits the sound to the tympanic chamber.
The tympanic cavity is a small room behind the eardrum. There are small bones called ossicles that amplify incoming sounds by more than 20 times.
The Eustachian tube of the ear canal is a tube that connects the tympanic cavity and the nasal cavity, and functions to equalize the air pressure in the tympanic cavity with atmospheric pressure.
The cochlea acts like a relay device that converts sound into electrical signals and sends them to the brain. It is so called because its shape is similar to that of a snail (cochlea).
The cat's cochlea, which is about two-thirds the length of a human, has only 12,000 hair cells, 10,000 fewer than in humans. But, conversely, there are 40,000 nerve fibers extending from ganglion cells, 10,000 more than in humans. This difference may be related to the ability to hear a wider range of sounds than humans.
Of the cat's five senses, "listening" is considered the best. This may be because they survived by ambushing their prey in dark forests and woods. By increasing sensitivity to "sounds", prey can be found even at night.
The audible range expands to 200 to 6,000 Hz until the sixth day of life on the sixth day after the little cat's birth.
Stereotactic responses were observed from postnatal day 7 until the 16th day of life, and by 13 to 16 days the direction search of the sound could be heard. The ear canal opens at 6 to 14 days of age and completes at about 17 days of age.
