Cats are mysterious, elusive creatures. One moment they may purr and stretch, pawing at the air or giving you a contented meow. The next they may pounce, grabbing your arm with their back feet and raking claws across your skin. The secret to understanding your cat is learning how to read their body language. These photos, taken from LIFE’s iconic archives, will help you to do just that.
A domestic species of small carnivorous mammal of the family Felidae (lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars and grizzly bears). Cats have been domesticated for 10,000 years. They are nocturnal hunters with large eyes that adjust to light conditions. Their ears are incredibly sensitive to high-pitched sounds like mouse squeaks. They have a third eyelid, called the haw, that opens or closes according to ambient lighting. Their whiskers and sense of smell give them a three-dimensional sense of their surroundings.
Their solitary habits and natural hunting rhythms make them difficult to count and explains why estimates of the number of free-roaming cats in the world range from 1.3 to four billion. This also explains why the ecological damage they cause is so hard to quantify. They are top predators that hunt a variety of animals, including birds, and they are very active at dawn and dusk. Their specialized hunting anatomy includes sharp teeth and claws, an extremely acute sense of smell, and a nose pad that is ridged and unique like human fingerprints.