Q 01/05

What is the primary function of a cat's whiskers, also known as vibrissae?

A) Sensing and navigation

B) Keeping its balance

C) Expressing emotion

D) Grooming the face

Answer · why

A) Sensing and navigation

Sensing and navigation: a cat's whiskers are touch sensors rooted in nerve-rich follicles, and when prey is too close to see the whiskers swing forwar...

Q 02/05

Besides contentment, in which of these situations have cats been recorded purring?

A) While stalking prey

B) While ill or giving birth

C) While marking territory

D) While fighting a rival

Answer · why

B) While ill or giving birth

While ill or giving birth: cats often purr through labour and when chronically ill or in pain, so the sound is thought to soothe the cat itself as wel...

Q 03/05

The earliest known evidence of a tamed cat, from about 7500 BCE, was found on which island?

A) Crete

B) Cyprus

C) Sicily

D) Malta

Answer · why

B) Cyprus

Cyprus: at Shillourokambos a cat was buried beside a human about 7500 BCE, thousands of years before Egypt's cat cult. Cats are not native to the isla...

Q 04/05

When a cat rubs its cheeks against furniture or your legs, what is it mainly doing?

A) Depositing scent from facial glands

B) Scratching an itch on its skin

C) Wiping its whiskers clean

D) Cooling down its body

Answer · why

A) Depositing scent from facial glands

Depositing scent from facial glands: cheek rubbing leaves a pheromone on furniture and on favourite people alike, and rubbing against humans is though...

Q 05/05

About how long is a cat pregnant before her kittens are born?

A) Two weeks

B) Two months

C) Six months

D) Eighteen months

Answer · why

B) Two months

Two months: gestation averages about 65 days, short enough that a female cat can raise more than one litter in a single year.