Gaze into the void: do cats see something otherworldly, inaccessible to our eye
Cats have one strange and even frightening feature. They can freeze at any moment and stare intently into space, and sometimes at the same time hiss and ruffle the fur on the back of their neck. Often at this time there is nothing alive or unusual in front of the animal — it happens that the animal generally drills a blank wall with its eyes. This feline feature has been scaring people for a long time and generates the most incredible hypotheses.
Most often, cats are credited with the ability to see some otherworldly entities or guests from other dimensions. This belief can cause a real panic to a hypochondriac person, especially at night when there is no one around. But we will not rely on stories - scientists have their own point of view on this phenomenon and it clarifies everything.
Zoologists know for sure that cats actually see and hear a lot of things that we don't notice. The animal's keen eyesight is able to catch the slightest movement of the curtain, and a sensitive ear can determine that a person has quietly passed behind the wall. Our imperfect sight and hearing, which can be called remnants of the former primitive luxury, allow us to see a little, and hear even less. For us, noise is a loud conversation of neighbors, and for a cat— a page of a book turned by one of them.
It is worth adding our inattention here. We could notice more, but we don't do it for lack of necessity. There is much more of their wild ancestors left in cats and they, even living in a city apartment, still remain hunters. The cat will pay attention to the slightest movement or rustle and will monitor this place for some time — suddenly the action will repeat.
The cat world is much more dynamic and eventful than the human one. Not all things happening around, like the animal, therefore, resting his gaze on a certain point and listening or peering, a domestic predator may hiss.
If you look closely at the cat with a frozen gaze, you can determine what exactly - a sound or an action attracted her attention. A cat that has detected some sound inaccessible to our hearing has ears moving. But if they are motionless, then most likely your pet just noticed a fly flying by or a dance of dust motes in a ray of sun or lamp.
Recently, British scientists have found a way to please any cat. It turned out that this is not difficult to do using just a glance.